Common Terns at Fen Drayton Lakes

I’ve been working in Newmarket and Cambridge for a few days. The summer evenings are light and the weather is beautiful so I decide to go out with my camera. It takes me over 40 minutes to travel 8 miles along the A14. It’s one of the reasons British industry is so incredibly inefficient.

A quick Google Maps search for ‘RSPB’ tells me that Fen Drayton Lakes is close in distance, if not in time. At the car park I can see Common Terns overhead This one has a fish:

The fine details of their black cap, red bills and the ultimate streamlining of their bodies make them wonderful birds to watch:

They come back and forth over the reserve, with a fish one way and without a fish the other:

I follow the ones without a fish and settle down on the bank of the River Great Ouse to wait. There’s a constant traffic of pleasure cruisers and groups of children kayaking. I’m surrounded by ducks, Mute Swans and the occasional Grey Heron flyover. The bank is rattling with dragonflies.

Then a Common Tern appears and hovers over the water:

Magical.