The first trip out in the boat to the tern platforms was made today. I had been monitoring the terns nesting on the platforms at Attenborough; 5 platforms, 2 with terns nesting. On 8 June the oldest and only fixed platform appeared (when viewed from the bank) to have a sitting Oystercatcher, but no Terns. I presumed the outlook for any eggs that hatched was not good as the precocial chicks would be on a barren platform 1m above the water with a 0.5m fence around it. So today we dodged the rain amazingly, ringed 21 terns and found about 20 more eggs still to hatch. Then we headed to the old platform to see what had happened to the Oystercatcher. To my great surprise we found a healthy chick which could hardly have been feeding itself as a chick in a natural site would. I checked BWP which said adults feed chick's for a 'variable ' amount of time. I guess these adults have had to fly in with every mouthful. We ringed it and will go and check on it on our next tern ringing outing. I have since been given information of other Oystercatchers bring up chicks in similar situations.
Kev
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| Common Tern chicks and eggs, ANR (KJH) |
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| Oystercatcher chick, ANR (KJH) |
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