American black tern returns for sixth year

A RARE bird which is the only adult record of its species ever to be recorded in the UK has returned to a nature reserve on the Northumberland Coast for a sixth consecutive year.

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Rangers at Long Nanny shorebird site, near Beadnell Bay, first noticed an American black tern on the site during summer of 2020.

The site is a vital nesting colony for Arctic terns, ringed plover, and little terns - the UK’s second rarest seabird.

The black tern usually breeds in the US and Canada, as its name suggests, but one has been coming to the North East every summer, with rangers expecting that it was blown off course at some point during migration in 2020.