Confessions of a lapsed birder

Forster’s Tern – River Esk, Musselburgh, East Lothian, 17^th December 1994

Alerted the previous evening to the presence of a probable Forster’s Tern at the mouth of the River Esk at Musselburgh, I was well positioned to be there at dawn the following morning. The only problem was that, sadly, the morning of 17th December had been allocated for Christmas shopping.

So it was that I was there that morning with some seven or so others, including Mervyn Griffiths and Chris McGuigan. There were some sarcastic comments about me twitching something that was unconfirmed......... .

Although conditions were not the ideal due to strong gusting winds, and, initially at least, bad light, I was reasonably optimistic. Working out the birds likely behaviour relative to the state of the tide was not easy – the bird could be anywhere between Granton (where its predecessor spent much of its time) and Prestonpans, or further afield, if, indeed, it was still around.

After an hour or so, having been there from dawn, I opted to leave, whilst the bird sorted itself out. Christmas shopping stopping twitching indeed! What is going on here!? This interlude went surprisingly well, partly as I only had 80 minutes parking time! I decided that I should go back to the coast at Leith and then work back towards Musselburgh; it was around about 12:00.

However, as I made my way there the pager informed me that the bird had again been present at the mouth of the Esk, briefly, at 11:30, before flying off west towards Fisherrow. I went there first, and worked the area around the harbour. Then, after a quick break for lunch, I returned to my original plan. I went to Granton and worked my way back from there.

Again though, the pager performed, and informed me that the bird had again been seen at Musselburgh at 13:15 and again at 13:35. That was definitely where I should be. I made my way there again, to find it was high tide, and it was raining, and there were now very few birders there. However, Mervyn was still there and suggested that I should have been there earlier and not left, as apparently he had seen it. Sarcastic git!

I went away into Musselburgh to ‘phone Gilly, and having done that at 14:45, I returned to the mouth of the Esk to wait. After some indecision about where / how to wait, I finally opted for the car as I had got wet earlier and it was still raining. And Sport on 5 was on. I had just settled down to scan the mouth of the Esk, having positioned my car so that I could do this, when there it was, settled on the breakwater among Black-headed Gulls. I alerted others with, “It’s there, it’s there!!” and, when asked by some unfortunate for directions, “Just fucking look for it!!!” and other such helpful advice.

After this I calmed down and settled down against the car to grill it. Just how long I was there drawing it before Gilly arrived I’m not sure, but for someone who had been woken up by my ‘phone call after her night shift, I was impressed how quickly she got there!

The bird was a real gem - 'Commic Tern' type with a major smudge eye-patch, faint grey streaking on the nape, white crown, white underparts and light grey upperparts with browner tertials evidencing first-winter plumage, heavy-ish black Roseate Tern like bill, relatively long darkish (?) legs. The tail appeared to be slightly forked and only just longer than the wing tips when the bird was at rest.

As it was mainly perched and I only saw it in flight briefly on this occasion, I was pleased that I also saw it again on other occasions, including nearby a week later on 23rd December off Musselburgh Lagoons, and on 19th March 1995 again off Musselburgh and also off Portobello, when it was seen in flight only. I also saw it (or at least what was assumed to be same bird) on 1st July 1995 from the bridge over the Ythan estuary near Newburgh, Aberdeenshire.