1. They weigh the same as a tennis ball
Little terns are a rare and declining species. These dainty seabirds are under 25cm in length and weigh about the same as a tennis ball.
2. Despite this, they rack up the air-miles
They spend the winter in West Africa and migrate to Britain to breed, with several pairs nesting on National Trust-owned coastline in Northumberland and Norfolk. In early 2015, a little tern ringed by the RSPB on the National Trust’s Blakeney National Nature Reserve the year before, was seen on its wintering grounds in The Gambia, West Africa – nearly 5,000km away.
3. They can live to a ripe old age
In 2014, a little tern was found to have died at Blakeney, having been ringed as a chick in Lincolnshire 21 years previously. The bird, a female, had an egg inside, so was clearly still breeding at 21, having migrated between England and Africa 19 times during her life. This was the oldest little tern ring recovery, until the Farne Islands found one 21 years and 10 months old soon afterwards!