A Common Tern, a ring and a mystery solved

In recent months, Peter Jackson has been regularly photographing the birdlife around Maldon Hythe and the Prom Park. 
Back in May he took some shots of a particularly photogenic Common Tern that sat on the  fence along the edge of the model boating lake. 

Common Tern, Maldon Prom Park, May 2024 (Peter Jackson)

After posting on Facebook it was noticed that the bird had a ring on its leg. Luckily, Peter's photos were good enough to mean that zooming in would allow some details of the ring to be read. 

Common Tern ring details (Peter Jackson)

Although no one photo had all the information, piecing together the different elements led to the intriguing suggestion that the tern may have been ringed in Africa. Further detective work by Simon Wood identified that the ring had been applied by the SAFRING team, who are based in Cape Town. However our story does not end there. Dr Simon Cox then contacted the British Trust for Ornithology (who oversee bird ringing in the UK) and it turned out that our tern had in fact been ringed by the SAFRING team in Senegal during a project they were carrying out monitoring birds passing through on their way from further south in Africa.

So our Maldon Common tern, that has probably been breeding at Heybridge Pits this year and may even have originally been born at the pits, was ringed at La Langue de Barbarie in Senegal as it headed north on March 30th 2023. This means that this year will have been at least the second time it has made this big migration north.

Common Tern ringing site, La Langue de Barbarie, March 2023

Thanks to the concerted efforts of ringers over the years, the BTO have been able to put together an impressive map showing locations where UK breeding Common Terns travel on their annual migrations. 

Ringing recoveries of UK Common Terns
(BTO Map retrieved from https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/common-tern)

Considering that the BTO has recorded a Common Tern living for as long as 33 years, it is mind-blowing to consider how far some of these birds must travel during their lifetimes!

Many thanks to Simon, Simon and, of course, Peter, for the parts they have played to solve this detective story! It was good to see that the tern seemed happy here in its summer home- Peter was able to photograph it again, in June, perched in the park.

Common Tern, again, Maldon Prom Park, June 2025 (Peter Jackson)

Postscript
During a recent trip to Cape Town in October 2024 I was amazed to see how many Common Terns winter there- I saw literally hundreds around Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. It is likely that many of these will be birds that spend the northern Summer in Europe.

Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Crested Tern and Hartlaub's Gull
Cape Point South Africa, October 2024 (John Buchanan)