Little tern

Little Tern

Sternula Albifrons

The little tern is the smallest tern to breed in the UK and has a bright yellow bill with a black tip.  Adults have a black cap with a distinctive white brow (albifrons) clearly seen in their breeding plumage, and bright orange legs.

Weighing in at about 50g, which is about a third of the weight of an average mobile phone, these diminutive birds are instantly recognisable by their tiny size and will be seen fishing relatively close to the shoreline, plunge diving for small prey.

All about little terns

Nesting just above the high tide line on shingle or gravelly beaches in small colonies, a female will lay 2 – 3 eggs in a tiny scrape. The well camouflaged eggs the size of your thumbnail and eventual hatchlings the size of your thumb, are almost invisible to the naked eye and extremely vulnerable to disturbance as well as predation. Unusually for seabirds, little terns stay close to their colonies to feed. Chicks will be fed by their parents for several weeks until, with much practice, the fledglings finally master the art of fishing.

Local Spotlight

It’s hoped that raising shingle banks at known little tern nesting sites around the Solent will protect them from the storm surges and rising sea levels that have devastated breeding colonies in recent years.

Conservation status

UK conservation status is amber due to the decline in their breeding range and low productivity due to disturbance and predation.