Urban Terns

Docklands, East London… at least 20 Common Terns have now returned to breed on the rafts at East India Dock Basin, a Lea Valley Regional Park reserve in the shadow of the Dome, Canary Wharf and the Docklands Light Railway. This weekend, the females were settling in to their nest scrapes as the males brought fish back from the River Thames and the dock itself. Much courtship and matings were observed on the new rafts as well as several pairs regularly disputing with a Canada Goose sitting on three eggs. Other species around included a pair of Little Ringed Plovers, two pairs of Shelduck, singing Reed Warbler, Whitethroat and Blackcap, and several Sand Martins.