Not so Common Tern
Reports
On the morning of Tuesday 21 April 2026 Mark Sillars got on the first ferry leaving Ardrossan for Brodick. His intention was to take the ferry to Arran, remain on the ferry and return to Ardrossan. He was interested in photographing birds on passage at this time of year. He was particularly interested in skuas and, although on this occasion he saw no skuas, he did photograph a range of other species, including one of a group of three terns. The photograph below is the actual photograph and the one above is a cropped version of the bird showing the distinct features of the species including the red bill with the black tip. The tern was rightly identified as Common Tern.
The information including the photograph was posted on the Clyde SOC WhatsApp group. I contacted Mark because I wanted to know if this was closer to Arran than to the mainland because, if it was, then it was an Arran record rather than an Ayrshire record. Mike checked the time when the ferry left and the corrected time on his camera and was of the view that “the terns were in Arran airspace.”
Common Tern is not common on Arran. It does not breed on Arran, although there are breeding colonies in parts of nearby Argyll. ( See map below). This century there have only been eight records of Common Tern around Arran. Almost all of these records have been of single birds including one at Machriewaterfoot on 12 May 2001, seven off the Cock of Arran on 10 August 2008(That number was exceptional) and the last Arran record was thirteen years ago when there was one again at Machriewaterfoot on 19 April 2013.
My thanks to Mark for his skill as a photographer and for readily sharing his sighting of three Common Tern in Arran airspace in April this year.
