common tern
Sterna hirundo

Widespread summer visitor to UK, often seen at inland sites

Habitat: sea, estuaries, inland freshwater

Summer visitor to the UK where it breeds; several hundred pairs in Essex

Pale grey upperparts, white below, black cap, red bill with black tip and red legs

Flies with buoyant flight, often plunge diving into the sea to feed

Eats fish

Nest is a unlined hollow on a beach or saltmarsh at the coast and increasingly in gravel pits; also takes readily to rafts

1 or possibly 2 broods May to June; 2-3 eggs creamy blotched black

Winters in W. and S. Africa