Field Guide
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Roseate Tern
Sterna dougallii
Not yet photographed by the community
Rare and elegant; pinkish flush on breast, long tail streamers.
Species Profile
Red List (UK Birds of Conservation Concern)
- Lifespan
- 15–20 years in the wild
- Size & Weight
- 31–35 cm, wingspan 50–58 cm; 120–150 g
- Habitat
- Coastal islands and headlands with sparse vegetation, nesting on rocky or sandy substrates close to shallow coastal waters and productive fishing grounds.
- UK Distribution
- Rare summer breeding visitor to the UK, with small colonies on islands off Scotland, Northern Ireland, and occasionally southern England. Migratory, wintering in African waters.
- Diet
- Exclusively fish, primarily small species such as sand eels, sprats, and anchovies caught by plunge-diving.
- Prey
- Sand eels, sprats, anchovies, small herrings
- Predators
- Great Black-backed Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, corvids, foxes (at nesting sites), and occasionally peregrine falcons
- Mating Season
- May to August
- Breeding
- Clutch size 1–2 eggs; incubation period 21–26 days; fledging at 28–35 days; typically one brood per season.
- Behaviour
- Highly gregarious, breeding in small colonies and roosting communally. Males perform elaborate hovering and courtship displays with fish offerings. They are agile fliers with distinctive long tail streamers that enhance manoeuvrability during hunting.
- •Roseate Terns have the longest tail streamers of any UK tern, extending well beyond the wings in flight
- •The species is globally threatened, with UK populations among the rarest in Europe; only a handful of breeding pairs remain
- •They can dive from heights of up to 10 metres to catch fish, sometimes disappearing completely beneath the water surface
- •Roseate Terns have a distinctive harsh, grating call unlike the more musical calls of Common and Arctic Terns
- •Historical records show they were once common around British coasts, but populations crashed dramatically in the 20th century due to persecution and habitat loss
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