Roseate Tern

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Habitat and behaviour

Habitat: Few breeding colonies.
Diet: Small fish.
Best time to spot: UK's rarest breeding seabird.

When to look

A summer visitor, typically in the UK from May to August. Numbers peak in June. See the June birding guide for what else is about. More on the season in British seabirds.

Taller bars mean more birds about. Grey means it is usually absent.

How rare is it?

The Roseate Tern sits in our Rare tier for the UK: scarce or very local, so most birders need a planned trip. It is Red-listed in Birds of Conservation Concern 5, the highest level of concern in the UK. It is protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, so it is an offence to disturb it at or near the nest. We blur the location of every sighting of this species.

Recent UK sightings

Similar birds

• Common TernUncommon · Coast and inland gravel pits
• Arctic TernUncommon · Northern coasts (summer)
• Forster's TernLegendary · Estuaries (extreme vagrant)
• Leach's Storm PetrelRare · Atlantic; few remote colonies
• Aleutian TernLegendary · Seabird colonies (extreme vagrant)
• Least TernLegendary · Tern colonies (extreme vagrant)

Kit that helps

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