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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/30/country-diary-arctic-terns-quarff-shetland
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| Country diary: Arctic terns swirl around a grey stretch of rock | Country diary: Arctic terns swirl around a grey stretch of rock |
| (2 months later) | |
| Haar sharpens people’s perceptions, for all that it blurs our view of land and sea. On this stroll to the shore, for instance, the lighthouse on the isle of Bressay facing our home has disappeared. There is no glimpse either of the pair of swallows I sometimes come across on my route, darting over the stream that leads to the village’s seaweed-strewn beach. Nor am I aware of my usual companion on these strolls, the curlew that arcs in flight, bubbling in alarm, as I approach the vicinity of its nest. | Haar sharpens people’s perceptions, for all that it blurs our view of land and sea. On this stroll to the shore, for instance, the lighthouse on the isle of Bressay facing our home has disappeared. There is no glimpse either of the pair of swallows I sometimes come across on my route, darting over the stream that leads to the village’s seaweed-strewn beach. Nor am I aware of my usual companion on these strolls, the curlew that arcs in flight, bubbling in alarm, as I approach the vicinity of its nest. |
| Yet I notice – more intensely than usual – other aspects of the shoreline. The small boat belonging to my neighbour, Frank, engine puttering as he lays creels down a short distance from the beach. The oystercatchers’ whistles as they flap and seek to divert me from stepping near their chicks. The Arctic terns (Sterna paradisaea) swirling around a grey stretch of rock not far from land. | Yet I notice – more intensely than usual – other aspects of the shoreline. The small boat belonging to my neighbour, Frank, engine puttering as he lays creels down a short distance from the beach. The oystercatchers’ whistles as they flap and seek to divert me from stepping near their chicks. The Arctic terns (Sterna paradisaea) swirling around a grey stretch of rock not far from land. |
| In fog, Arctic terns resemble swallows. They have similar dark heads, and forked tails, which – in the tern’s case – sometimes spread outwards like white lace on a lady’s fan. In my native Gaelic the swallow is known as gobhan gaoithe or “wind fork”. But the name seems more fitting for the tern – or tirrick, as it is called in Shetland – in the way it approaches the art of flight. It doesn’t just “fork” wind or air. It knifes and stabs it, sweeping through mist as if it were an assassin plunging blades through moistness. Its “crack” and “creak” are sharp and angular, as if their cries alone are enough to wound the predators that threaten their chicks. | In fog, Arctic terns resemble swallows. They have similar dark heads, and forked tails, which – in the tern’s case – sometimes spread outwards like white lace on a lady’s fan. In my native Gaelic the swallow is known as gobhan gaoithe or “wind fork”. But the name seems more fitting for the tern – or tirrick, as it is called in Shetland – in the way it approaches the art of flight. It doesn’t just “fork” wind or air. It knifes and stabs it, sweeping through mist as if it were an assassin plunging blades through moistness. Its “crack” and “creak” are sharp and angular, as if their cries alone are enough to wound the predators that threaten their chicks. |
| This summer, there are 30 or so terns, as opposed to the 10 I spotted back in 2017 – a sign that they may be recovering from the fall in their numbers a few years earlier. Then, the decline was as precipitous as their flight sometimes appears, swooping down on those who approach them in the fog. I step forward warily, relieved that so many have landed on this shore. | This summer, there are 30 or so terns, as opposed to the 10 I spotted back in 2017 – a sign that they may be recovering from the fall in their numbers a few years earlier. Then, the decline was as precipitous as their flight sometimes appears, swooping down on those who approach them in the fog. I step forward warily, relieved that so many have landed on this shore. |
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