Sandwich Tern - status

 Sterna sandvicensis

Passage migrant.

Sandwich Terns breed on the coasts both sides of the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, Black Sea and Caspian Sea. Those from the north-west of Europe winter mainly on the west coast of Africa.

The Sandwich Tern was a rare visitor to Wales up to the early 20th century. It was first recorded in Pembrokeshire when Bertram Lloyd saw four at Newport on the 3rd June 1928. Variously one to eight birds were then recorded in nine years up to the end of the 1970’s and from the 1980’s onward they were noted frequently each year on both spring and autumn passage.

Graham Rees

(Covers records up to and including 2007).