LONG NANNY
There’s more to this site than just its famous tern colony
Long Nanny is owned by the National Trust, and is especially renowned for its tern colony, but it’s also worth visiting for its beauty, and because it offers so many good bird habitats, including saltwater, freshwater, marsh, dunes and scrub. birds like tits, Collared Dove and Woodpigeon, but this can also be a rarity area, with Lesser Grey Shrike appearing twice in recent years.
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The dunes here have a mixture of flowers, from Bloody Cranesbill to Sea Campion, but the birds can be varied as well, from Sky Lark to Shore Lark, and Meadow Pipit to Richard’s Pipit, depending on the time of the year. Check the scattered Hawthorn bushes for warblers and flycatchers in the autumn. Shorteared Owls can be hunting here in the winter along with the flash of a Merlin.
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The habitat gets even better with a marsh behind the dunes. This can have a mixture of species like wintering geese including Pinkfooted, Tundra Bean and European White-fronted. The creeks have had both Great White and Little Egret with Spoonbills and White Stork flying over. Shelduck add colour in summer, with waders always a treat in the channels. Species like Longbilled Dowitcher, Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff, Greenshank, Little Stint and Jack Snipe have been found.
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At the end of the dunes, from April to early August, the National Trust employ rangers to guard the tern colony here. About 800 Arctic Terns nest here along with 40 Little Terns. An area is cordoned off to protect the nesting birds but in most years you can visit the site to view from a hut, with scopes set up. These terns often draw in other species of tern, such as Common, Sandwich, Roseate, Black, White-winged Black and even Sooty Tern.
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You can walk back by the shore looking out for skuas attracted by the terns, with a chance of Arctic, Great and even Pomarine in Autumn. Winter can see both Glaucous and Iceland Gull in the area and the bay may hold Long-tailed Duck, Slavonian Grebe or divers like Great Northern. Both Lapland and Snow Bunting have been found along with a flock of Twite.