Black Tern at Ballyallia

I was just coming out of school when I got a WhatsApp saying that there was a Black Tern at Ballyallia Lake just a few minutes over the road from school. I had never seen a black tern before so really wanted to head over to check it out as these birds breed in the marshes of Central and Eastern Europe so only a few occur in Ireland every year as scarce vagrants in spring and autumn and generally these occur on the east coast or out at sea so this was likely to be my best opportunity to see one. I had to sort something else out after school so couldn't go straight away but about 40 mins later I was getting out of the car and walking through the fields towards the lake shore where i met John Murphy who had eyes on the bird and kindly gave me the loan of his binoculars as i had nothing on me after coming from school. In hindsight i could have gone home quickly beforehand and got my camera and bins but i was scared the bird would be gone by the time I had gotten there as it had happened a few times before with various birds *cough* great white egret *cough*. I still havent seen a GWE after missing that one by about 20 mins. 

But anyways after getting great views of the bird with John i decided i would go home afterall and get my camera because as John said himself I may not get as good a view of this bird in Ireland ever again as this bird was quite literally hunting a couple of feet away from us. So i went home, got my camera and returned to the lake in the hope it was still there. It was!

I spent about an hour at the lake upon returning taking lots of pictures in the beautiful golden hour sunlight. It even perched on a rock literally 2 metres away from me which was awesome. I met with a few more birders over that hour, Tom and Nuala Lynch aswell as Stan Nugent as i was leaving and had a lovely chat with them also and overall i had a great time viewing this gorgeous little tern and an experience i wont be forgetting anytime soon.