As the terns arrive, the geese leave

IT’S changing-of-the-guard time on the Dublin coast this month.

As the celebrity birds of the winter months, the Brent geese, prepare to depart for the Arctic, Sandwich terns are winging their way from Africa.

They should arrive here just after St Patrick’s Day. Both birds will be present into April, the loud kik-kik-kik calls of the terns mingling with the purring rruk-rruk of the Brent flocks. It’s a magical time.