I’ve been in Hong Kong for three days and it hasn’t stopped raining until today. And rain in HK (as us lazy types like to type it) is not for the faint-hearted. The world turns a slate-grey, the view from the hotel window disappears in a cloud of drizzlymist (that’s just for you Corey!), and the clouds roll in fat with giant raindrops and - like pigeons pooping in Trafalgar Square - there’s only one place they’re aiming, and that’s straight at you buddy!

I nipped across - quite bravely I thought - to see my birding chum Martin Williams on Cheung Chau (one of HK’s offshore islands) in the evening of the second day. Martin’s wife Maya is a great cook and -perhaps this explains my courage - she promised me a feast if I made it across. How could I resist? In between mouthfuls of delicately scented coconut curry and piles of rice Martin and I ran through the birding options if by any chance the weather had cleared up in the morning…

Bearing in mind that I wanted to see something I could add to my year-list (shallow I know, but that man Graham isn’t standing still - he’s behind, but gaining) we discussed going to the forest at Tai Po Kau to look for Hainan Blue Flycatcher (difficult this time of year when it’s not singing, and TPK is like a sauna with mosquitos for attendants in June after heavy rain), the Peak for a chance of laughing-thrush and perhaps scimitar-babbler (but the Peak can be cloudy and cold while everywhere else is bathed in sunshine), or - Martin suggested - how about looking for Black-naped Tern Sterna sumatrana which are usually found on a whopping great rocky islet on the way out to Po Toi (an island migrant trap in the spring, but otherwise all but deserted in the summer)? If you’re lucky, he said, you should see Bridled Tern Sterna/Onychoprion anaethetustoo, and there’s a reasonable chance of picking out Roseate Tern Sterna dougallii as well…

As it happens that would be three terns I haven’t seen this year. Roseate Tern is pretty much spread around the northern hemisphere, but they’re nowhere near me at home; Bridled Tern is a mega-rarity in the UK and a bird I rarely see on my travels; and Black-naped Tern is an eastern species I haven’t seen for years. Sounded like a darn good suggestion. All I would have to do would be to get a cab to the little ferry, sit on the ferry for 30 minutes, hope for reasonable views from the ferry as we passed by the islet (the ferry doesn’t stop for birders to look at terns unfortunately - and also sometimes takes a route that means you’re some distance away), and then come back again. If it rained I’d be under cover (on the ferry etc etc), and if I saw any terns at all I’d be happy!

So, that’s what I did.

Luckily for me local birder Geoff Welch, who is one of the few birders in HK to go to Po Toi regularly happened to be on the ferry too - which meant another set of eyes scanning the water, and a running commentary on all things Po Toi and related sundry as we bobbed along. A very pleasant way to spend the time, particularly when Geoff said that the chances of seeing all three terns was in fact actually very high (99.9% apparently, which is indeed very high!)…

He was absolutely right. As we passed the islet we could quite clearly make out all three species of terns, which was pretty excellent - and things got even better on the return journey when Geoff shouted out that there were two large terns flying in the wake of a distant boat, which turned out to be juvenile Sooty Terns, a rare bird for HK and another tern species I haven’t seen for years and years! Four species of terns in a morning is a first for me as far as I can remember - and all four are new for the year…

Remarkably when I got back to the hotel and started looking through the photos I’d taken to see if there were any worth posting I noticed a small, greyish-looking tern sat amongst the larger, whiter Roseates and Black-napeds - a longipennis Common Tern, and a species I’ve somehow contrived to miss so far in the UK where I should have seen plenty by now. In other words, a fifth species and all of them new for the year! Surprising to say the least. Add in the fact that Jeff and I flushed a Chestnut Bittern on Po Toi (another new bird) and saw two Yellow Bitterns as well - I have to say that it was a rather good morning!

Did I get any worthwhile photos? Nothing on the Sootys and nothing that will win any awards, but just in case you (or someone who I’m in competition with) should be having any doubts about the validity of my story, here’s a few for the record…

The islet…

…which is deceptively large in fact (note flock of terns, centre of image)

Three species of tern: Bridled (flying), Black-naped (white crowns and black napes), and Roseate (dark crowns)

Common Tern (the small dark blob bottom right!)

Bridled Tern Sterna/Onychoprion anaethetus

What’s that? I’m a Very Lucky Man? Oh, I should say so, yes…