There is a serious food shortage for Arctic terns on Iceland’s Snaefellsnes peninsula for the fifth year in a row.

There are few sand eels in the area so the terns are feeding their chicks other types of eels, fish eggs, butterflies and worms – all of which are inferior foods and harder to digest. This could pose serious problems for the tern stock.

Sea birds are differently adapted to deal with such changes. Some of them are still able to fill their stomachs after a day out at sea and can come back and feed their young as usual. But the Arctic tern only takes a little bit at a time, stays close to shore and cannot dive very far.

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