This multi-year study investigated the temporal variation in the adult diet of Sandwich terns in three colonies in the Southern North Sea. Due to a lack of research on the adult diet of many marine birds, therefore novel methods are useful to try to understand it and the differences between the adult and chick diets of marine birds. The method used for consecutive faeces sampling of the adult birds included a set of treys that were set in the colonies at the beginning of the egg-laying (within the week after the first eggs were laid). The faeces samples were collected and processed throughout the whole season for each colony individually over a different number of years. The results show that the prey most selected by the terns were members of the Sandeel and Clupeid families. Results also show that throughout the years, a clear temporal variation in selected prey age classes occurred, but there were no significant differences between the prey proportions over sampling dates between the three sampled colonies. These studies could provide a great tool to follow the changes in seabird diet, chick growth, and the availability and changes of small pelagic fishes in the waters surrounding the colonies.
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