The best advice is don't go near their nesting sites, but this is physically impossible when they leave their highly camouflaged babies next to almost every road and footpath in town.
Literally nothing on this island freezes my blood more than the ratchet-like call of an angry tern and we have *polar bears* 😆
The next best advice is to raise one arm high in the air and let them swoop your gloved hand instead of your head. Genuinely good advice if you don't need use of your hands
I have a dedicated tern-deterrent aerial that clips on my backpack at this time of year, so they swoop the top of that. Didn't stop one of them doing a battle shit on my hat last year, though.
Delighted* to confirm the return of the head stabbing bastards to the high north.
*not at all delighted
🏔️
Years ago, I worked as a bus driver/tour guide in Anchorage, and our bus depot was adjacent to a scrap yard where dozens of these dive-bombers would nest. Every journey in and out of the main office was risky, we all ran holding clipboards over our heads. Kind of neat to see them up close, even so.
I just had a conversation with a British tourist that I can only describe as too posh for his own teeth.
