Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) | Species | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 (1/100th sec at f14. Click image for larger version. © David Hastings)  (1/500th sec at f11. Click image for larger version. © David Hastings) DescriptionL: 37 - 42 cm; WS: 93 - 105 cm The Kittiwake is a gentle-looking, medium-sized gull with a small yellow bill and a dark eye. It has a grey back and is white underneath. Its legs are short and black. In flight the black wing-tips show no white, unlike other gulls, and look as if they have been dipped in ink. Kittiwakes can be found all around the British Isles, especially where there are sea-cliffs. They breed colonially, sometimes in large numbers, on steep sea-cliffs. The Kittiwake is only coastal during the breeding season. In autumn birds move out into the Atlantic where they spend the winter. It has amber status on the British list, due to moderate population decline in some areas. Around 380000 pairs breed in Britain. Sightings
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