Kittiwakes On Visit To Cliffs On The North East Coast Of The Highlands Of Scotland

Tour Scotland short wildlife camera travel video clip of Kittiwakes on visit to cliffs on the North East Coast of the Scottish Highlands. Kittiwakes are gentle looking, medium sized gulls with a small yellow bill and a dark eye. They have a grey back with white underneath. Their 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'. The population is declining in some areas, perhaps due to a shortage of sandeels. After breeding birds move out into the Atlantic where they spend the winter. Kittiwakes are strictly coastal gulls. In the breeding season, look for them at seabird colonies around the United Kingdom. In late summer and autumn they can be seen flying past offshore, or gathering at roosts. They spend the winter months out at sea. The clamour of this delicate gull, so characteristic of many of Scotland’s seabird cliffs, gave the kittiwake its onomatopoeic name. Its nests, built of seaweed, mud and guano cling to impossibly small ledges on some of the steepest sections of the cliff face. The largest colonies are on the east coast and the Orkney Islands. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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