This medium-sized seabird is a delicate-looking gull which has a small yellow bill, black legs and black wingtips that look like they’ve been dipped in ink. It’s named after its call.
Kittiwakes are our most numerous gull species. They spend most of the non-breeding season out in the Atlantic Ocean; in breeding season they nest on cliffs and sometimes on buildings.
Kittiwakes are on the Scottish Biodiversity List, which identifies the species that are of the most importance to biodiversity in Scotland. They are also on the UK Birds of Conservation Concern Red List. Britain and Ireland host 6% of the global breeding population, mainly in Scotland. They have seen huge declines, strikingly so in Orkney and Shetland where colonies have almost completely vanished.
Photos: Paul Turner and Andy Hay for rspb-images.com
Action Needed
Offshore wind development is a necessary step in tackling climate change. We need to focus on developing it in places where it will do the least damage to nature so that we address the twin nature and climate crises together. The proposed windfarm at Berwick Bank is in one of the worst possible places in terms of its expected damage to seabird populations, including Kittiwake. This project should be halted to allow progress on alternative and less damaging projects.
We support the Scottish Seabird Conservation Action Plan and we need to see continued political and financial backing for its implementation.
Threats
Kittiwakes depend heavily on Sandeels as a food source. The closure of Scottish and UK-wide waters to industrial Sandeel trawling in 2024 represents an important conservation measure that must be maintained. They are also threatened by inappropriately sited offshore wind development and by climate change, which makes our waters less suitable for Sandeels.
MSP Nature Champion
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