Colourful Kitty

After a previous sighting of a colour-ringed Kittiwake in the Midlands earlier this year, SeaWatch SW observers recorded a colour-ringed adult Kittiwake at the Gwennap Head watchpoint in Cornwall on 21 Aug.

This Kittiwake had been ringed as a chick at a colony in Finistere, western Brittany, on 4 July 2005 and was seen there in 2008 and 2009. In 2010 it was seen again and it made its first breeding attempt and raised one chick to fledging. It was last seen on 18 Aug 2010, just 3 days before it arrived at Gwennap Head.

Its departure may have been triggered by a Peregrine catching and eating a fledged chick on the adjacent nest but we'll never know!

Thanks to Simon and Jean-Yves Monnat for proving the above information and also check out their website. Photo by Jill Pakenham