Nature watch, with Ron Freethy

ANYONE planning a summer holiday by the British seaside could do worse than take a boat trip along the coast and keep a sharp look-out for seabirds.

I visited the Farne Islands to search for guillemots and kittiwakes.

The guillemot is the most common seabird in Britain with around 600,000 breeding pairs.

The reason that they are not seen as often as other species is that they nest on cliffs and remote islands.

The colonies are often huge with the birds crowded together on narrow ledges.

Guillemots vary in size from 38 to 45 centimetres (15 to 18 inches) and have a dark brown head and back while the underparts are white.

The breeding colonies are very noisy and the single egg is incubated for about 32 days but the time does vary depending upon weather conditions.

For the size of the bird, the egg is huge and its colour varies such a lot that experts are now sure that the female can recognise the pattern of her own egg.

The background colour is very light brown but there are very dark brown blotches all over.

The egg is pear-shaped and if it is left alone on an open ledge it spins like a top and does not fall over the edge!

When young guillemots hatch they are fed by both parents and in August they jump off the ledge and drop down onto the water. They cannot fly at this stage and so if there is a bad storm during August, the young guillemots are killed in large numbers.

Adults, however, can live for 40 years so they can afford the occasional bad year.

The nesting ledges are shared by kittiwakes which build substantial nests, in complete contrast to guillemots which build no nest at all.

The kittiwake gets its name from the very distinctive sound it makes. It can be distinguished from other gulls in flight by its all black wing tips.

Its scientific name is rissa tridactyla.

The second name means that it has three "toes" and not four, which means that it can perch more easily on narrow ledges. The kittiwake is quite small for a gull and is around 40 centimetres (16 inches) in length.

It tends to lay two eggs while most gulls lay three.

It is thought that the clutch is reduced because of the confined space on the cliff edges.

Young kittiwakes can be distinguished from the adults by the fact that they have a very prominent ring around the neck.

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