Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla
The Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) is a graceful, cliff-nesting gull whose onomatopoeic call is one of the defining sounds of a British seabird colony. Highly pelagic outside the breeding season, it spends most of its life far out at sea. In Suffolk it is primarily a passage and winter visitor, with birds regularly recorded offshore – particularly during or after autumn and winter gales when flocks may be driven close to the coast. The species has undergone severe population declines across the North Sea region in recent decades, linked to reduced sandeel availability driven by warming sea temperatures. Suffolk seawatches from headlands such as Covehithe and Dunwich frequently record this species. Image: © Jan Phillipp Geißel, iNaturalist.
Find out more: RSPB, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, iNaturalist, Suffolk LNRS information page
Suffolk’s Priority Bird Species
Key
Listed as a conservation priority in Suffolk’s Biodiversity Action Plan.
Closely associated with Suffolk’s landscape and natural identity.
Identified as a key priority for recovery under Suffolk’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy.
Has a Species of the Month article attached.
