Return of the Kittiwakes

After a tip-off that Kittiwakes were starting to gather on cliffs, I had a trip out to our RAS (Retrapping Adults for Survival) site at Rinsey Cliffs this morning and found about 40 birds back on ledges in our study colony, claiming some early territories. It wasn't the best weather for digi-scoping, so apologies in advance for the poor quality of the grabbed photos below!

It was nice to see a few of my colour-ringed birds back as well, and of the five birds seen, three of them have interesting non-Cornwall origins. Below are A8 and AL, which was originally ringed as a chick on the Isles of Scilly in 1999 and had its colour ring added in 2012.

AL (second from top) and A8 (bottom - honestly)

Another Scilly bird was CC (below), which was ringed on the islands in 1998 and recaught (and colour-ringed) by the group in 2013.

CC as seen this morning and below when it was colour-ringed last year

Along with the Scilly birds, there was also a single French bird (OYM,NWR), which dropped in too briefly to grab a digi-scoped photo, so here it is at Rinsey in July last year! It was originally ringed as a chick at Point du Raz, Finistere, in 2008.