It's that time of year again where we start to turn our attention to seabirds, with Kittiwakes starting to settle on cliffs always a lure. An afternoon cliff-top trip to Parc Trammel cove, near Porthleven, today was surprisingly productive, especially as this is normally a site we cover from the sea after a short kayak paddle. The distance from the clifftop really stretched the Nikon Coolpix P1000, but we managed to read seven of our own rings and two French-ringed birds.
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| RWM-YON was ringed as a chick in France in 2013, and was seen at Trewavas variously in 2018-2020, then at Parc Trammel since. It's now paired with J7, ringed as a chick locally in 2018 |
We managed to steal back two of our birds as well, as KJ bred (unsuccessfully) in Co Kerry (
see pics here) in 2023, and VT bred in France in 2021 and 2022. Many of the other birds we saw hadn't been seen for a few years, so these records really do help build our picture of how these enigmatic birds are faring.
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| EV was ringed as an adult locally in 2015 |
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| KJ returning home! |
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| PK was ringed as a chick locally in 2015 |
