IDENTIFY SPRING SEABIRDS

Coastal birds to spot this season.

Anyone visiting a coastal nature reserve in summer will be familiar with puffins and gannets, but there are many more species to look out for along our rocky shores. Here are nine to spot in 2021

GUILLEMOT

Dapper dark-chocolate-brown and white plumage, this is the most numerous inhabitant of seabird cities, nesting on the tightest ledges. Britain has almost one million breeding pairs.

GREAT SKUA

Pirates of the summer skies, the skua dive-bombs smaller birds to steal their fish catches as well as raiding nests for eggs and young. It varies in colour from pale to dark brown.

LITTLE TERN

Far scarcer than its common and Arctic cousins, the little tern has a yellow bill rather than red. It nests in small scattered colonies on shingle and sandbars and is easily disturbed by dogs off leads.

RAZORBILL

Similar to the guillemot but with blacker plumage, the razorbill has a heavier beak with a thin white stripe. It is found in more northerly regions and nests in crevices among rocks at the base of cliffs.

BLACK GUILLEMOT

An elegant little bird with bright red feet and white wing bars on an otherwise totally black body. Unlike its cousins’ seabird cities, it nests singly or in groups on rocky coasts, sometimes on harbour walls.

SHAG

This smaller, blacker, more seagoing relative of the cormorant has an emerald eye and a greenish sheen to its plumage. It nests among the colonies of other seabirds.

KITTIWAKE

This delicate gull with snow-white plumage and grey upper wings with black tips is rarely seen inland, and instead nests on ledges all around the UK. Unlike many of its relatives, it has a soft cry of a call.

GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL

Our largest gull has a ‘haughty’ look to its eye. Its plumage is much darker than the lesser black-backed gull and it is a more formidable predator, able to take adult seabirds and swallow them whole.

FULMAR

Britain’s albatross, this stiff winged glider soars on the updraft of cliffs. Superficially resembling a gull, it nests in colonies on cliffs. If attacked, it can shoot a foul, oily substance from its bill.