It was a rather misty start to the day!  Once again, in keeping with locations easily accessible by public transport and by walking, I took a venture out along the chalk cliffs of the South Downs.  It is a world filled with, cows, sheep, dog walkers, walkers (complete with socks over the trousers) and coastal birds.  One of them is the Kittiwake, possibly the prettiest of the European gulls.  Certainly the daintiest!

As the sun does not clear the cliffs until about 10 in the morning, I decided to hang around the Cuckmere Valley and create some images of the Seven Sisters in the mist.  So it was that I spent a good 45 minutes in a field snapping away in the company of a dozen cows.  And just before I developed serious urges for a set of dungarees, a straw hat and a tractor, I hiked up my gear and headed for the cliff edges!

You first see the odd white dot emerge on the skyline as you approach the edge.  Then the sound explodes and you know how the Kittiwakes got their name!  You’ll know it when you hear hundreds of birds crying “kitti-kitti-wa-a-ak”!  Peering over the cliff edge, the white chalk face (roughly about 50-60 meters high) is dotted with nesting pairs, either with chicks or still sitting on eggs.  Here and there lone birds sit and survey the area and there is a constant stream of adults flying in and out, ferrying nesting materials and food to the ledges.

Given their precarious and lofty living conditions, it is a good thing that Kittiwake chicks are the least mobile of the young gulls!  As the picture above shows, the views are great but there is not a lot of scope for a walk or a playful tumble!  Adults will usually sit facing the cliffs and dropping into flight in a backward twisting dive.

As with humans, where individuals live in cramped close proximity to one another, tempers are short and heated outbursts a common occurrence.  I like to think of these two arguing over a feather dropped on the wrong side of the boundary!  Another human attribute is that Kittiwakes are not strictly monogamous; if the pairing does not work out they are known to get “divorced”!  Though, if the pairing works, they will stay faithful for as long as both pairs survive.

Ownership seems to be a fluid concept with the Kittiwakes!  I watched birds bringing in nesting material, dropping it on the ledge, flying off to get more and then returning to find a neighbour had helped them selves to it.  In the course of a few hours at least 5 or 6 identifiably different birds occupied this ledge!  Each taking possession numerous times!

Nests are generally created, by “cementing” seaweed, vegetation, rope, bits of netting with mud and droppings to form a more or less level surface!  As you can see space is at a premium and these dwellings are definitely not for anyone suffering from vertigo!

The Kittiwakes are by no means the only residents of the cliffs.  Along with the equally endearing Fulmar (it is not a gull but a petrel), the cliffs also house peregrine falcons, starlings, pigeons and on the top fringes even rabbits!  This particular Fulmar is one of a pair who occupies the penthouse suite on the cliff, complete with balcony and a ledge.  The space they inhabit could easily hold four Kittiwake families.  You can just imagine the Kittiwake think “show off”, as it watches the Fulmar glide by.

The Fulmar out at sea!  Fulmars do tend to spend a great deal of time, during the breeding season, just lazily gliding around the cliffs.  I’d be sitting tracking birds with my long lens set up by the edge of the cliff, only to suddenly be confronted by a Fulmar a metre or two away as it “popped” up to check me out.   It would then glide back down the cliff face, circle out to sea and then pop back up in front of me.

Apparently Kittiwakes recognise their nests and not their chicks!  As the chicks can’t really wander away from the nest no feeding call is needed.  I like to think this individual spotted a strange bird on its nest, or was simply raising an alarm call in response to spotting a marauding black backed gull or crow!

Kittiwake launching itself into flight!  Unlike most of the gull species these birds do not scavenge but prefer their food fresh from the sea.  They tend to go for small fish and crustaceans.  They even plunge dive if necessary!  This is a clean living gull if you like!

As fond as I am of the Kittiwakes, I can’t help but think they are mad!  Who in their right mind would choose to spend their winters out at sea?  The North Sea and North Atlantic!  Other birds seem to have the right idea when the seasons change.  They tend to head for warmer climates.

Having spent a good number of hours, scrabbling along chalky cliff edges in pursuit of Kittiwake images, I decided to head for home.  Well actually I had used up all my memory cards!  So I stashed the camera and lenses, and made my way home, around the Cuckmere Haven and over the Seven Sisters.  Every now and then a Kestrel would hover over head and a Fulmar would pop its head over the cliff tops.  Plenty of drama and excitement all within walking distance!

Looking back from the Seven Sisters as the clouds roll in.