Seaford: Get a gull in your sights

RSPB volunteers with an array of high-powered telescopes will be on hand to give in-nest views of 800 pairs of kittiwakes and their chicks.

The kittiwake, an ocean-going gull named after its evocative call, was persecuted in Victorian times for sport and used for decoration on women s hats.

Many colonies were wiped out and it was the first species to be given legal protection.

Kittiwakes first bred in Sussex in 1976 and the colonies at Seaford and Newhaven now support about a quarter of all the kittiwakes breeding between Lincolnshire and Dorset.

An RSPB spokesman said: 'Kittiwakes are now proving their worth to society.In 1999, the poor breeding success of kittiwakes in Scotland raised the alarm that North Sea fish numbers were dangerously low.

It shows how important birds are as indicators of whether we are living in a way which can be sustained for future generations of both wildlife and people.'

Published: 18.7.01 Sussex Newspapers Ltd