Room 4 a Small 1

A young Kittiwake, (Rissa tridactyla) stares out over the river Tyne. These Birds are nesting near the top of the Gateshead Baltic Arts Centre. The Baltic is a huge old flour mill. The mill stands on the edge of the river,and acts like an artificial cliff. The Kittiwakes have nested there for over 100yrs. They also nest on the Newcastle side of the Tyne Bridge. There is very little documented about how the Kittiwakes on the Baltic Art Centre or the Tyne Bridge break all records for nesting this far Inland................ Kittiwakes are capable of utilizing the very sheerest of vertical cliffs, as is evident in their nesting sites on Staple Island in the outer Farne Islands. One to two buff spotted eggs are laid in the nest lined with moss or seaweed. The downy young of Kittiwakes are white, since they have no need of camouflage from predators, and do not wander from the nest like Larus gulls for obvious safety reasons.