1.
Bridlington
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The Gypsey Race river runs through the town and emerges into the North Sea in the town harbour. In the 2011 Census the population of the parish was 35,369, Bridlington is a minor sea fishing port with a working harbour and is well known for its shellfish. It has a mix of businesses across the manufacturing, retail. The origins of the town are uncertain, but archaeological evidence shows habitation in the Bronze Age and in Roman times. The settlement at the Norman conquest was called Bretlinton, but has gone by the names of Berlington, Brellington and Britlington. The town is twinned with Millau in France and Bad Salzuflen in Germany, one of the UKs coastal weather stations is located at Bridlington. The Priory Church of St Mary and the associated Bayle Gate are Grade I listed buildings, the church stands on the site of the original Augustine Priory. The first mention of the town is in the Domesday Book as Bretlinton and it has also gone by the names of Berlington, Brellington and Britlington, before settling on its modern name in the 19th century. There are several suggestions about the origin of the name, all suggest that it followed the Anglo-Saxon custom of referring to a person and the type of settlement. In this case there are different personal names put forward such as Bretel, a Roman road from York, now known as Woldgate, can be traced across the Yorkshire Wolds into the town, and Roman coins have been found in the town. Two Roman coin hoards were found in the area, along with two Greek coins dating from the 2nd century BC – suggesting that the port was in use long before the Roman invasion. It has been suggested that the Roman maritime station of Gabrantovicorum was located in the vicinity of the modern town, in the early 2nd century Ptolemy described Bridlington Bay in his Geography as Gabranticorum Sinus, with many harbours. In the 4th century Count Theodosius established signal stations on the North Yorkshire coast to warn of Saxon raids and it is believed that Flamborough Head would also have had one of these stations. From the Headland an observer can see Filey, Scarborough Castle, a fort at Bridlington would have been well placed to act as centre of operations for these forts. A network of signal stations stretching south around the broad Bridlington Bay has also been suggested and this counterpart to the northern chain would guard this huge and accessible anchorage from barbarian piracy. Near Dukes Park are two bowl barrows known as Butt Hills and they have been designated as Ancient Monuments designated and is now recorded in the National Heritage List for England, maintained by Historic England. Also nearby are the remains of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery on a farm outside of Sewerby, the earliest written evidence of Bridlington is in the Domesday Book. It records that Bretlinton was the head of the Hunthow Hundred and was held by Earl Morcar before it passed into the hands of William the Conqueror by the forfeiture, the land was given to Gilbert de Gant, uncle of King Stephen, in 1072
2.
North Sea
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The North Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean located between Great Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the ocean through the English Channel in the south and it is more than 970 kilometres long and 580 kilometres wide, with an area of around 570,000 square kilometres. The North Sea has long been the site of important European shipping lanes as well as a major fishery, the North Sea was the centre of the Vikings rise. Subsequently, the Hanseatic League, the Netherlands, and the British each sought to dominate the North Sea and thus the access to the markets, as Germanys only outlet to the ocean, the North Sea continued to be strategically important through both World Wars. The coast of the North Sea presents a diversity of geological and geographical features, in the north, deep fjords and sheer cliffs mark the Norwegian and Scottish coastlines, whereas in the south it consists primarily of sandy beaches and wide mudflats. Due to the population, heavy industrialization, and intense use of the sea and area surrounding it. In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean, in the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively. In the north it is bordered by the Shetland Islands, and connects with the Norwegian Sea, the North Sea is more than 970 kilometres long and 580 kilometres wide, with an area of 570,000 square kilometres and a volume of 54,000 cubic kilometres. Around the edges of the North Sea are sizeable islands and archipelagos, including Shetland, Orkney, the North Sea receives freshwater from a number of European continental watersheds, as well as the British Isles. A large part of the European drainage basin empties into the North Sea including water from the Baltic Sea, the largest and most important rivers flowing into the North Sea are the Elbe and the Rhine – Meuse watershed. Around 185 million people live in the catchment area of the rivers discharging into the North Sea encompassing some highly industrialized areas, for the most part, the sea lies on the European continental shelf with a mean depth of 90 metres. The only exception is the Norwegian trench, which extends parallel to the Norwegian shoreline from Oslo to a north of Bergen. It is between 20 and 30 kilometres wide and has a depth of 725 metres. The Dogger Bank, a vast moraine, or accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris and this feature has produced the finest fishing location of the North Sea. The Long Forties and the Broad Fourteens are large areas with uniform depth in fathoms. These great banks and others make the North Sea particularly hazardous to navigate, the Devils Hole lies 200 miles east of Dundee, Scotland. The feature is a series of trenches between 20 and 30 kilometres long,1 and 2 kilometres wide and up to 230 metres deep. Other areas which are less deep are Cleaver Bank, Fisher Bank, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the North Sea as follows, On the Southwest
3.
Chalk
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Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is a salt called calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the accumulation of minute calcite shells shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores. Flint is very common as bands parallel to the bedding or as embedded in chalk. It is probably derived from sponge spicules or other organisms as water is expelled upwards during compaction. Flint is often deposited around larger fossils such as Echinoidea which may be silicified, Chalk as seen in Cretaceous deposits of Western Europe is unusual among sedimentary limestones in the thickness of the beds. Most cliffs of chalk have very few obvious bedding planes unlike most thick sequences of such as the Carboniferous Limestone or the Jurassic oolitic limestones. This presumably indicates very stable conditions over tens of millions of years, Chalk has greater resistance to weathering and slumping than the clays with which it is usually associated, thus forming tall steep cliffs where chalk ridges meet the sea. Chalk hills, known as chalk downland, usually form where bands of chalk reach the surface at an angle, because chalk is well jointed it can hold a large volume of ground water, providing a natural reservoir that releases water slowly through dry seasons. Chalk is mined from chalk deposits both above ground and underground, Chalk mining boomed during the Industrial Revolution, due to the need for chalk products such as quicklime and bricks. Abandoned chalk mines remain a popular tourist attraction due to their massive expanse, the Chalk Group is a European stratigraphic unit deposited during the late Cretaceous Period. It forms the famous White Cliffs of Dover in Kent, England, the Champagne region of France is mostly underlain by chalk deposits, which contain artificial caves used for wine storage. Some of the highest chalk cliffs in the occur at Jasmund National Park in Germany. Ninety million years ago what is now the chalk downland of Northern Europe was ooze accumulating at the bottom of a great sea. Chalk was one of the earliest rocks made up of particles to be studied under the electron microscope. Their shells were made of calcite extracted from the rich sea-water, as they died, a substantial layer gradually built up over millions of years and, through the weight of overlying sediments, eventually became consolidated into rock. Later earth movements related to the formation of the Alps raised these former sea-floor deposits above sea level, the chemical composition of chalk is calcium carbonate, with minor amounts of silt and clay. It is formed in the sea by plankton, which fall to the sea floor and are then consolidated and compressed during diagenesis into chalk rock
4.
Listed building
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A listed building or listed structure, in the United Kingdom, is one that has been placed on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. The statutory bodies maintaining the list are Historic England in England, Cadw in Wales, Historic Scotland in Scotland, however, the preferred term in Ireland is protected structure. In England and Wales, an amenity society must be notified of any work to a listed building which involves any element of demolition. Owners of listed buildings are, in circumstances, compelled to repair and maintain them. When alterations are permitted, or when listed buildings are repaired or maintained, slightly different systems operate in each area of the United Kingdom, though the basic principles of the listing remain the same. It was the damage to caused by German bombing during World War II that prompted the first listing of buildings that were deemed to be of particular architectural merit. The listings were used as a means of determining whether a building should be rebuilt if it was damaged by bombing. Listing was first introduced into Northern Ireland under the Planning Order 1972, the listing process has since developed slightly differently in each part of the UK. In the UK, the process of protecting the historic environment is called ‘designation’. A heritage asset is a part of the environment that is valued because of its historic. Only some of these are judged to be important enough to have legal protection through designation. However, buildings that are not formally listed but still judged as being of heritage interest are still regarded as being a consideration in the planning process. Almost anything can be listed – it does not have to be a building, Buildings and structures of special historic interest come in a wide variety of forms and types, ranging from telephone boxes and road signs, to castles. Historic England has created twenty broad categories of structures, and published selection guides for each one to aid with assessing buildings and these include historical overviews and describe the special considerations for listing each category. Both Historic Scotland and Cadw produce guidance for owners, in England, to have a building considered for listing or delisting, the process is to apply to the secretary of state, this can be done by submitting an application form online to Historic England. The applicant does not need to be the owner of the building to apply for it to be listed, full information including application form guidance notes are on the Historic England website. Historic England assesses buildings put forward for listing or delisting and provides advice to the Secretary of State on the architectural, the Secretary of State, who may seek additional advice from others, then decides whether or not to list or delist the building. In England and Wales the authority for listing is granted to the Secretary of State by the Planning Act 1990, Listed buildings in danger of decay are listed on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register
5.
European Economic Community
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The European Economic Community was a regional organisation which aimed to bring about economic integration among its member states. It was created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957, upon the formation of the European Union in 1993, the EEC was incorporated and renamed as the European Community. In 2009 the ECs institutions were absorbed into the EUs wider framework and it gained a common set of institutions along with the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community as one of the European Communities under the 1965 Merger Treaty. In 1993, a single market was achieved, known as the internal market, which allowed for the free movement of goods, capital, services. In 1994, the market was formalised by the EEA agreement. This agreement also extended the market to include most of the member states of the European Free Trade Association. Upon the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 and this was also when the three European Communities, including the EC, were collectively made to constitute the first of the three pillars of the European Union, which the treaty also founded. The EEC was also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking countries and sometimes referred to as the European Community even before it was renamed as such in 1993. In 1951, the Treaty of Paris was signed, creating the European Coal and this was an international community based on supranationalism and international law, designed to help the economy of Europe and prevent future war by integrating its members. In the aim of creating a federal Europe two further communities were proposed, a European Defence Community and a European Political Community. While the treaty for the latter was being drawn up by the Common Assembly, the ECSC parliamentary chamber, after the Messina Conference in 1955, Paul Henri Spaak was given the task to prepare a report on the idea of a customs union. The so-called Spaak Report of the Spaak Committee formed the cornerstone of the negotiations at Val Duchesse castle in 1956. Together with the Ohlin Report the Spaak Report would provide the basis for the Treaty of Rome, in 1956, Paul Henri Spaak led the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at the Val Duchesse castle, which prepared for the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The conference led to the signature, on 25 March 1957, the resulting communities were the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. These were markedly less supranational than the communities, due to protests from some countries that their sovereignty was being infringed. The first formal meeting of the Hallstein Commission, was held on 16 January 1958 at the Chateau de Val-Duchesse, the EEC was to create a customs union while Euratom would promote co-operation in the nuclear power sphere. The EEC rapidly became the most important of these and expanded its activities, one of the first important accomplishments of the EEC was the establishment of common price levels for agricultural products. In 1968, internal tariffs were removed on certain products, another crisis was triggered in regard to proposals for the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy, which came into force in 1962
6.
Cretaceous
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The Cretaceous is a geologic period and system that spans 79 million years from the end of the Jurassic Period 145 million years ago to the beginning of the Paleogene Period 66 Mya. It is the last period of the Mesozoic Era, the Cretaceous Period is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation Kreide. The Cretaceous was a period with a warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct marine reptiles, ammonites and rudists, during this time, new groups of mammals and birds, as well as flowering plants, appeared. The Cretaceous ended with a mass extinction, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, in which many groups, including non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs. The end of the Cretaceous is defined by the abrupt Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, the name Cretaceous was derived from Latin creta, meaning chalk. The Cretaceous is divided into Early and Late Cretaceous epochs, or Lower and Upper Cretaceous series, in older literature the Cretaceous is sometimes divided into three series, Neocomian, Gallic and Senonian. A subdivision in eleven stages, all originating from European stratigraphy, is now used worldwide, in many parts of the world, alternative local subdivisions are still in use. As with other geologic periods, the rock beds of the Cretaceous are well identified. No great extinction or burst of diversity separates the Cretaceous from the Jurassic and this layer has been dated at 66.043 Ma. A140 Ma age for the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary instead of the usually accepted 145 Ma was proposed in 2014 based on a study of Vaca Muerta Formation in Neuquén Basin. Víctor Ramos, one of the authors of the study proposing the 140 Ma boundary age sees the study as a first step toward formally changing the age in the International Union of Geological Sciences, due to the high sea level there was extensive space for such sedimentation. Because of the young age and great thickness of the system. Chalk is a type characteristic for the Cretaceous. It consists of coccoliths, microscopically small calcite skeletons of coccolithophores, the group is found in England, northern France, the low countries, northern Germany, Denmark and in the subsurface of the southern part of the North Sea. Chalk is not easily consolidated and the Chalk Group still consists of sediments in many places. The group also has other limestones and arenites, among the fossils it contains are sea urchins, belemnites, ammonites and sea reptiles such as Mosasaurus. In southern Europe, the Cretaceous is usually a marine system consisting of competent limestone beds or incompetent marls
7.
Holderness
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Holderness is an area of the East Riding of Yorkshire, on the east coast of England. An area of agricultural land, Holderness was marshland until it was drained in the Middle Ages. Topographically, Holderness has more in common with the Netherlands than other parts of Yorkshire, to the north and west are the Yorkshire Wolds. The Prime Meridian passes through Holderness just to the east of Patrington, from 1974 to 1996 Holderness lay within the Borough of Holderness in Humberside. The city of Kingston upon Hull lies in the south-west corner of Holderness and Bridlington borders the north-east, the main towns include Beverley, Withernsea, Hornsea and Hedon. The Holderness Coast stretches from Flamborough Head to Spurn Head, the area has boundaries which are clearly defined by the rising land of the Yorkshire Wolds to the north and west, the North Sea to the east and the Humber Estuary to the south. There are no motorways in the area, however there is access to the motorway network via the A63 from Hull. Links to the continent are also via Hull, from where ferry services to Rotterdam. A-class roads centre upon Hull and the resort of Bridlington. Otherwise the A1033 road which connects Withernsea on the south-east coast to inland areas is the main route in the area. The only remaining rail link is the Yorkshire Coast Line that runs between Hull in the south and Bridlington and it tends to skirt the area towards the west. Until the 1960s there were lines from Hull to both Hornsea and Withernsea, but these were closed as a result of the Beeching Report. Furthermore, in 1901 there was a proposal to construct the North Holderness Light Railway from Beverley to North Frodingham railway station, but this came to nothing. As part of the United Kingdom, the Holderness area generally has cool summers, the wind sometimes causes depositions to happen. Between depressions there are often small mobile anticyclones that bring periods of fair weather, in winter anticyclones bring cold dry weather. In summer the anticyclones tend to bring dry settled conditions which can lead to drought, for its latitude this area is mild in winter and cooler in summer due to the influence of the Gulf Stream in the northern Atlantic Ocean. Air temperature varies on a daily and seasonal basis, the temperature is usually lower at night and January is the coldest time of the year. The landscape is dominated by deposits of till, boulder clays and these were deposited during the Devensian glaciation
8.
Natural arch
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A natural arch, natural bridge or, less commonly, a rock arch is a natural rock formation where an arch has formed with an opening underneath. Natural arches commonly form where inland cliffs, coastal cliffs, fins or stacks are subject to erosion from the sea, most natural arches are formed from narrow fins and sea stacks composed of sandstone or limestone with steep, often vertical, cliff faces. The formations become narrower due to erosion over time scales. The softer rock stratum erodes away creating rock shelters, or alcoves, on sides of the formation beneath the relatively harder stratum, or caprock. The alcoves erode further into the formation eventually meeting underneath the harder caprock layer, the choice between bridge and arch is somewhat arbitrary. The Natural Arch and Bridge Society identifies a bridge as a subtype of arch that is primarily water-formed, by contrast, the Dictionary of Geological Terms defines a natural bridge as a natural arch that spans a valley of erosion. The largest natural arch, by a significant margin, is the Xianren Bridge in China, on coasts two different types of arches can form depending on the geology. On discordant coastlines rock types run at 90° to the coast, wave refraction concentrates the wave energy on the headland, and an arch forms when caves break through the headland. Two examples of type of arch are London Arch—previously known as London Bridge—in Victoria, Australia. When these arches eventually collapse, they form stacks and stumps, on concordant coastlines rock types run parallel to the coastline, with weak rock such as shale protected by stronger rock such as limestone. The wave action along concordant coastlines breaks through the strong rock, good examples of this type of arch are the Durdle Door and Stair Hole near Lulworth Cove on Dorsets Jurassic Coast in south England. When Stair Hole eventually collapses it will form a cove, weather-eroded arches begin their formation as deep cracks which penetrate into a sandstone layer. Erosion occurring within the cracks wears away exposed rock layers and enlarges the surface cracks isolating narrow sandstone walls which are called fins, alternating frosts and thawing cause crumbling and flaking of the porous sandstone and eventually cut through some of the fins. The resulting holes become enlarged to arch proportions by rockfalls and weathering, the arches eventually collapse leaving only buttresses that in time will erode. Many weather-eroded arches are found in Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, some natural bridges may look like arches, but they form in the path of streams that wear away and penetrate the rock. Pothole arches form by chemical weathering as water collects in natural depressions, Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah protects the area surrounding three large natural bridges all of which were formed by streams running through canyons. The largest of which is named Sipapu Bridge with a span of 225 feet, Natural bridges can form from natural limestone caves, where paired sinkholes collapse and a ridge of stone is left standing in between, with the cave passageway connecting from sinkhole to sinkhole. Like all rock formations, natural bridges are subject to continued erosion, one example of this was the double-arched Victorian coastal rock formation, London Bridge, which lost an arch after storms increased erosion
9.
Blowhole (geology)
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Blowholes are likely to occur in areas where there are crevices, such as lava tubes, in rock along the coast. These areas are located along fault lines and on islands. As powerful waves hit the coast, water rushes into these crevices and it is often accompanied by a loud noise and wide spray, and for this reason, blowholes are often sites of tourism. Blowholes have the capacity to change the topography near their locations, blowholes can eventually erode the area surrounding the crevices to form larger sea caves. In some instances, the cave itself may collapse and this event may create shallow pools along the coast. A blowhole is also the name of a geologic feature in which air is blown through a small hole at the surface due to pressure differences between a closed underground system and the surface. The blowholes of Wupatki National Monument are an example of such a phenomenon and it is estimated that the closed underground passages have a volume of at least seven billion cubic feet. Wind speeds can approach 30 miles per hour, another well-known example of the blowhole is the natural entrance to the Wind Cave
10.
Seabird
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Seabirds are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. The first seabirds evolved in the Cretaceous period, and modern seabird families emerged in the Paleogene, in general, seabirds live longer, breed later and have fewer young than other birds do, but they invest a great deal of time in their young. Most species nest in colonies, which can vary in size from a few birds to millions. Many species are famous for undertaking long annual migrations, crossing the equator or circumnavigating the Earth in some cases and they feed both at the oceans surface and below it, and even feed on each other. Seabirds can be highly pelagic, coastal, or in some cases spend a part of the year away from the sea entirely, Seabirds and humans have a long history together, they have provided food to hunters, guided fishermen to fishing stocks and led sailors to land. Many species are threatened by human activities, and conservation efforts are under way. There exists no single definition of which groups, families and species are seabirds, and most definitions are in some way arbitrary. In the words of two scientists, The one common characteristic that all seabirds share is that they feed in saltwater. However, by all of the Sphenisciformes and Procellariiformes, all of the Pelecaniformes except the darters. The phalaropes are usually included as well, since although they are waders, loons and grebes, which nest on lakes but winter at sea, are usually categorized as water birds, not seabirds. Although there are a number of sea ducks in the family Anatidae that are truly marine in the winter, many waders and herons are also highly marine, living on the seas edge, but are also not treated as seabirds. Seabirds, by virtue of living in a depositional environment, are well represented in the fossil record. In the Paleogene the seas were dominated by early Procellariidae, giant penguins, modern genera began their wide radiation in the Miocene, although the genus Puffinus might date back to the Oligocene. The highest diversity of seabirds apparently existed during the Late Miocene, Seabirds have made numerous adaptations to living on and feeding in the sea. Wing morphology has been shaped by the niche an individual species or family has evolved, so that looking at a wings shape, longer wings and low wing loading are typical of more pelagic species, while diving species have shorter wings. Seabirds also almost always have webbed feet, to aid movement on the surface as well as assisting diving in some species. The Procellariiformes are unusual among birds in having a sense of smell, which is used to find widely distributed food in a vast ocean. Salt glands are used by seabirds to deal with the salt they ingest by drinking and feeding, the excretions from these glands are almost pure sodium chloride
11.
Northern gannet
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The northern gannet is a seabird and the largest member of the gannet family, Sulidae. Gannet is derived from Old English ganot strong or masculine, ultimately from the same Old Germanic root as gander, Morus is derived from Ancient Greek moros, foolish due to the lack of fear shown by breeding gannets and boobies allowing them to be easily killed. The specific bassanus is from the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth, the northern gannet has the same colours as the Australasian gannet and is similar in appearance. Nesting in colonies as large as 75,000 pairs on both sides of the north Atlantic this bird undertakes seasonal migrations and is a spectacular high-speed diver, Old names for the northern gannet include solan and solan goose. Adults are 81–110 cm long, weigh 2. 2–3.6 kg and have a 165–180 cm wingspan, before fledging, the immature birds can weigh more than 4 kg. Each wing measures between 47 and 53 cm when outstretched and the beak measures between 9 and 11 cm, the two sexes are a similar size. The plumage of the adults is white with dark wing tips, the feathers are waterproof, which allows the birds to spend long periods in water. A water-impermeable secretion produced by a sebaceous gland covers the feathers, the eye is light blue, and it is surrounded by bare, black skin, which gives the birds their characteristic facial expression. Fledglings are brown with white wing tips and they have white spots on their head and on their back and a v-shaped white area underneath. The plumage of one-year-olds can be almost completely brown, in the second year the birds’ appearance changes depending on the different phases of moulting, they can have adult plumage at the front and continue to be brown at the rear. They gradually acquire more white in subsequent seasons until they reach maturity after five years, newborn chicks are featherless and are dark blue or black in colour. In the second week of life they are covered in white down, from the fifth week they are covered in dark brown feathers flecked with white. Their beak is long, strong and conical with a downward curve at the end. The front part has a sharp edge, in adults, the beak is blue-grey with dark grey or black edges. It is brownish in immature birds, the northern gannet’s eyes are large and point forwards, and they have a light blue to light grey iris surrounded by a thin black ring. The four toes of their feet are joined by a membrane that can vary from grey to dark brown. There are yellow lines running along the toes that continue along their legs, the rear toe is strong and faces inwards allowing the birds to firmly grip onto vertical cliff faces. Northern gannets dive vertically into the sea at velocities of up to 100 km/h and they do not have external nostrils and their secondary nostrils can be closed when they are in water
12.
Kittiwake
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The kittiwakes are two closely related seabird species in the gull family Laridae, the black-legged kittiwake and the red-legged kittiwake. The name is derived from its call, a shrill kittee-wa-aaake, kitte-wa-aaake, the genus name Rissa is from the Icelandic name Rita for the black-legged kittiwake. The two species are very similar. They have a head and body, grey back, grey wings tipped solid black. Black-legged kittiwake adults are larger than red-legged kittiwakes. Other differences include a bill, larger eyes, a larger, rounder head. While most black-legged kittiwakes do, indeed, have legs, some have pinkish-grey to reddish legs. In contrast to the chicks of other gull species, kittiwake chicks are downy and white since they are under relatively little threat of predation. Unlike other gull chicks which wander around as soon as they can walk, juveniles take three years to reach maturity. When in winter plumage, both birds have a dark grey smudge behind the eye and a grey hind-neck collar, kittiwakes are coastal breeding birds ranging in the North Pacific, North Atlantic, and Arctic oceans. They form large, dense, noisy colonies during the reproductive period. They are the gull species that are exclusively cliff-nesting. The black-legged kittiwake is one of the most numerous of seabirds, lawrence through Greenland and the coast of Ireland down to Portugal, as well as in the high Arctic islands. In the winter, the range further south and out to sea. On these islands, it some of the same cliff habitat as the black-legged kittiwake
Media related to Flamborough Head at Wikimedia Commons