The first flight of the Kittiwake
Kittiwakes are one of my favourite birds. I love their delicate bills, their dipped-in-ink wings and their streamlined bodies.
![Kittiwake - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Kittiwake-The-Hall-of-Einar--725x483.jpg)
And their “Kittiwaaaak” call echoing around the sea caves is eery and magnificent.
We’re watching the juveniles on their first flights today. They’re a little less well put together in their sartorial elegance.
![Juvenile Kittiwake - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Noup-Head-The-Hall-of-Einar-9-725x408.jpg)
These are the lucky ones which have managed to evade the Great Skuas hunting along the cliffs.
We’re there for several hours, enjoying the sounds and smells of the colony. I take hundreds of photographs. The light is relatively low because there’s a gentle mist hanging over the cliffs and visibility is poor. It’s when this juvenile Kittiwake wheels and turns in the air in a balletic pirouette that I know I’ve got a photograph I love:
![Juvenile Kittiwake - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Noup-Head-The-Hall-of-Einar-13-725x408.jpg)