One of the most beautiful of gulls is, in my opinion, the Kittiwake or, as now known, Black-legged Kittiwake. This bird breeds in the North Atlantic and disperses south to the waters around the Strait of Gibraltar and even further down the Atlantic coast of North Africa. But its winter numbers are heavily dependent on weather conditions. If we get long periods of severe south-westerlies, then many birds that are wintering out at sea in the Atlantic get pushed inshore. During such times many get beached and die. I remember years with tens of thousands of Kittiwakes around our coasts in December and January, even as late as March.