CAMPHUYSEN CJ & LEOPOLD MF (2007) Black-legged Kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla colonised more offshore platforms in the Southern North Sea. LIMOSA 80 (4): 153-156.

In summer 2000, breeding Black-legged Kittiwakes were reported from Wintershall offshore platform L8-P in the Frisian Front area (Southern North Sea), some 65 km NW of Texel, The Netherlands (Fig. 1). Breeding was confirmed in most years since and during a visit in 2005, 45 apparently occupied nests (AON) were found (22 were empty, eight with a single egg, 15 with two eggs). Nearby unmanned platforms had apparently not been colonised (except for two nests at L8-A that were reported later on), but it was predicted that, given excellent feeding conditions in the area, colonisations of other platforms would be only a matter of time. A survey in summer 2006 revealed that prospecting or nesting Kittiwakes were present at six out of nine visited offshore platforms in the Frisian Front area and Klaverbank region (Fig. 1, Tab. 1). Breeding was confirmed at three of these platforms. The 2006 breeding season at L8-P, however, was ruined by clean-up operations earlier in the season. Many adults had rebuilt their nests, but breeding success was nil.

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