On Friday, members of the Lowestoft Kittiwake Partnership joined staff and pupils at St Nicholas Primary Academy to celebrate the creation of a new kittiwake mural that will take pride of place at the entrance to the school, on St Margaret’s Road in Lowestoft.

The new mural, which depicts one of Lowestoft’s familiar nesting kittiwakes, was painted by street artist ATM with the help of pupils during a week of conservation themed activities organized by staff at the school and supported by Suffolk Wildlife Trust and the Lowestoft Kittiwake Partnership.

The week’s activities link to the national curriculum and have been designed to connect and engage pupils with the place where they live – including its wildlife.

As well as joining in with the mural painting, pupils have enjoyed a field trip to the beach led by Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Learning Team, created their own sculptures inspired by Lowestoft as part of a school art trail – including a kittiwake of course – and had classroom-based lessons about wildlife and nature.

Kittiwakes – small gulls that spend most of their time at sea and feed exclusively on fish – have been nesting in Lowestoft since the 1960s, first in and around the harbour and later spreading to other parts of the town, where they prefer to nest on buildings and ledges facing the sea.

Lowestoft’s growing population of urban kittiwakes has become important for the birds’ conservation as their overall numbers have declined due to climate change, loss of nesting sites, and pressure on fisheries reducing the abundance of the fish they eat. But as their numbers have increased in the town, the mess they make around their nesting sites has made them unpopular with some local people and businesses.

Chaired by Waveney MP Peter Aldous, the Lowestoft Kittiwake Partnership formed earlier this year to bring local businesses, councils, community members, and conservation organisations together to raise awareness of kittiwakes and other gulls in Lowestoft, and to find sustainable solutions that enable kittiwakes to nest safely while minimizing conflict between the birds and local businesses and people – including by helping address the problem of the mess they make. Its members include the RSPB, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Lowestoft Town Council, Lowestoft Vision (the Business Improvement District for Lowestoft), ABP (Associated British Ports), East Suffolk Council, and Groundwork East.

This summer, thanks to funding provided by Lowestoft Town Council, the Partnership has been able to start engaging with local businesses and residents to understand their awareness of and attitudes to kittiwakes, as well as providing businesses and building owners with advice on how they can manage kittiwakes nesting on their buildings without resorting to the use of potentially harmful nesting deterrents such as netting.

We are delighted that East Suffolk Council have agreed to match the funding for the Lowestoft Kittiwake Partnership provided by Lowestoft Town Council earlier in the year. This will allow the Partnership to extend the delivery of the vital business and community engagement started this summer to raise awareness and understanding of kittiwakes and develop sustainable and bird-friendly solutions to the challenges of living alongside these amazing birds in Lowestoft.

Rupert Masefield, Planning and Advocacy Manager at Suffolk Wildlife Trust, said: “It is fantastic to see the enthusiasm that teachers, staff, and pupils at Northfield St Nicholas Primary Academy have shown for learning about and celebrating Lowestoft’s kittiwakes. Kittiwakes are a part of what makes Lowestoft special, and they need our help to nest safely in the town, because elsewhere they are really struggling.

“We hope this new kittiwake mural will encourage people to learn more about kittiwakes and support the Lowestoft Kittiwake Partnership’s efforts to help businesses and local people sensitively and sustainably address some of the challenges of sharing the town with these amazing birds.”

Northfield St Nicholas Primary Academy Headteacher, Iain Owens, said: “Northfield are thrilled to be involved in this project. At Northfield St Nicholas Primary, as at all Reach2 schools, we know how important it is that the children get a chance to understand local environmental issues and with project this they get a chance to play a part in raising awareness, learning about and helping protect some of the seabirds and wildlife that are important to the Lowestoft environment. We have been very lucky not only to have the Kittiwake mural painted on our school building but also for the children to get to work with an established British artist to design and create a complimentary mural on the back wall of the school which some of the children have been able to get hands on to create.

“As part of our Conservation themed week rooted in the Reach2 Trust’s own Sustainability commitment, the pupils have learned about lots of current environmental issues that affect both local wildlife and humans both in and beyond Lowestoft and each class created their own substantial art works based on local landmarks using recycled materials from household waste making this week on they will certainly remember for some time to come!”

Councillor Andy Pearce, Lowestoft Town Council, said: “Kittiwakes globally are declining and threatened, but the population of kittiwakes here in Lowestoft is bucking the trend and thriving. The Lowestoft kittiwakes are therefore important for the conservation of the species as a whole and offer hope for the future of these birds. Lowestoft Town Council is committed to help build a future for both people and wildlife in Lowestoft, and fully supports the ethos and aims of the Lowestoft Kittiwake Partnership: to help people, kittiwakes, and other urban gull species co-exist peacefully in the town whilst seeking practical ways to address and overcome the challenges that come with that co-existence, including – inevitably – tackling the accumulation of birds’ mess on our streets and buildings. The Town Council also supports the education and future of our children and was delighted to be able to contribute towards the funding of this mural.”

Phil Aves, Chair of Lowestoft Rising Cultural Education partnership, said: “The Lowestoft Cultural Education partnership is pleased to be working with Suffolk Wildlife Trust and ATM to bring this fantastic work into a school setting and to see children engaged in the process. The fact the school were involved in choosing the kittiwakes as their bird of choice for this mural is wonderful. We hope that this piece of work will lead to further mural work across other schools in due course.”

Lowestoft Rising

Lowestoft Town Council

Northfield St Nicholas Primary Academy