I just love this seabird and every year I get excited to see it and this year is no different. We have only seen it a few times this year but
For us, it’s just something a little bit different and its really nice to show people the difference in colour between a normal Guillemot and a leucistic. Lots of people are really interested and can’t believe how we spotted it in the first place, especially among thousands of Guillemots and I suppose we were just lucky really.
Leucism is inherited but the extent of the condition can vary between adults and their offspring and it can also skip generations if the leucistic genes are recessive.
Leucistic birds will have weakened feathers, which are more susceptible to wear and tear, and, as a result, they may have difficulty flying, but in this case, i don’t think this is a problem at all as I’ve seen it fly and it looks mighty fine to me. If they have very large patches of leucism, they are going to be more conspicuous and vulnerable to predators, and again I can’t see this in our seabird as it seems to be fine

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Aren’t we privileged to be able to witness such special things in nature? Thank you so much to you, Toby and your crews for making it possible for more of us to share in such a world 👏👏