The gulls are coming - run for your lives!

The Safari was out on Patch 2 for the first day of National Whale and Dolphin Watch. We had plenty of volunteers today, including a young lass who'd traveled by train from Derby! and DB chair of the Lancashire Mammal Group among their number, but the wind had whipped up a bit after yesterday's calm and it was a tad to choppy for seeing any cetaceans. 

 

We did find a Grey Seal quite close in early on and managed to get a few of the passing punters on to it. Then another turned up a short way to the south of our watch point.

There wasn't too much else to get excited about, there were hardly any sea birds out there and not so many on the beach either - must have all been in town ripping terriers to shreds and carrying off babies. Three juvenile Kittiwakes and a juvenile Gannet were pick if the bunch. 

We'll be out again tomorrow morning but sadly the weather forecast is looking very promising at all.

Once back at Base Camp we had to venture outside to hang some laundry and saw that these two very scary looking reprobates were lurking furtively on the roof looking down on us licking their beaks in anticipation of a meal of warm, fresh and dripping human flesh.

Wisely we covered our head in a thick towel while we hung the rest of laundry on the line.

Not long after Wifey had to go to her sister's on an errand - we had to make sure the coast was clear - it wasn't the 'sea'gulls had set up sentries on the look out for victims on several nearby roofs.

She made a dash for it from the front door all of 10 paces to her car using the garden shrubbery as cover - Oh no! She was spotted..one swooped in for the kill it's menacing eye locked onto the top of poor Wifey's head.

Thankfully she reached the car flung open the door and dived inside before it could strike.
It's getting seriously dangerous out there - Help us Mr Ca-moron pleeeeaseeee before we all DIEEEE

Really though all this biophobic ecocidal nonsense has to stop, is it part of the complete disconnect with the natural world that has been called Nature Deficit Disorder? 

We learned this arvo that some half-wits had killed five large mature trees by drilling large holes in them and packing them with poison - what is the world coming to?

The Safari implores anyone with any knowledge of natural history to get busy and promote it as a wonderful thing to everyone else especially those that don't want to know - there are none so blind as those who won't see, keep plugging away sharing those wondrous moments and fuzzy out of focus pics without being too evangelical. A local community inter-web forum here has a huge long thread about the 'need' to get rid of 'sea'gulls, why you ask...the over-riding consensus is they make  a noise early in the morning and sh*t on peoples' cars. They've even written to their MP (Tory) demanding action...this is a seaside town what do they expect? If they don't like gulls they should move to Coventry or some other such well inland place! Roof nesting has been going on for years here so why they haven't got used to it by now is beyond us. We suspect it's because the attitude of 'normal' people is to be far more intolerant of wildlife than in the past especially brought about by a government and (pocket) media demonising just about everything that moves and those same general Jo Publics just keep on lapping it up along with all the other cr*p the corporate moguls shovel at them.

Where to next? We'll be back on the coast but you can bet your bottom dollar we'll be keeping a watchful eye out for those pesky seagulls.

In the meantime let us know who's been carrying away all the babies in your outback.

More gully stuff

The picture is the answer to the question - 'which is the UK's most numerous breeding gull?

D'yer know what it is yet?

Answers please......I'm not telling you you'll have to write in.

Surprisingly it is the species that most people see the least due to the fact that it only breeds on northern sea cliffs and spends most of the year out at sea. There are a few pairs nesting on buildings in ports, particularly Newcastle. They are almost never found inland.

Best bird in the book is the Mediterranean Gull. This is an adult showing the full black head, big white eye brows, bright shiny red beak and pure white wings. A real beauty. Most of the world's population actually live in the Black Sea not the 'Med; but if I said to you that 's a Black Sea Gull you'd think I said black seagull and then you'd think I was bonkers! So I think it's OK to call them Med Gulls.


Their young look like very pale versions of Common Gulls. But just to confuse the issue so do young Ring Billed Gulls - a rare but increasing visitor to Britain from America. I've not seen one for a while now. First picture is a young Med, dark bill and legs and a pale brown panel in the wing, the second picture is a young Ring Bill with a stout black tipped pink bill and a paler panel in the wing. You've got to admit they are similar and despite being much paler on the mantle than young Common Gulls are still quite tricky to pick out, being out-numbered several hundreds, if not thousands, to one.


Below is a Little Gull. The only British species to be darker - almost black - on the underwing than above, which you can see is silvery grey. The best place to see these is Seaforth Nature Reserve in spring when often well over a hundred are present. The are a very dainty small gull with an effortless buoyant flight. They nest in eastern Europe but many years ago I was lucky enough to warden a nesting pair in Norfolk in the late 1970's.


Now we come to them more regular species. This is a Black Headed Gull in adult winter plumage. Thin dark red bill, dark flesh legs, little splurge behind the eye.


In flight the white leading edge to the wing is a give away. You can see it on the upper and under wings.

Unlike the Mediterranean Gull there is some black in the wingtip and the underwing is smokey grey not pure white.

The white leading edge can be easily seen even if the bird is coming towards you.

Just a couple more shots of Black Heads to make sure you've got your eye in.

The other species most regularly seen is the Herring Gull. This is the gull of seaside sound effects and stolen ice creams, sandwiches, etc. Large powerful, bold with a silvery grey back, pink legs and a strong yellow beak with a red blob - the gonyal angle. Very easy to identify in flight - look for the clean underwing with the translucent patch. Lesser Black Backs seen from below have a narrow black band along the trailing edge and no translucent patch.



The translucent patch is evident in all age groups as this first winter bird shows.




Even on a grey day like today the wing appears translucent, in sunny conditions it is very easy to pick out if if the gulls are soaring at great height.

Below is the bully boy of the shore line. In our part of the world the biggest bird normally seen on the beach; the Great Back Backed Gull. Very big, very powerful and very belligerent. They will fly over the top of feeding gulls disturbing them to see if there are any easy pickings. I have seen them kill Rabbits and Herring Gulls at Seaforth Nature Reserve.

This magnificent specimen is an adult Lesser Black Backed Gull. same size as the Herrings but significantly smaller than the Great Black Backed Gulls and subtly paler too. A nice tone of dark charcoal grey rather than totally black.

Below are some annotated beach scenes from this afternoon. I really must get some digiscoping equipment. But if your down on the beach with your binocs or even just the dog these are the views you will get so the pictures are quite relevant.

Enjoy your gull watching whervere you are - there's far more to them than just 'seagulls'!

This is the sort of thing they were after on the beach. Lots of shellfish washed up after the recent storms. This one is a very fresh Prickly Cockle.

Where to next? I might have some more gull info about the 'white winged' gulls. but then there'll be a safari to report on over the weekend.

In the meantime don't forget to let us know what you have found in your outback.

And just in case we've upset any Australians with our multitude of gull species - here's a crackin' picture a Silver Gull.

Well worth the wait don't you think?