Herring gull (Larus argentatus)
Length: up to 67cm, Wingspan: 1.3 to 1.6m Weight: 750 to 1,250g
Family: Laridae.
This is a large gull, being not so quick and agile as other smaller Gulls. The Herring Gull has adapted well by scavenging in our coastal towns for food. It has a very varied diet and will eat all kinds of scrapes from the ground and water, will also raid all types of rubbish containers. Over recent years this has become more evident and unfortunately, they have become a nuisance in many coastal towns; some even having the taste of all kinds of “fast-food” and ice-cream. Having said this, it is mainly a human fault because of the way we unknowingly encourage them by the way we throw away our waste. This then becomes easy pickings, especially for the not so shy of Humans the Herring Gull has become. Also lack of fish stocks due to years of over fishing in the sea can also be a major factor in the way this Gull has adapted to survive.
Feeding: A very varied diet including fish, mollusks, insects, offal, dead animals, eggs and vulnerable chicks of other birds and has also been seen killing feral pigeons. All kinds of wasted food from bread to human vomit. Seldom eats fresh fruit as it tends to prefer windfalls and rotten fruit, being more tasteful.
Breeding and nest sites are found widespread, mostly over North West Europe
In the mating season the hen will approach the cock bird in a hunched submissive posture on his territory, continuously making begging calls (like the call of young gulls). If he accepts her, he will maintain an upright posture and will return her calls with a mewing like sound. This is then physically followed by synchronised head movements towards each other, at this stage the cock bird will regurgitate some food for the female bird. If they are successful in rearing young, Herring Gulls are mostly sexually monogamous so, a good chance they will pair up for life. Herring Gulls have a life expectancy of up to twenty years. (some Herring Gulls have been recorded to have lived for over forty years of age!)
Nesting: Grass-lined nest on cliff ledges, and sometimes nests on buildings, one brood a year in May, containing two to three eggs.
The young birds are able to fly between thirty-five to forty days after hatching, fledging at six weeks of age. The young birds are generally fed by their parents until they are eleven to twelve weeks old, sometimes the feeding may continue up to six months of age, if the young gulls continue to request; to be fed. The male feeds the chicks more often than the female before fledging, the female more often post-fledging
Immature adults will have a brown blotched plumage appearance, it takes up to four years for the clear grey and white underside plumage to appear.
Voice: Very loud squealing notes, barks, with sounds like kuk-kuk, ga-ga-ga, kyow, kee-yow-yow-yow. A warning to their chicks sounds very similar to a bark from a small dog.
It is an all-round year resident of the British Isles.
Being a social gull and one of the best-known gulls along our shores. It is also found along the Western shores of Europe, although Its numbers have declined over recent years. They roam over all kinds of shorelines in the summertime and is mainly a bird of our coastal sea-cliffs. In the winter months will travel many miles inland, often seen scavenging at rubbish tips and behind a tractor ploughing the fields. In the evenings especially in the winter months, it can be seen flying in a “V” formation; returning to its nightly inland roosting waters, favouring large reservoirs.