Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes

Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes - November 19 2008

THE usual gull following the farmer's plough is the black-headed gull. But about a quarter of the gulls will be common gulls. These two are easily separated. The first has a red beak and legs, the second has a greenish-yellow beak and legs. In autumn and winter it is as well to know because there isn't really very much to tell them apart.

The black-headed gull, you see, becomes almost a white-headed gull like the common gull. That lovely chocolate-brown face mask it had in the summer is only worn to impress its partner.

Both male and female wear make-up for breeding and they are away in the Baltic or Scotland for that family fun. Far from Sussex most of them nest on coastal islands in colonies.

Local people often farm them for their eggs, allowing the pairs to rear the last eggs of their cycle. These were usually sold as plovers' eggs to the trade. When they return southwards in autumn they have all but lost their summer faces.

Both species have got worm hunting down to a fine art. Off they go at dawn from the reservoirs and estuaries looking for tractors. Years ago they searched for horses moving over the fields. Tractor spotting was much easier though.

Being white birds they can easily see each other too. If one sees the earth moving and goes for it, all the others will follow. Soon ten thousand will be on the tractor's tail in exceptional situations. These two species are just two out of about 15 species of gulls that are seen in Sussex.

I suppose most people just call them all seagulls but the differences are obvious when you start to look at size and beak patterns. Our biggest gull is the great black-backed gull, more the size of a goose and with a deep-baying call.

Several hundred can be seen in autumn, roosting near the mouth of Pagham Harbour. Compare this giant with the little gull which is only a third the size. A thousand are recorded each year in Sussex.

Herring gulls are the big birds nesting on the roof tops in all seaside towns: even in the centre of Chichester. Other gulls only pass through the county occasionally so birders look out especially for gulls like Caspian, Iceland, Glaucous, and Sabine's.

Some like the Mediterranean gull are becoming more common in Sussex as the climate alters. We tend to take these beautiful birds for granted but they are worth a second glance every time.