{"id":23576,"date":"2023-01-11T10:14:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T09:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=23576"},"modified":"2023-01-12T10:24:27","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T09:24:27","slug":"gulls-on-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/2023\/01\/11\/gulls-on-film\/","title":{"rendered":"Gulls on film"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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PORTFOLIO<\/h5>\n\n

Gulls on film<\/h2>\n\n

Urban gulls are considered a pest in Dutch cities, but these intelligent birds are simply responding to habitat stress <\/p>\n\n

Words by <\/em>JO CAIRD | Photos by DAVID HUP<\/p>\n\n

Don\u2019t mind if I do (above<\/em>) <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The lesser black-backed gulls and herring gulls (juvenile<\/em> pictured) <\/em>of Amsterdam know to expect breakfast when residents put their bin bags out in the morning, says David Hup, who spent a year photographing the birds in his native Netherlands: \u201cThey tear the bags apart and spread the rubbish all over the street.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

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Grub\u2019s up <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

When bin lorries arrive at this waste processing centre in Amsterdam, huge flocks of gulls fly down from neighbouring rooftops to ransack the newly arrived rubbish. \u201cIt was total mayhem with gulls searching for leftovers,\u201d David says. <\/p>\n\n

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Feathered friends <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

This child was playing with a herring gull, offering it a chip, but not all human-gull interactions in Dutch cities are so friendly. \u201cThe gulls are really territorial and aggressive when they have chicks,\u201d says David, citing the experience of a friend who was attacked by nesting gulls each time he left the house. <\/p>\n\n

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What you looking at? <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

David was motivated to photograph urban gulls by a curiosity about what draws the birds to cities in the first place. He learnt that they\u2019ve made the move following the destruction of their coastal breeding grounds and an increase in predation. <\/p>\n\n

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Seaside sounds <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

David grew up in Amsterdam but spent childhood weekends at the seaside. As a result, \u201cthe sight and sound of gulls has always reminded me of spare time and relaxation,\u201d he says. \u201cThen I discovered that a lot of people think they\u2019re super annoying! So I decided to document what\u2019s happening with gulls in city environments.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

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Guest of honour <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Hague resident Eloise Brouwer ran an Instagram account for \u2018Dodo the Seagull\u2019, one of a family of herring gulls that regularly visited her balcony to be fed. \u201cShe made a particular noise and they would arrive,\u201d David says. \u201cThey really responded to her.\u201d Eloise has since moved house \u2013 she\u2019s told David how much she misses her gull friends. <\/p>\n\n

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In you go <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

David shadowed seabird biologist Roland-Jan Buijs as he studied urban gulls in Dutch cities. He tracks their weight by carefully sliding them into a \u2018weighing tube\u2019 for a couple of seconds so they don\u2019t hurt themselves while flapping. <\/p>\n\n

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Scare tactics <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

City dwellers use kites, like this one being installed by David\u2019s father Bert, to try to deter gulls from nesting on their roofs. They object to the noise of the chicks calling for food, the mess that comes with the birds defecating all over the roof and nearby cars, and the trauma of seeing almost-fledged chicks that have fallen from the nest. <\/p>\n\n

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Home sweet home <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

David visited rooftop nests with Roland-Jan as part of his monitoring work, as well as with teams licensed to remove gull eggs in an attempt to curb population growth. They are replaced with plastic dummy eggs to dissuade the gulls from simply laying more. He loved the experience: \u201cYou are in a totally different world because it\u2019s almost like a desert up there. It\u2019s like you\u2019re in a gull town.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

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Kicking up a fuss <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Roland-Jan\u2019s team removes gull chicks (these are just a couple of weeks old) from their nests to measure and ring them, before returning them to the bosom of their family. By gathering data on both eggs and the chicks that hatch from them, Roland-Jan hopes to gain a better understanding of the gulls\u2019 breeding success in urban environments. <\/p>\n\n

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New arrival <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The teams tasked with removing gull eggs and replacing them with plastic dummy eggs are not permitted to touch chicks. Egg collecting is only licensed in one municipality currently: Alkmaar. It is a crime to interfere with gull nests without a licence. <\/p>\n\n

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A bird in the hand <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Roland-Jan has been ringing gulls, such as this lesser black-backed individual, since he was 18 years old. What began as a hobby turned into a career \u2013 he researches gull populations all over the Netherlands, advising companies and municipalities on how to deal with \u2018nuisance\u2019 gulls. <\/p>\n\n

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Bright ideas <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The most effective way of stopping gulls from nesting on rooftops is installing nets. But as that only moves the problem elsewhere, Roland-Jan\u2019s strategy is to identify more suitable environments, where gull noise and mess are less of an issue (in industrial areas, for example), and attempt to make those sites more attractive for nesting birds. <\/p>\n\n

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Measuring up <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Roland-Jan\u2019s research assistant Naomi Huig carefully measures gull eggs; these figures will be cross-referenced with data about the hatched chicks later on. Lesser black-backed and herring gulls typically incubate a clutch of two to four eggs for around 28-30 days, with both parents involved in incubating the eggs. Chicks fledge after four to six weeks. <\/p>\n\n

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Right royal mess <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

This statue of King William II of the Netherlands stands outside the Dutch parliament building in The Hague, right next to one of the city\u2019s ubiquitous herring stalls. David reports that it\u2019s common for gulls (here, <\/em>a <\/em>herring <\/em>gull) <\/em>to wait nearby before stealing food from unsuspecting customers. \u201cThere\u2019s always a gull sitting on top,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n

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A safe space <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

David became more sympathetic towards urban gulls over the course of the project and hopes others will rethink their negative attitudes to the birds, too: \u201cI ask people, \u2018Why do you think they\u2019re coming here?\u2019 It\u2019s not like it\u2019s a free choice. It\u2019s not going well for the gulls and they\u2019re just searching for a safe space in cities.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

\n\n
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ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

David Hup is a documentary photographer fascinated by the relationship between people and nature. He uses photography to raise awareness about our impact on nature with the goal of creating a sustainable foundation for coexistence. See more of his work at davidhup.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Urban gulls are considered a pest in Dutch cities, but these intelligent birds are simply responding to habitat stress <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":23862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"58","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"58","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_58-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_58-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"February-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"February-2023","purple_external_id":"February-2023-58-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"February-2023-58-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000087240||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000087240||","purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.500","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.500","purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.500","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.500","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"58d61955-0ac4-406c-83f1-ab6f21d86b70","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-01-12T09:20:27Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"c7bb4a0b-4562-45c5-b782-f766da354f13","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-01-12T09:24:37Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Ax7tKC0ViRcW3gvdm2jVPEw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[27],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/ND43102_cmyk_preview-scaled.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"6","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/ND43102_cmyk_preview-scaled.jpg",2560,1704,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/ND43102_cmyk_preview-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/ND43102_cmyk_preview-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/ND43102_cmyk_preview-768x511.jpg",768,511,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/ND43102_cmyk_preview-1024x681.jpg",800,532,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/ND43102_cmyk_preview-1536x1022.jpg",1536,1022,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/ND43102_cmyk_preview-2048x1363.jpg",2048,1363,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Urban gulls are considered a pest in Dutch cities, but these intelligent birds are simply responding to habitat stress","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23576"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23576"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24100,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23576\/revisions\/24100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}