{"id":23710,"date":"2022-12-26T08:10:49","date_gmt":"2022-12-26T07:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=43139"},"modified":"2022-12-26T09:35:44","modified_gmt":"2022-12-26T08:35:44","slug":"gulls-of-the-uk-and-british-isles-how-to-identify-why-they-dance-on-grass-and-why-some-species-are-declining","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/gulls-of-the-uk-and-british-isles-how-to-identify-why-they-dance-on-grass-and-why-some-species-are-declining\/","title":{"rendered":"Gulls of the UK and British Isles: how to identify, why they dance on grass, and why some species are declining"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Marianne Taylor\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 26 December 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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We are, it\u2019s often said, a nation of animal lovers. The beauty of our native wild birds, in particular, is celebrated in word and art, in print and on screen. However, there are some prominent species that don\u2019t attract universal adoration, and it is the gulls that top of that list.<\/p>\n

Is there any more divisive wild bird in the UK than the herring gull? This is the default \u2018seagull\u2019 of our coastal towns, the silver-backed and yellow-billed, bright-eyed and raucous-voiced scourge of many a beach picnic, and despoiler of many a parked car.<\/p>\n

Yet we admire its grace on the wing, and we can\u2019t help but admire its intelligence, which becomes more apparent year on year as we learn more about its ways (see below). We coo over its cute, fluffy offspring, and we might even find its squawks delightfully evocative (from a distance). The British seaside would certainly not be the same without it.<\/p>\n

Read on to learn more about the different gull species in the UK by birdwatcher and author Marianne Taylor:<\/p>\n

How to watch gulls<\/h2>\n

Gull-watching won\u2019t always take you to the most enchanting wild places \u2013 there is great gull-watching to be had at rubbish dumps, for example, and smelly fishing ports. But the exciting possibility of finding something unusual within the swirling, screaming flocks is magical enough.<\/p>\n

Even seaside towns turn up their share of unusual species, as well as providing great close-up opportunities to watch the commoner species interacting, and to look out for individuals wearing numbered DARVIC leg-rings, as part of various research projects studying gulls\u2019 seasonal movements and lifespans.<\/p>\n

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