We have had the dubious pleasure of Herring Gulls breeding on neighbours rooves again this summer.  They are a big nuisance to everyone because they are so incredibly noisy and think nothing of calling out  even through the night.  Yesterday was a big moment in their lives  as one of the large, now fully grown chicks left the nest and was on the flat roof of my garage. I went out on the roof  to have a close look  at it and picked it up. This caused excitement for them and with no exaggeration  at least 100 gulls came to it's rescue. Mayhem ensued!  At first light this morning the chick was walking around my garden and down my garden path past the chicken run.  The laying hens were very wary of it and, well, to be frank, they went berserk, as though a predator was about to get at them. As I write this now at 9.30 the same scene is being re-enacted.  Herring Gulls are apparently in decline but I can report that here in Devon they are using the local suburbs as a place to breed. Last year one pair was next door and this year, the same pair and one other just over the road. What is even more remarkable was the bird pictured above. It is a Lesser Black-backed Gull.  It is the first for the garden and sat close to my bathroom window as large as life without a care in the world.  Here is a quote from the RSPB web site…….. " there is serious concern about declines in many parts of its range. The species is on the Amber List because the UK is home to 40% of the European population and more than half of these are found at fewer than ten sites."  Can we include my neigbours roof as the 11th site?  To be fair, Lesser Black Backed Gulls are a smart bird with a particularly attractive red eye ring.

The baby Herring Gulls are quite hideous at this age though and knowing what they eat, anything that they can lay their beaks on probably, they don't have a lot going for them. Like I said, non birding people hate them so who would want to be an urban gull.