Daily Archives: April 24, 2019

What do you call a Gull that’s only little?

This will be the first in a multi-part account of my trip to RSPB Blacktoft Sands on the bank holiday Monday.
I love this reserve. Great hides, habitat and birds and, being on the east coast, different birds from the Welsh ones I see near home.
From the moment I sat down in a hide I spotted a bird that I knew was different. Six Little Gulls (so imaginatively named!) were sat on the water in front of me. I’ve seen them before near home but only tired and tatty specimens, blown near shore by gales at sea. These were pristine, in full summer plumage. Their heads were sooty black, reflecting no light at all, and their breasts were showing signs of the pinkness of a bird in breeding condition. They never came close but I still tried to give them my best shot.
Of course, with them being gulls, little and powerless to overcome the ripples on the pool, I called them all “Bob”!

Typical feeding behaviour, plucking a tiny morsel from the surface of the water.