Few people would choose the herring gull as their favourite bird. Its loud screeching call and habit of stealing chips from unwary seaside tourists means that many consider them as something of a nuisance. These large sea birds are relatively recent additions to the sights and sounds of UK cities.
Herring Gull populations have prospered by picking over the millions of tons of food waste that ends up in landfill. These cliff dwelling birds have discovered that flat roofs and chimney stacks can serve as secure and convenient homes for nests. This has resulted in populations of these gulls now being found far inland and complaints about herring gulls increasing.
Recent reports have detailed the rise in seagulls in urban areas, with The Guardian looking at their rise in cities such as Bristol and Cardiff and their changing behaviours.
But I’ve always been rather fond of herring gulls. Their ability to soar effortlessly by harnessing the winds and clear intelligence makes them a marvel. Recent research has shown that gulls actively observe people and target the food that we prefer to eat, as well as learning new thieving techniques that include working in pairs – one gull swoops straight in to distract the person while the other swoops in from behind to steal the food.
What made me into a herring gull fan was finding one trapped in the patio garden of flat I lived in many years ago. It was probably looking to take some food discarded from a BBQ. Unfortunately, once on the ground, it couldn’t get out because these birds need a surprising amount of space to take off from a standing start and my tiny garden was surrounded by steep walls. I found the bird flapping around ineffectually in the corner. I managed to throw a blanket over it and pick it up, before carefully unwrapping the writhing bundle to come nose to beak with the gull.
It was remarkably light for such a large bird, the result of avian evolutionary adaptations that first began during the reign of the dinosaurs hundreds of millions of years ago. It had incredibly piercing eyes that were clearly looking at me. We shared a moment of acknowledgment, a recognition of the other. Then it bit me.
Its intelligence did not extend to understanding that I was actually trying to save it, and that I was holding it up to appreciate its beauty. I managed to get it out of the front door of the flat and as politely as I could turfed it out of the blanket in the centre of the road. It quickly ran forward while unfolding its long wings and took off without a backward glance.
Herring gulls and feral pigeons are two of the few winners when it comes to changes to UK bird biodiversity. Unfortunately, the majority of other species have been losing. Centuries of farming, industry, and urbanisation have made the UK one of the most nature-depleted countries in Europe. The sounds of turtle doves and starlings are becoming increasingly rare, with both species down more than 70 per cent since the 1970s. In 2021 the number of farmland birds was 44 per cent of its 1970 value.
There are multiple factors at play, but the main driver is increasing intensification of agriculture. Simply put, UK farmers have since the middle of the twentieth century been asked to grow more food for increasing appetites from increasing populations. Larger fields with fewer hedgerows, with more land being ploughed and drained, has removed nesting sites, while increasing amounts of pesticides have devastated insect populations. In the past 20 years, numbers of flying insects have declined by 60 per cent. Finding the front of the car smothered in bugs after a summer’s drive is a thing of the past.
Changing farming practices such as reducing chemical use, mixing up crop types, and restoring hedges can all have transformative benefits. There are also important things that city dwellers can do to help restore bird and other species diversity. Those fortunate enough to have a garden can make simple changes that can produce dramatic changes. A small pond can quickly be colonised by a range of insects and amphibians while serving as an important watering hole for hedgehogs and birds. Giving over some or perhaps even all of a smart but species-barren lawn to wildflowers and other native species of plants will boost insects that birds feed on while also increasing the health of pollinator species such as bumble bees. Those without a garden can deploy bird feeders and potted plants on window sills.
More important is the collective effort that we can apply to larger-scale changes to how landscapes are managed. City councils have significant amounts of land under management. Parks and recreational grounds spring immediately to mind as places where species can be coaxed back into urban environments, but there are hundreds of thousands of miles of roadside verges across the UK that can serve as vital biodiversity hotspots if carefully managed.
There are efforts to increase the number of trees in the UK as a form of nature based solution to climate change as growing trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere. If this new wave of tree planting can be used to restore some of the native forests that have been lost, then we could begin to address the climate and biodiversity crisis.
It may be tiresome to be woken up by a herring gull squawking out its territory at some unearthly hour, but we should not begrudge this bird species’ ability to adapt to our impacts on the natural world. These gulls are important species in their natural coastal ecosystems. They hunt live animals such as small fish and crabs as well as devouring the recently deceased, and so they serve as feathered beach cleaners. It’s our high consumption and wasteful lifestyles that have lured increasing numbers of gulls further into urban landscapes.
The seagull’s call could also serve as an alarm for the increasing risks to biodiversity in the UK.
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