They're After Your Chips!

Yellow-Legged Gull - © Richard Rogers

On a number of occasions I have found myself explaining to visitors at the Nature Reserve that there is no such thing as a seagull. However, a similar conversation that I had with a visitor the other day led to the discovery of a rare species of gull on the Reserve that would normally feel more at home in the Mediterranean – a yellow-legged gull.

Gulls are birds from the family Laridae and include a number of species commonly seen at Attenborough. Most of which are confusingly similar in appearance. To make matters worse, most species have about three or four different plumage states as they moult each year from their juvenile plumage through to gaining their adult feathers.

The most common species that you are likely to see at Attenborough (again confusingly) is not the common gull, as you might expect from the name, but the black-headed gull – which incidentally has a chocolaty-brown head, not black. Larger gulls such as the lesser black-backed gull and herring gull can also be seen frequently – especially in the early evening as they make their way from their daytime feeding grounds to communal roosts at sites such as Church Wilne Reservoir.

The yellow-legged gull is very similar in appearance to both the lesser black-back and herring gull. It has only just recently been recognised as a species in its own right, having previously been thought to be a Mediterranean sub-species of our herring gull. Adult yellow-legged gulls (like the bird currently at the Reserve) have lighter grey upperparts than the lesser black-back gull with larger black wing tips than the herring gull although with smaller white ‘mirrors’ (the white spots on the wing tips). They have a yellow bill with a large red spot and a red eye-ring - and of course as the name suggests, they have bright yellow legs. Each year at least one individual is seen at Attenborough through August into early September – where it tends to spend most of it’s time on the sailing marker buoys on Coneries Pond. 

Next time you are at the Reserve, why don’t you try to get to grips with gulls? On a good day during the autumn migration you could see up to seven different species on Clifton Pond alone. A good field guide is a must as there is much variation in the plumage. However with a little practise you could see gulls as something more than just menacing birds that steal your chips at the seaside.