Herring Gull - Larus argentatus
Can I be really honest. I just do not like gulls. They love waste sites and eat detritus, they are hard to identify, they pretend to be things you really want to see. They need some good PR.
A Herring Gull I admit is a proper sea gull. This one is next to some lovely seathrift on a sandstone sea cliff near the Lake District. Not a spot of rubbish in sight. They are one of the archetypal sounds of the english seaside. They serenade each ice cream you buy.
This is a picture I can benchmark. As we go on I can give myself a little class in gull identification. Part of the trouble with gulls is how they age - I have made life easy by choosing a mature herring gull here. This is a medium to large sized gull with pink legs and a yellow bill with a red spot on its lower mandible. It has black and white primaries. It has a light grey back and wing coverts. It is a Herring Gull. I will reluctantly try and explain why any other gull I post is not a Herring Gull.
I have spent hours sifting through black headed gulls looking for mediteranean gulls. I have listened to guys in hides explaining to me why a first winter Yellow Legged Gull is not a Herring Gull only for the next bloke to enter the hide and say "Ah - a Caspian Gull". I bought myself a video narrated by Bill Oddie and learned and forgot gull identification a dozen times. I don't think I am on my own in having a slight Gull issue. Couple the Identification problems with the smell of a landfill site and I just got to where I wondered why I was bothering. I get a bit annoyed by the chick stealing as well. That's wrong because they are only making a living.
He is handsome I guess. I should not write off all Gulls before we have started. I can already tell you that I will be making an exception for Little Gull. I have a good story to go with Laughing Gulls as well.
For now its safe to say that my dream birdwatching moment would not involve a Gull. Please do tell me what I am missing if you stop by and are an ardent Gull lover.
Herring Gull - Larus argentatus
Bempton Cliffs - Cumbria
Late May 2008
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