It's great to find out where the gulls are, particularly the Common Gulls, which aren't really common at all in my experience.
It looks like a pair of Herring Gulls are trying to take over the nest site in my street that Lesser Black Backed Gulls have used for years. The pair of Lesser Black Backed Gulls are still in the area so this all might get quite dramatic....
The drop in numbers is startling and a real indictment on man's arrogance towards nature in my view. While it's intriguing to read of gulls's possible preference for roosting sites away from
coasts, related to food, it would be interesting to know how much impact bird flu has had on gull populations. Certainly the shoreline on the Cromarth Firth between Balconie Point and the Cromarty Bridge seems very empty now, so I wonder how much bird flu is to blame....
Also, why on earth does the BTO leave such long gaps between surveys?!
Hi Jeff, Thanks for the comment and question. I'm not really sure why the long gaps, but it could be to do with the number of different bird surveys BTO undertake on a variety of bird species. Highlands in particular have a huge area and not many volunteer surveyors, which is why the ranger team are making a contribution where we can to these surveys. Imogen
It's great to find out where the gulls are, particularly the Common Gulls, which aren't really common at all in my experience.
It looks like a pair of Herring Gulls are trying to take over the nest site in my street that Lesser Black Backed Gulls have used for years. The pair of Lesser Black Backed Gulls are still in the area so this all might get quite dramatic....
The drop in numbers is startling and a real indictment on man's arrogance towards nature in my view. While it's intriguing to read of gulls's possible preference for roosting sites away from
coasts, related to food, it would be interesting to know how much impact bird flu has had on gull populations. Certainly the shoreline on the Cromarth Firth between Balconie Point and the Cromarty Bridge seems very empty now, so I wonder how much bird flu is to blame....
Also, why on earth does the BTO leave such long gaps between surveys?!
Hi Jeff, Thanks for the comment and question. I'm not really sure why the long gaps, but it could be to do with the number of different bird surveys BTO undertake on a variety of bird species. Highlands in particular have a huge area and not many volunteer surveyors, which is why the ranger team are making a contribution where we can to these surveys. Imogen