Lesser Black-backed Gull

The lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus) was relatively common in the UK but is now in decline and has been placed on the Amber List (a species of moderate concern). It nests on cliffs, sand dunes, mountain moorland, and on tall buildings by the sea and inland. This particular bird has been frequenting the River Wye at Ross on Wye for much of the winter, using a perch on a fallen tree that it shares with local black-headed gulls. The lesser black-backed gull acquires adult breeding plumage in its fourth year. The small brown flecks on the head and neck are a winter characteristic of an adult.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Lesser black-backed gull v Raven

The recent post of the lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus) reminded me of a photograph I took last year of this species. It was unusual because in the frame there was also a raven (Corvus corax). The two birds were scavenging for morsels of food that people had dropped at a Forestry England visitor centre in the Forest of Dean. Whilst they were strutting about in search of delicacies they were clearly keeping a very close eye on each other. As I watched them I was reminded of two wild west gunfighters, each acutely aware of the other, but pretending otherwise.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Lesser black-backed gull

As a young bird watcher, barely into my teens, I remember thinking it remarkable that there could be a gull that lived its life without seeing the sea. Yet it isn't inconceivable that a lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus) might do just that. During the 1960s I remember seeing Britain's largest colony of lesser black- backed gulls nesting on Walney Island on the edge of the Irish Sea. A little later I also saw a nesting colony on the high moorland of the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire. Today the bird can also be found nesting on the roofs of town and city buildings. The bird in the photograph was a solitary individual that had alighted on a large woodland pond in the Forest of Dean.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900