Nature

Birds Without Borders: The European Gulls

Birds Without Borders is an article series focusing on native European bird species. In this third installment, we are looking at gulls.

 

Millions of birds migrate across Europe every year, from North to South and East to West, crossing borders and countries. Their migration comes to the delight of birdwatchers all over the European continent and beyond. In this third article dedicated migrant birds of Europe, you won’t read about transcontinental flights such as those of storks or honey buzzards across the Mediterranean and Sahara towards Africa. Instead, we will focus on some of the shorter-distance migrants which don’t necessarily leave our continent: gulls.

Do gulls really migrate? 

We are used to seeing these seabirds wherever there is enough water for them to feed and rest. By the sea, on lakes, and along the rivers of Europe live around a dozen of species of gulls. It is not uncommon to see them even some tens of kilometers inland. Nearly all of these species are at the same time migratory and non-migratory, depending on single populations.

Black-headed Gull populations of the British Islands, Northern Germany and along the Danube river, for example, breeds and live all year long in the same area. On the other hand, Scandinavian and north-eastern European groups of this same species retreat to south-east during winter.

A particular migratory bird is the Lesser Black-backed Gull. Some groups living in the British Isles, Belgian and Dutch coasts and the French and Spanish Atlantic coast doesn’t migrate, while those breeding in the Baltic migrate across central and eastern Europe to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea or even to Africa.

Some others are never sedentary. An indigenous European gull of this type is the Little Gull, also the smallest gull species native to Europe. A quite long distance migrator, this bird travel across the whole of Europe every year from Finland and Northern Russia through three directions, a northern one to the British Isles and the North Sea, a central one to Western Mediterranean, the Spanish Atlantic and the north African coast, a southern one to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Pontus.

Gulls in the urbanised world

In recent years, gulls have become more and more confident within the European urbanized environment. This has started causing problems, from simple disturbances caused by noise and mess from droppings, all the way up to attacks on humans and pets. Large gulls such as the Herring, the Yellow Legged and the Lesser Black-backed are usually the most aggressive species.

However, even other species are not to be underestimated. After all, these birds are predators and not otiose, cooing pigeons. Controlling gulls is not as easy as it may seem. In most of Europe, gulls are protected under local and national legislation together with other wild birds. Unless there are concerns on grounds of public health or public safety, city councils will rarely take action.

This means that it is often up to single citizens to face the nuisance these animals cause. The best method of controlling them is to deny them nesting places on buildings. Unfortunately, local authorities have no legal powers to force owners or occupiers of buildings to carry out works to their buildings to prevent birds from nesting. Nor do they have power to make them take action against birds that have nested, even if they are causing problems.

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Matteo Bonvicini

Student of history, birdwatcher and amateur photographer. Loves road trips and travelling. Staunch europeanist and internationalist.

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