Seagulls in Plymouth| Part 2

SEAGULLS IN PLYMOUTH: PART TWO –  Gulls vs Hawks.  Pictures and Post by Trudi in Plymouth

So, picture the scene. It’s nesting season. Our gulls are happy on our office roof nurturing eggs and feeding their cute little chicklets. My friend and I spend most of our lunch breaks watching them go about their business. Herring gulls usually have the same partner for life, but if he or she doesn’t come up to scratch for whatever reason, they will look for something better (no loyalty then!). When the pairs are together though they are very sweet to one another. Both Mum and Dad will share nest and feeding duties. One will go off looking for something to eat and the other will look after the eggs / chicks. To be honest it’s not a gorgeous sight watching the adults feed the babies as it’s a case of  sicking up whatever has been found (yuk).

When the chicks are on their feet they will normally press the ‘vending’ button, the little red splodge underneath a herring gulls beak which dispenses food when they need it. If there are three chicks it must be pretty exhausting trying to keep them fed and watered. Our favourite two (Jack & Vera) had a pair of chicks (Molly & Tyrone) who were very needy or just very greedy! Always after food no matter what time of day and if you can hear the little plaintive cries they make it really does twang the heart strings. The adult gulls never found food from our site, they either flew off to the little row of shops and take-aways nearby or they went into town to get last nights old chips. I am sure they managed to get natural food as well from the sea as adult gulls know exactly what their babies need and old chips or kebabs aren’t top of the nutritional list. As much as we wanted to we never fed the gulls or their babies with our lunch. Gulls are not stupid and if you begin throwing out sandwich crusts or biscuits they will soon learn that if they look cute enough it could be a regular source of food. One year someone in our office did feed the babies with crisps, biscuits and heaven knows what else from their lunch box and very soon the babes were peeking in at every window waiting for their snacks. If you didn’t come quick enough they would start banging on the window and making that sad little “I’m cute and I’m hungry” noise. At one point we had to shut the windows as one bold baby was trying to get in!!! Yes, they are cute, but we should not be encouraging them to scrounge for food as they will think this is normal and continue to rely on humans and that’s not right. The adults were not happy we were feeding their young either and used to stand at the edge of the roof and screech. In the end we had to tell the lady that was feeding them not to do it as it doesn’t do them any good in the long run. For the rest of the nesting season it was hard as they kept coming to the windows and looking in and they were so irresistible. Our senior boss had to close his blinds as two or three used to congregate outside his window all the time and when he was on conference calls they used to distract him by pecking the glass and crying. Bless them!

My friend and used to see the adult gulls doing their ‘dancing’ on the patches of grass in the middle of the crossroads. This is so hilarious, they pat away at the ground with their (it has to be said) rather large feet and turn around in circles on the spot. Their actual bodies don’t move just these manic feet tip tapping away like Michael Flatulence on stage doing Riverdance. I love watching them doing this, they look so funny. I am sure they don’t appreciate me laughing at them as what they are actually doing s pretty clever. They pat away at the ground trying to make it sound like rain drops falling which will in turn bring the worms to the surface. A worm is a tasty snack for a gull and a meal for a baby. When several gulls are in a row riverdancing it is a sight worth filming. Do a check on You Tube and you will find plenty of dancing gulls!

Anyway, back to the story. The gulls were happy enough bringing up their broods, some chicks had been born and some were still waiting to make an appearance. The weather was nice and all was well. Or so we thought. Someone came running up to us saying that there was a hawk on the premises. Not a wild one, but one that was specially bred to scare off gulls. Myself and my friend shot out to see what was going on and collared the building manager who was with a lot of other ‘suits’ from the office. She just said it was a dummy run to see what the gulls did and how effective the hawk would be. We argued our side of it and said that there were chicks in the nests and if anything happened to them as a result of the hawk flying then we would contact the wildlife police. The herring gull is a protected species and in nesting season you should not be putting the chicks at risk. The suits took no notice and just said that they had to do something about the problem. I agreed, yes, by all means fly your hawk before or after nesting season but not during. The gulls don’t bother me but there had been many complaints about the mess they were making and the noise. Fair enough, a building manager has to deal with complaints and there were an awful lot of gulls seeing as no-one had done anything for years. Gulls will nest in the same place year after year and word spreads so their friends come as well and their friends and friends of friends (you get the picture). There must have been at least 30 nesting pairs and many more bachelors/ladies- in- waiting on the roof, plus some Lesser Black Backed gulls and one Greater Black Back pair. In all there were…a lot!

There was nothing we could do about the hawk. The suits were going to fly it and that was that. I decided that we would take an early lunch and get away from the building as it was too upsetting to see frightened chicks and anxious adults. As we walked up the road I almost expected to hear the raucous chorus of annoyed gulls as they took flight when the hawk flew but I didn’t hear anything. We had tea in a nearby garden centre and I kept in touch with my manager to see when it was safe to come back. Both of us were really upset until my manager texted back and said it was safe to return as the whole affair had been a total waste of time.

We raced back to the office. The suits and hawk had gone and the gulls were still happily sitting on their nests or feeding their chicks in the sunshine. They didn’t seem upset at all. Apparently when the hawk flew he went over the roof and promptly turned around and flew  to a nearby tree to hide! The poor thing was traumatised. There were just too many gulls for this little guy to deal with and when gulls have chicks they are far more aggressive. A Whole flock of them would have seen this hawk off in a second. Like any animal or human, they will do anything to protect their young. This hawk caused a few of them to take to the air and squawk a bit but most of them didn’t even notice it. The last I heard the hawk was in the Priory recovering from its trauma.

Yet again our beloved feathered friends had won the battle. How can you not love their no-nonsense attitude? These birds are amazing.

The results so far: Gulls 2 – Hawk and scarecrow 0

Mr Nosey

a baby crèche!

Vera, wondering why I’m taking her photo for the millionth time!

Proud Mum

Jack having a quick snooze

Peek-A-Boo!