Guernsey Gulls: Black-headed Gulls in London

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Black-headed Gulls in London

This week I had to spend a couple of days in the "big smoke" (London). To get away from the crowds in the city I went to Hyde Park and St James' Parks looking for gulls. Although there were more than a thousand Black-headed Gulls and several hundred Common Gulls in Hyde Park, I could only check a quarter of them for colour rings because most were resting on an island too far distant.

By the time I got to St James' Park I had bought a loaf of bread. There were fewer gulls in this smaller park, but now I had a gull magnet with me...and the Black-headed Gulls came straight in to the bread. They were far far tamer than they are on Guernsey...and I soon had gulls feeding around my feet.

Two colour ringed Black-headed Gulls were seen - White SLW (from Denmark) and White E6KR (from The Netherlands). There were 20+ metal-ringed gulls, but I only managed to read a couple of these with my binoculars - both British-ringed birds.

All in all a very fun way to pass a couple of hours in England's capital city.