A Squabble of Herring Gulls

I have just found out that a less common collective noun for – er – colonies of gulls is ‘squabble’. That works very well, but not here. These herring gulls are, with one exception in the header photo, solitary singletons avoiding the seaside in favour of Urban Life.

Monday Portrait

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

43 thoughts on “A Squabble of Herring Gulls”

  4. I wish people would not feed the gulls. We live by the sea and so far they haven’t bothered the local beach restaurants. We were in the UK last April, and we feared for our life LoL as they swooped down on tables. I will remember the squabble and hope it comes up in the quizz 🙂

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  6. Interesting. A squabble or a screech of gulls certainly describes black-headed gulls, but most other species (in Europe at least) seem rather less raucous.

    A colony of gulls is where they breed

    A raft of gulls when they are just settled on the water

    A flock of gulls when they are just hanging around or flying through in a group

    However you refer to them, they are intelligent and fascinating birds. Years ago, we were doing a seabird survey for an offshore energy development project. It involved sitting out on a cliff for several hours twice a week, recording all the seabirds passing through the area. A pair of herring gulls soon took notice, and began turning up on a nearby rock about ten minutes before lunch-time. We never actually fed them, but they certainly knew what a lunch-box was. After a few months, they became bold enough to sneak in behind us and try to open the box themselves. We made sure they didn’t succeed.

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