Common gull

Common gull

Larus canus

Despite their name, common gulls are less common than other gulls seen on the Solent coastline.

You’ll find them in the UK all year round, mainly in Scotland and Northern Ireland in the summer, with numbers are boosted in the winter with birds from Northern Europe.

They can be spotted across the Solent at coastal sites and towns in the winter, and some of us breed in the New Forest in the spring too.

Adult common gulls look like smaller, more benign versions of a herring gull except they have greenish legs rather than pink, and don’t have the distinctive red dot on my beak.

They’re not fussy eaters and will try anything from insects, worms and fish to carrion and even rubbish.

Conservation status

They are amber listed in the UK