Herring gull

Herring gull

Larus argentatus

These are the classic gull of seaside towns, sometimes described as brutish looking. Mature birds have a piercingly yellow iris, a prominent red spot on their bill, pearly-grey backs and pink legs. They’re sizable birds at about 1kg in weight. In the summer months, you’ll find about 130,000 pairs in the UK. It’s perhaps surprising to know this familiar bird has declined worryingly in numbers: they’re now on the red list for conservation concern. ⠀⠀

Increasingly they’ve ventured beyond their traditional habitats, taking up residence in our towns and cities. The flat roofs of supermarkets and office blocks mimic cliff tops while discarded takeaways provide a veritable buffet.

Herring gulls are found almost all round the country’s coasts. British adults don’t travel far but large number of Scandinavian birds visit Britain in winter.

ID tips

To tell herring gulls apart from other gulls, look at their leg colour, their back plumage and the red spot on their bill. Lesser black-backed gulls are slightly smaller birds with yellow (rather than pink) legs and a darker grey back. Great black-backed gulls have similar coloured legs – pink – but have a much darker charcoal black back. Common gulls are daintier with no red spot on their bill and yellow legs.

Juvenile herring gulls look very different from mature birds: some people think they’re an entirely different species.

In their first year, as juveniles, they’re mottled brown, in their second year they have more grey on their backs, while those in their third year have more grey and more white on their heads and bellies. It’s only in the fourth year that they only don their bright white plumage and pearly-grey backs.

A juvenile herring gull with mottled brown plumage.

Local spotlight

Although one of our most common gulls on the Solent, in recent years their numbers have fallen, especially during winter possibly due to disease, reduced food supplies and fewer visitors from Europe, perhaps linked to climate change.

Conservation status

Herring gulls are red listed in the UK and while they might not be listed in the Solent’s Special Protection Areas, they are still important for the coastal ecosytem and form part of the waterbird assemblages for which these regions are protected .