Mediterranean gull

Larus melanocephalus

It wasn’t long ago that the Med gull was considered an uncommon sighting along our shoreline – they were a very rare UK bird until the 1950s. However in recent decades sightings have become much more common and they’re now found nesting along our coastline in large colonies, migrating here in the spring from their winter hideouts.

As its name suggests, its main wintering area is in the Mediterranean, but you’ll find them anywhere from the Black Sea and all the way up the Atlantic coast of northern Africa, Spain, France and northern Europe – many will spend the winter in the UK.

ID tips for Med gulls

Med gulls are slightly larger than black-headed gulls with sturdier red bills. They also have white wing-tips in contrast to the black wing-tips of the black-headed gull.⠀

Like black-headed gulls, they loose much of their dark head plumage in the winter, sporting their smart black head gear only in the summer months.

From a distance you should be able to see that the Med gull’s head colouring is more of a true black ‘hood’ compared with the black-headed gull’s head chocolate-brown mask.⠀Med gulls make a distinctive mewing call – very different from the black-headed gull’s laughing call.

Confusingly, Med gulls’ scientific name actually means ‘black-headed gull’. It’s based on the Greek words ‘melas’, meaning black, and ‘-kephalos’, meaning headed, with ‘larus’ being the genus name for most gulls.