Talking with a fellow bird enthusiast about the increasing number of sparrows I'd seen at the Llys Trerobert site, he remarked how lucky I was. This because he'd witnessed seagulls perching on the roofs in his street and plucking the fledgling sparrows and house martins from their nests or waiting for them to emerge and then grabbing them.
Having seen quite a few gulls locally, I'd been wondering what was attracting them so far inland - about 10 or 12 miles from the coast - and especially in the good weather we had earlier in the summer. Perhaps this now provides the answer?
On one occasion, I'd been watching a pair of buzzards circling over the hillside adjacent to Llys Trerobert, when three gulls appeared and began to mob them. I've also seen as many as five or six gulls perched on the apex of a nearby factory roof during the afternoons - that for an hour of more.
I wondered if others had witnessed this behaviour and so far inland?
'Heaven doesn't want me and the devil's afraid I'll take over.'
We have always had them come in to the surrounding fields but rarely onto our roofs.They do tend to hang out around petrol stations,factories and supermarkets too.We have always lived around 10 miles from the coast.
When we were working in South Shields (Coast) they were like pigeons in that, they would pick up dropped food etc.
It doesn't surprise me to hear they are taking young birds.I do know people who lived in Shields who witnessed them killing pigeons although thankfully, i didn't.
I really enjoy their dance on the roundabouts and grass verges as they feed on worms.
An optimist sees the beauty of the complete rose.A pessimist sees only the thorn .
The bigger gulls (Black backed, Lesser Black backed and Herring) will take small birds if the opportunity arises; they after all are opportunist/scavenging predatory birds.
I witnessed a Grey Heron about 3 days ago grab an adult starling which it then then drowned the bird in the marsh water it was stalking in and then swallowed it down whole.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. - Albert Einstein
Hi AITRPD and welcome to the RSPB Forum. Enjoy yourself here
Seagulls will eat anything that they can get a hold of, and that includes any birds and their eggs. They will go for Waders eggs and chicks too. It is all part of natures larder of all animals and their behaviour - each to their own, and they look after their own.
The fact the Seagulls are so far inland could be two factors I can mention here. One is that the sea may be stormy so they have gone inland to get aways from the bad weather. What weather we have inland mayby not be the case at sea. Two is that they are becoming so accustomed to human and the throw away society that we live in - it gives them lots of feeding opportunities for our litter and food thrown in public places. So there is food and shelter for them too. They have an easy life because people unwittingly give them that and more.
I have seen Crows mob BoP - not gulls at all. It may be that the BoP had food in its talons and they are after the foodstuff. I also think Crows/Gulls do it for the fun aspect of teasing a BoP as it is such a dymanic bird and is a successful hunter of prey.
Regards
Kathy and Dave
It's a bit of an old wives' tale (apologies to any old wives who may be reading this!) that gulls only come inland when there's a storm at sea. They are here in bad weather and fine, especially in many large urban areas.
At a recent BTO conference in Buckinghamshire I heard a presentation by a chap who is a freelance ecologist specialising in advising local and national government, and building managers, about gull 'problems'. In a nutshell he was saying that in contrast to many traditional coastal gull colonies which are apparently declining, urban populations of herring and lesser black-backed gulls are rising and probably under-estimated by the UK government.
He also said (though in more colourful language than I will use here), "well if you supply a scavenging species with unlimited food in the form of MacDonalds, chips and kebabs and give it nice warm flat places on top of buildings to nest, what do you expect to happen?!"
In the unfortunate case of the house sparrows you saw, I suspect the gulls were initially attracted to the area by our waste food on the streets and in landfill sites and then they have simply capitalised on an easy meal staring them in the face. It's tempting to pillory the gulls but the underlying reason that the gulls are there, and sparrows are scarce, is down to us.
Colin
Its the same story with alot of our Coastal and Countryside species.
The fox is a shy animal in the country but I cant blame it for evolving to survive in our urban jungle - food is at a plenty there and its our wasteful, carelessness that they take advantage of.
In a way we should be thankful that they are "cleaning up" after us.
There is a landfill site about 3 miles from us and I see them circling there constantly. Food on tap
Of all creatures, man is the most detestable, he is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~ Mark Twain
I have literally just sadly witnessed a seagull swoop down and take a small siskin off the mess feeding tray . It happened within seconds as I glanced out of my window. I didn't know they ate other birds I live next to a sea loch in Scotland . It has probably happened lots if times before this when I wasn't around by chance like this morning . I feel so sad for the poor little Siskin .
The gull who eats pigeons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRPTBhmcyXY
They'll also take e.g. squirrel and rabbit
Gulls also have their own hierarchy. Competition can be fierce.