March has arrived and along with the beginnings of the tourism season here, the calendar of activity for the Solents breeding seabirds has ratcheted up a notch. The islands within the old Oysterbeds at the West Hayling Local Nature Reserve are growing more active by the day as hundreds of Mediterranean Gulls and Black-headed Gulls prospect for nesting sites.
Above: March 3rd 2016 at the West Hayling Oysterbeds. Over 120 Mediterranean Gulls were present.
Along with the increase in gulls present, the volume around the lagoon is now increasing by the day. Those of you who have visited during the peak of the breeding season will know that once you step on to the final embankment overlooking the lagoon, a chorus of sound meets you from across the water. At the moment, those sounds are dominated by the unique call of the Mediterranean Gulls. Rather than try and describe it, why not take a listen for yourself and see if it's familiar:
Play this audio clip
The distinctive call of a Mediterranean Gull (Recorded by Eddy Scheinpflug on Xeno-Canto)
Mediterranean Gulls are a relative newcomer to the Solent (and the UK) having moved north from their traditional range on the continent over the past few decades due to a variety of human initiated changes. The colony in Langstone Harbour began in 1997 and since then has increased and decreased over the years. As of 2015 however, we had almost 400 pairs breeding within Langstone Harbour. Although a welcome sight, the role they play within mixed seabird colonies which formerly didn't contain them is not fully understood yet and an area that further research will be needed on. Like many other gull species, they will predate small chicks under the right circumstances (with the local Common Terns having a bad time of it last year). Having said this, Sandwich Terns locally appear to benefit from their presence (or at least, there is a noticeable association between the two and a correlation between both species success).
Based on previous years, a large majority of the Mediterranean Gulls currently massing at the Oysterbeds won't in fact go on to nest here. The site is something of a early season reunion point for them before they go on to nest in various colonies up and down the coast and within the Harbour at large. Last year, none of the "Med's" present early in the year went on to nest at the Oysterbeds but my gut feeling is that this won't be the case in 2016....
We still have some time to go before the nesting season commences en-masse but one Black-headed Gull in the lagoon appears more enthusiastic than most. Whilst his/her acquaintances are still vocally courting and proving their worth to potential mates, this one looks quite settled and was observed adjusting the seaweed beneath them. Are they an early nester? Probably not, but only time will tell...