The black-headed gull, chroicocephalus ridibundus, the laughing gull - no. For me, that kree-aaa sounds more like a scream than a gentle chortle, don't they say a squabble of gulls, you're not kidding! However, a different scream was discovered this week by one of our young visitors who had come along to the oyster beds on Hayling Island for the family scavenger hunt.
Above scavenging for goodies
When this stone was found I seriously wondered if a certain Edvard Munch had absently picked up the very same pebble on a Norwegian beach about a hundred years ago, what do you think?
The Scream?
Though an avid art lover myself I nevertheless constantly maintain that nature has done it first. Whether colour or texture, a landscape or a shape, surreal or graphic, it's out there already in one way or another and anthropological creation is nothing new at all but simply a reflection of the natural world.
The weather this week hasn't been kind to us for our half-term event, but we've still had a steady stream of visitors, arriving in all sorts of ways - walkers, horse riders, cyclists and side car? Maxi, the chocolate labrador, it has to be said, arrived in quite some style. I'm not sure we will top this, ever!
Your carriage awaits sir ......
Activity at the gull colony is in full swing now with chicks in abundance. If you get the opportunity to come and see us it's quite a spectacle - but how will you arrive?