Common Gull Behaviour (1 Viewer)

There were about 40 Common Gulls on my Patch the other day. Shortly after the numbers virtually doubled - virtually all of them sub-adult.

After a while they all started to fly around this tree (the only deciduous one for quite a distance). At first I thought there must be a Corvid or Buzzard there, but no.

Some of them looked like they might be trying to land but none of them did. It was the same part of the tree they were at (the highest point).

This behaviour carried on for over an hour.

Picture shows just some of them at it - by the time I took the photo some of them had given up and were resting in the grass.

Can anyone explain what might have been going on, please?

D

Hi Delia

Could this have been aerial feeding, on or just above the tree canopy? I have no idea what they could have been feeding on though. What species of tree was it and what was the surrounding land use?

Cheers

Chris

Hi Chris

Thanks for responding.

It was a cold, damp and miserable day!

Not very good on trees I'm afraid (should make an effort on the only one I've got shouldn't I:'D ). It's not Oak, Beech, Birch or Rowan, so I'm stumped.

It's open moorland all round, grazed by cattle and sheep, but only sheep at the moment.

Just 4 Common Gulls today though.

D

delia todd said:

Not very good on trees I'm afraid (should make an effort on the only one I've got shouldn't I:'D ). It's not Oak, Beech, Birch or Rowan, so I'm stumped.

Click to expand...

Looks like an elm to me.

Maybe some food had been dropped into the canopy of the tree and lodged there causing them to take a lot of interest as sometimes gulls do this over water, usually squabbling with each other ??

Mark

Thanks for these thoughts guys.

I think the tree turned out to probably be a (W)(w)ych (E)(e)lm.... oh can't cope with that... Wych Elm!!

@Mark... as far as I remember, there was no fighting or noise, they just flew around the top of the tree, diving at it. Just as if they were mobbing a raptor.