Kim writes from East Devon with her photograph of a pair of Herring Gulls.
“I live in Seaton, East Devon and have always had a `thing` about herring gulls. They are so incredibly beautiful but much maligned!!
I had an orphan chick brought to me a few years ago and I successfully raised him on a diet of fresh mackerel and pasta, he swam in the pond and learned to fly by me putting him on top of a very high piece of trellis and then tempting him down with food. The day he left home was very emotional and he continued to visit every day for a long time until the day he didn`t come and we never saw him again.
I called him Chester and have lovely photos of him(her?)
I also have a breeding pair of Herring Gulls and one of their (last years) chicks that lives on my roof and in the garden most of the time. A couple of months ago on a very frosty morning I saw them all lined up on top of my old unused aviary looking rather `put out`because the water in their big deep dish i put out for them was frozen solid. I quickly filled a big jug with warm water, smashed the ice,and re-filled it, they immediately jumped in and stood there with steam rising from their skinny little pink legs,obviously enjoying every warm moment!!
The other day I decided to google seagulls and your site came up, I was looking for information on the way they live their lives.”
