SEAGULL: noisy cries and a defiant parrot

SEAGULLS are perfectly designed for life at sea which makes it all the more surprising that so many now choose to live much of their lives inland. Some experts blame this change in lifestyle on the depletion of fish stocks around our coasts but there is no doubt rich pickings are available for those gulls which haunt towns and cities.

Tips and landfill sites are now commonly frequented by seagulls and in most areas their presence is expected as soon as a new one is opened up. So bad has the problem become that many councils currently view gulls as pests on a par with rats and mice.

In Gloucestershire, one local authority even considered the possibility of constructing huge fake cliffs at a landfill site so that hundreds of gulls would feel more at home there - and stop creating a nuisance by nesting on houses.

But such generosity is rare and in Devon a mother gull and her chicks died of starvation after becoming trapped by netting spread on the roof of a store - netting which was supposed to prevent nests being built.

Seagulls are tough birds that have evolved to survive the worst the elements can throw at them as they ride freezing winds far out at sea. About 10 species are commonly sighted around Britain, the biggest being the great black-backed gull.

Black wing and back feathers instantly mark the great black-backed out, as does its huge body length of up to 65cm.

This gull is an aggressive predator, using its formidable yellow beak to crush and hack to death a variety of prey, from puffins and teal to rabbits and rats.

It will also feed on carrion and take other birds' eggs when the opportunity arises.

Smaller than the great black-backed but similarly voracious is the lesser black-backed whose back and wing feathers are actually grey.

Roughly the same size as this, at about 52cms body length, is Britain's commonest gull, the herring gull - confusingly, a lot more widespread than the smaller, gentler looking common gull itself.

The herring gull is the gull you are most likely to encounter either on a trip to the seaside or at your local tip.

With its pale grey wings and snowy white body, the herring gull is pretty distinctive, as is its piercing 'kyow-yow-yow' cry.

I was on holiday in Torquay recently and each morning that cry would rouse me in my bed on the sixth floor of an apartment block, usually delivered at full blast by a herring gull cruising past the window. Interestingly, the only cry which topped it for volume was the startling squawk of a beautiful green parrot which had taken up residence in a tree below.

Gulls and crows tried to frighten this interloper off but it resisted their threats with typical British aplomb.

We offered it nuts and other titbits to try to tempt it to the balcony but nothing worked.

It kept a stiff upper beak and maintained an independent air.

As my wife and her sister looked on, I wondered if we should try a little chicken tikka massala.