Burton, N.H.K., Musgrove, A.J., Rehfisch, M.M., Sutcliffe, A. & Waters, R. (2003) Numbers of wintering gulls in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man: a review of the 1993 and previous Winter Gull Roost Surveys.  British Birds, 96, 376-401.

This paper summarises the January 1993 Winter Gull Roost Survey and evaluates the results of this and the four previous surveys of wintering gulls, carried out in 1953, 1963, 1973 and 1983. In total, 2,594,491 gulls were counted in Great Britain during the 1993 survey: 1,263,208 at inland sites and 1,331,283 on the coast, comprising an estimated 1,682,385 Black-headed Gulls Larus ridibundus, 429,331 Common Gulls L. canus, 60,830 Lesser Black-backed Gulls L. fuscus, 376,775 Herring Gulls L. argentatus, 43,108 Great Black-backed Gulls L. marinus and 2,062 gulls of other species.A further 19,030 gulls were counted in Northern Ireland, 3,853 in the Isle of Man and 8,477 in the Channel Islands. Using thresholds of 1% of the respective minimum British populations, 22 sites of potential national importance were identified for Black-headed Gull, 28 for Common Gull, 19 for Lesser Black-backed Gull, 19 for Herring Gull and 20 for Great Black-backed Gull.Areas in which gulls were counted varied between surveys, but gulls at inland sites in England were counted in all five surveys. All five ‘key’ species increased at inland sites in England between 1953 and 1993, in particular Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The increase in wintering gull numbers in Great Britain has probably led to greater numbers of gulls using individual roosts and more roost sites being occupied. More recently, however, there have been some declines, notably of Herring Gulls.

Reproduced with permission of British Birds http://www.britishbirds.co.uk/

Keywords: Winter, gulls, roost, survey

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