Great Black-backed Gull

Listen to example recordings of the main vocalisations of Great Black-backed Gull, provided by xeno-canto contributors.

This species can be found on the following statutory and conservation listings and schedules.

UK Birds of Conservation Concern	Amber listed
Species of European Conservation Concern	Least Concern
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (global)	Least Concern
Schedule 1 license required (to disturb)	No
Birds Directive Annex 1	No
Listed on the Annexes of	WBD(II*)

Numbers of Great Black-backed Gull remained relatively stable between the 1969–70 Census and Seabird 2000 (1998–2002), with a very shallow decline of 11% (JNCC 2022). Since Seabird 2000, annual monitoring suggests that this shallow decline may have continued although this is uncertain due to wide confidence limits and the recent trend may be stable: the latest Census results (2015–2021) may help clarify the trend once they are available (JNCC 2022). The Great Black-backed Gull remains almost exclusively a coastal-breeding species, although a very small number of pairs have been recorded at inland colonies (Balmer et al. 2013).

UK winter population

-42% decrease (1995/96 to 2020/21)

Wintering Great Black-backed Gulls occur all around the coast of Britain & Ireland, as well as at inland, lowland sites in England and Scotland. Breeding birds have a predominantly coastal distribution around both Britain and Ireland, though they are largely absent from most of the North Sea coast between Lothian and Kent.

• 

• 

Occupied 10-km squares in UK

No. occupied in breeding season	699
% occupied in breeding season	23
No. occupied in winter	2047
% occupied in winter	68

European Distribution Map

European Breeding Bird Atlas 2

Breeding Season Habitats

Most frequent in

Open Shore

Relative frequency by habitat

Relative occurrence in different habitat types during the breeding season.

There has been a substantial 30% range contraction in Ireland since the 1968–72 Breeding Atlas, though much of this loss occurred between 1968–72 and 1988–91. A recent contraction is apparent in western Scotland but is outweighed by gains elsewhere in Britain, especially along the English south coast. Since the 1988–91 Breeding Atlas there has been a 7% increase in the number of 10-km squares occupied in Britain & Ireland.

Great Black-backed Gulls are recorded throughout the year.

View a summary of recoveries in the Online Ringing Report.

Foreign locations of birds ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland

View number ringed each year in the Online Ringing Report

Maximum Age from Ringing

26 years 8 months 8 days (set in 2015)

Wing Length	Adults	473.9±20.3 | Range 438–513mm, N=215
	Juveniles	473.6±15.9 | Range 446-495mm, N=26

Body Weight

Adults

1.56±0.21 | Range 1.29–1.92kg, N=185

Feather measurements and photos on featherbase

Ring size	H
Field Codes	2-letter: GB | 5-letter code: GBBGU | Euring: 6000

For information in another language (where available) click on a linked name

Causes of change

The Great Black-backed Gull has not suffered the substantial declines in populations that have recently affected several other UK seabirds including coastal breeding Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. It has been surmised that this species out-competes other species when scavenging for fishery discards and offal and therefore may continue to be able to benefit from these resources despite reductions in availability which have affected other species (Mitchell et al. 2004).