While much maligned as chip thieves and tormentors of families on seaside holidays, the UK's gulls are in trouble, with many species experiencing significant declines in both breeding and overwintering populations.
Of the six commonly occurring gulls in the UK, all are now listed in the Amber or Red List in Birds of Conservation Concern, according to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).
Researchers from the BTO are trying to work out exactly what is causing these declines – and they're asking birdwatchers from across the UK to help.
Why are gull populations declining?
The UK is home to six regularly occurring gull species – black-headed gull, common gull, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, Mediterranean gull and great black-backed gull – along with several other less frequently occurring species.
In autumn and winter, gulls flock together to roost on lakes, reservoirs and estuaries across the UK. These congregations can number hundreds or even thousands of individuals.
But in recent years gull populations have experienced large declines, with degradation or loss of nesting habitat, predation, food availability for coastal nesting birds, and the ongoing outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) the biggest drivers.
The BTO says that understanding where gull roosts occur, and the numbers of birds using them, is key to helping conservation organisations protect these charismatic seabirds.
What is the Winter Gull Survey?
Since 1953, the Winter Gull Survey (WinGS) has been monitoring gulls in the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, providing robust information on the numbers and distribution of wintering gulls. But information on autumn breeding populations is limited.
In an attempt to fill this knowledge gap, the bird charity is now asking volunteers to count gulls in the autumn.
Birdwatchers can help by identifying the locations of autumn populations and counting how many gulls are at each site.
The volunteers can visit established roost sites used by migrating and wintering gulls, as well as other inland and coastal locations sites. BTO says that helpers can count all gulls, but with particular focus on six regularly occurring species.
"Many of our gull species are experiencing significant declines in their breeding populations, hence their conservation status, and we urgently need to improve our understanding of where, and in what numbers, they gather in the autumn and winter," says Dawn Balmer, BTO Head of Surveys.
"Information collected in these surveys will continue to fill the gaps in our knowledge," adds Emma Caulfield, the Survey Organiser for WinGS.
Would you like to help? Find out more about the survey, the availability of survey sites near them, and how to sign up at bto.org/wings.
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