Urban seagulls get a bad press but we must learn to live alongside them, say conservation experts
Tony Jolliffe/BBC. The herring gull is on the UK Red List of birds of conservation concern.
Herring gulls are coming inland to feed on leftovers as numbers of fish in our seas dwindle.
Excluded from their natural habitats by human activities, species that can adapt to urban life, such as the herring gull, have little choice but to move into urban areas to pick through our waste, he said.
Tony Jolliffe/BBC. In winter, gulls gather in large numbers to roost communally on lakes and reservoirs.
The six main UK gull species - the black-headed gull, common gull, Mediterranean gull, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull and great black-backed gull - are all declining and either amber- or, in the case of the herring gull, red-listed.
In January, the first national survey of winter gulls in 20 years took place, to look at the number and distribution of populations overwintering in the UK."I don't think people realise that the numbers, especially of our breeding gulls, have been declining," said Dawn Balmer of the British Trust for Ornithology.
Tony Jolliffe/BBC. The great black-backed gull is the largest member of the gull family.
During the winter, gulls roost in large numbers at night, making it easier to count birds returning to lakes and reservoirs and giving valuable information on patterns of decline.
"They're very charismatic creatures and definitely get a bad rap for sometimes aggressive behaviour in the breeding season," said Emma Caulfield, who runs The Winter Gull Survey.
More data on winter gulls will be collected at the end of the year.