¬¬¬ Black-Headed Gulls, From China to England
In November, thousands of Black-headed Gulls arrive at Green Lake Park in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province in South West China. Making the most of a mild winter climate the birds will stay until February, before returning to their summer breeding grounds in Siberia.
Being in landlocked Kunming for eight months the shrill of gulls is the closest I will get to a beach setting. So on the next sunny day, I weave my way through the back streets and alleyways of Kunming until I eventually emerge onto the esplanade surrounding the lake.
To my utmost surprise, thousands of people and birds seem to blend in a flurry of activity. There goes my quiet walk, I think.
Opposite me, tourists stand
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Soaking up the space and solitude, I linger for a while and realise how little I know about this bird. With no significant information at the park on the gull, I return to my apartment to do my own research.
Coming from New Zealand where it is not naturalised, I am surprised to learn the adult birds have a chocolate brown head in summer. Having moulted when they arrive in Kunming, the birds have a dark smudge on each side of the face. Their natural diet consists of molluscs, worms, insects and fish. They will also eat some grain and berries.
However, doing what gulls do they scavenge and enjoy being fed by humans. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, they estimate a world population between 4,800,000-8,900,000.
Black-headed gulls live as far away as the New Siberian Islands in the Arctic Circle, east to the Kamchatka Peninsula, Central Asia, North Africa and most of Europe. They are also present in smaller numbers on the east coast of Canada and North America.
Therefore, I was delighted when I arrived in England a year later and stayed near the Thames Estuary, where small flocks of full chocolate faced black-headed gulls inhabited the parks and