Another chapter in the story of the Herring Gull chick that fell from the nest and landed on our flat roof…
5th July 2013
It’s almost a month now since the little herring gull chick arrived on the roof and lived to tell the tale. He’s changed a lot since that day (June 8th) and although he’s still got a bit of his baby fluff, he has almost a full set of his juvenile feathers. He’s still fully dependent on his parents for food and he gets regular top-ups, mainly from his mother. Goodness knows where she goes to find his food, although some of it is recognisable as human left-overs (never ours, that would be asking for trouble), more likely chips and chunks of bread. Seems to me a parent Herring Gull has similar problems to the rest of us when it comes to providing a healthy, balanced diet (or not) for their offspring.
Lunch has just arrived
I hope you’ve cleaned your beak
Help yourself
Only chips again
OK, last one
Just a bit more, please..
But I’m still hungry
That’s it then, might as well have a nap
everyday nature trails 
How do they survive if it looks like the only food they get is scraps I see the mother flying off for ages searching for food. She looks like she flies towards the backs of the hotels near the cliff tops.
I watch them every year bring up 2-3 chicks successfully this pair must be 15 years old. It gets very noisy in July but it does calm down as they learn to fly.
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However you feel about them, there’s no denying herring gulls are fantastic parents! Watching this year’s brood being fed is as entertaining and noisy as ever – starfish makes the occasional healthy change from human left-overs!
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Hmm – my own number 2 daughter, similarly built, used to be a bit that way inclined! Her favourite thing after school was nachos with melted cheese eaten whilst lying on the sofa watching TV. She often fell asleep after snacking.
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So like my number 2 daughter – chips, chips, nap…(but she’s built like a stick insect, not her mother’s genes).
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