A herring gull s Tale
Yum Yum – Grub’s up
From page 3 of The Round Hill Reporter October 2017.
Look fellas, look what these kind humans are throwing out for us: crusty bread, pizza pieces, a scattering of peas, some curry and rice. And here are baked beans and chocolate pudding, the menu is varied, ever changing. Obviously you have to peck through a thin bit of plastic first, but that’s no problem!
Some humans unfortunately only put all these treats out early Tuesday mornings (Refuse Collection Day). How thoughtless is that?
Luckily however there are enough humans on this patch, who chuck refuse bags out on a Wednesday, so we can examine the contents for the next six days. The further you sort through, spreading it all out on the pavement and road the more delicious morsels you can find.
It seems humans are very relaxed about this, seeing evidence of the pleasure they are giving us, more and more bags and uncovered boxes appear as the week passes.
We have learnt to be scavengers (we would prefer fish or even worms) but food is plentiful on the Roundhill, so why bother to look further afield especially as street lighting means we can eat day and night (although there is some competition at this time by the urban foxes.) Yum yum, grubs up......
Gulls are beautiful bold birds, struggling to survive like most of us (even footballers.) Right now all is quiet except for the odd yowl from an individual bird warning another not to come too close, as they like a few months of comparative solitude. Most gulls mate for life, so once they both return to each other, close to the previous year’s nesting site next Spring, they can get down to their squawky business all over again. For now the yak yacking of parent birds protecting their young is over. So is the encouraging yelping of large groups of supportive birds circling around the first tentative flights of fledged youngsters. Peace, but I am perverse - I miss the noise.
I am a Brighton girl (albeit an old one) lucky enough to live by the sea and the sight and noise of a Seagull lifts my spirit, reminding me I am just a small strand in the web of life.
Never the less, I try not to put out a black plastic bag until Tuesdays and soon I might be getting a green bin from the Council........
Jan Curry
This page was last updated by Ted on 19-Apr-2026