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gulls

Smart technology reveals new gull behaviour

Black-tailed_gull

Attaching sensors to animals in order to study their movements and record aspects of their behaviour has become commonplace over recent years. However, because they need to be lightweight, these automated bio-loggers typically have limited battery capacity. That’s a challenge, particularly when you want to use power-hungry data collection methods….

Would you support a gull cull — Ireland’s Wildlife reader poll

Gull cull, yes or no?

The gull cull debate goes on, and despite the publication of some more balanced articles over the course of the weekend / early this week, there is still a lot of misinformation out there vilifying gulls. We’re running a poll here on Ireland’s Wildlife (we kicked it off on this post about….

Seagulls ate my aunty’s dog! Really?

Anyone with an ounce of sense will instantly see the headline above for what it is: sensationalist, ill-informed clap-trap. Nonetheless headlines just like it have been rife across Irish media following calls for a cull of the birds by Senator Denis O’Donovan in the Seanad earlier this week. Here are just some of the questionable headlines, introducing equally incredulous editorial from ostensibly “respectable” Irish….

Ross’s Gull: this little beauty makes even gulls seem sexy!

For many a budding birder, myself included,  gulls can be an absolute nightmare! There’s just so much plumage variation across the different year classes, and lots of potential overlap between species in sub-adult gulls that accurate identification can be extremely taxing, and scanning gull roosts in (inevitably) low light in….

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)

A trip to the coast practically guarantees a close encounter with the herring gull. This is the ubiquitous “seagull”: its mewling cries synonymous with the seaside, its strong profile and bold manner familiar to us all. These large, noisy gulls are common around our coasts all year ‘round, and often….