The black-headed gull is a familiar sight on farmland, wetland and coastal habitats throughout the UK. It nests on saltmarshes and on islands in flooded gravel pits and reservoirs, and sometimes forms very large, noisy colonies. There are about 140,000 breeding pairs in the UK and about 2.2 million wintering birds each year.
How to identify
The black-headed gull is our commonest small gull. During summer, it actually has a chocolate-brown head, rather than a jet-black one, which turns white for the rest of the year, with little black ruminant spots on either side of the head, which make it look like the bird is wearing headphones. It is silvery-grey above and white below, with red legs, a red bill and black wingtips.
Did you know?
The species-specific part of the black-headed gull's Latin name, Chroicocephalus ridibundus, means 'laughing ' and comes from its 'ke-ke-ke' and 'kverarrr' calls.
