Common Gull - Larus canus

Common gull (Larus canus) are a medium-sized gull, overall slender and more 'dainty' than other similar local gulls (e.g. herring gull Larus argentatus). Adult breeding plumage consists of a white body, pale grey wings with black wing tips, yellow-green legs and slender yellow beak (fig.1). Common gull breed in a range of habitats both coastally and inland, from beaches and cliff-ledges to moorlands and lake shores. They typically nest in colonies, but will nest in single pairs also (Svensson et al, 2020; Harris et al, 2024). Common gull have a varied diet influenced by breeding location and seasonality, with coastal common gull diet usually consisting of small fish, molluscs, and planktonic crustaceans. Common gull typically live to around 10 years old, breeding at 3 years (Harris et al, 2024).

Population & Distribution:
Around 2% of the global common gull breeding population is hosted by Britain and Ireland, with 89% of this population found in Scotland (fig. 2) (Burnell et al, 2023; Harris et al, 2024). As common gull are both a coastal and inland species, they have been recorded all over the east coast (fig. 3 & 4) - but with real increases in the inland breeding and roosting populations in recent years. Records number in their hundreds at locations around Strathdon, Loch of Skene, Inverurie. More coastally, breeding has been recorded in areas around Peterhead and on rooftops in Aberdeen. Coastal roost sites have included Cruden Bay, the Ythan, and Donmouth (North East Scotland Bird Reports). 

Conservation Status:
Common gull are a Red listed species due to a population decline over at least 25 years. The non-breeding population of common gull is of international importance also (Stanbury et al, 2024). 

Factors Impacting Common Gull:
It is believed that changes in nesting habitats at a local level is having a wider population impact cumulatively, as common gull rely on open habitats for nesting. Land use changes such as afforestation, moorland management (i.e. burning regimes), and development such as housing or onshore wind farms, are altering these habitats and making them less suitable as breeding sites (Burnell et al, 2023).

Like many seabirds, common gull are likely to be vulnerable to changes in food availability, particularly driven by climate change and rising sea temperatures altering prey distribution. It is estimated that 30% of common gull diet in the North Sea in 2010 consisted of fishery discards (Sherley et al, 2020) and whilst it is not yet known what impact the fishery discards ban introduced in 2015 (DEFRA, 2015) has had on the common gull population, perhaps some of the recent population declines can be attributed in part to the ban.

No mortality from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) was reported in common gull as of November 2022 (Tremlett et al, 2024).

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