10th August 2009

I made two visits to Scotland during July,  one week observing natural history around St. Abbs and a second week walking into the Knoydart peninsula. During my stay in St. Abbs, I spent time watching the herring gulls which gather on a rock just outside the harbour and made the small sketches shown on this page.

The gull in the main image was one of a gang of herring gulls in Mallaig who were living up to their reputation by hanging around a seating area and keeping a close eye on people who were eating fish and chips. I watched the reaction of two birds when someone placed their used, but not empty, chip tray into a litter bin. Within seconds, the tray had been pulled out of the bin and other gulls had descended to gobble up all of the scraps.

Gulls are much-maligned but are really very attractive birds and are well worth observation.  The fact that they hang around waiting to snatch food scraps is simply a reminder that we throw so much away.

Next journal entry.