Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)

It might be a shock to find this mob on the Red List; how can these seaside troublemaking, ploughed-field circling, landfill-scavenging, bin-bothering chip stealers who seem to have pretty much evolved to make the best of whatever situation they find themselves in, be in decline? Their coastal population has halved in the last 30 years but increased inland, which shows how resilient these birds are; amazing aviators and piscators, they are very canny birds who can read humans well. They can stare right into your soul! So, let’s hope in years to come that the long, laugh-like call of the Herring Gull is still as common on the coast as the crashing waves of the eternal turn of the tides.

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Taken from Matt’s new book ‘Save Our Birds: How to bring our favourite birds back from the brink of extinction’, to be published by Ebury on 24 June. Caught by the River copies of the book exclusively come with a Hawfinch postcard, signed by Matt. Additionally we will be donating 10% of sales from the book to Matt’s chosen charity, Back From The Brink. Preorder your copy of the book here (£12.00).