Many thanks to Robert Wakeham, writing in last week’s Argyllshire Advertiser, for his questions regarding the nesting colony and status of common gulls within the former oil depot, currently the Mid Argyll hub and museum construction site.
I am happy to address these questions. Historically, this species was first named in the 1700s and thought by many to come from their association with grazing or ‘common land’ and, in the more recent past, the name ‘uncommon gull’ may be more apt.
In the UK, they are essentially restricted as a breeding species to Scotland where numbers continue to decline, with this being reflected in Argyll, principally due to predation by the American mink, as pointed out.