Gull On A Chimney Pot

Not an uncommon sight here, it has to be said. I live in a built-up area with lots of said roof-adornments and lots of said gulls. To be more accurate, argenteus Herring Gulls, that is. They're ubiquitous; year-round residents, breeders, yarkers, rubbish-collectors, and raptor alarms. [Ok, the latter isn't as accurate as I'd like, but they've gotten me a few over the years :) ] [[Still not an Osprey, though. Or a passing Crane / Stork... And they go off on false alarms a lot. But still. Useful to have around. ]]

We don't just get Herring Gulls; Great Black-backed Gulls breed a short flight thattaway [and a longer flight thattaway and thattaway], Lesser Black-backed Gulls pass through and some hang around. Black-headed Gulls overwinter. All of these three show up now and again here at my home, though not frequently. This is a Herring Gull colony [to them, at least] and they don't take interlopers lightly, so BHGs just pass by without even trying to land and everything else gets escorted from the premises, with or without violence.

Enough backstory.. This morning, as I was getting ready to retire for the day, a gull landed on a chimney pot across the way*. I glanced at it, froze, swore, then bolted for bins. A few seconds later it was still there, though a few seconds after that a Herring Gull asked it if it would like to move on, please. It said something about the Herring's Mum, at which point the Herring Gull's other half arrived and the two of them made their point more forcefully. The adult Yellow-legged Gull flew off.

I'm still smiling.

[[*Apologies for the rhyme, I couldn't resist.]]