There was an unexpected, and unprecedented, visit to my garden this morning from a Lesser Black-backed Gull, which then seemed unable to leave.
Don’t worry, there was a good outcome!
As I was making coffee, my Rook friend made its regular visit, landing on the railing outside my window. I dutifully went to stand at my back door to throw out a handful of suet pellets, as is our custom, and while I was admiring the Rook’s glossy feathers in the morning sunlight, it looked up at the sky, perturbed.
A Lesser Black-backed Gull suddenly landed in my garden, about eight feet from me! It landed awkwardly, with wings outstretched and onto its belly, possibly misjudging the step between the patio and the lawn. The Gull seemed unhurt; just surprised to see me standing in the doorway.
The surprised feeling was mutual!
The Gull walked quickly away from me towards the back of the garden and I regretted not having my camera to hand to record this unusual visit. Fully expecting it to immediately fly out of the garden, I stayed standing at my door, waiting for it to leave.
But it didn't. It walked around the garden - I think it was looking for a way to get out. So I slowly shut the door to avoid scaring it. But I did get my camera to record the fact the Gull was in my garden.
I managed to get some photos and video of the Gull through my kitchen window. Several times it showed signs of wanting to take off, but then couldn't quite gain enough height. It looked healthy, and was walking around ok. So I kept watch, waiting for it to leave.
The Gull seemed to not have enough clearance room to take off, even though we have plenty of staging posts for leaving the garden. It jumped up onto some plant pots and onto a low wall but then, despite crouching into pre-take off, didn’t follow through.
I decided to risk possibly stressing the Gull by going back outside to open the garden gate, in the hopes it would find the route between our house and garage out onto the front lawn. As this would mean it going down a narrow walkway I doubted it would choose that route without help, but I thought it would bring the best outcome for the Gull.
I waited until it walked behind the greenhouse, quickly opened the gate and came back inside. As I returned to my back door, I saw the Gull looking at me. Would it realise escape was nearby?
After about 10 minutes of the Gull wandering around the garden, and with one failed take-off which led to it flying into my back fence as it hadn’t gained enough height, it seemed more and more unlikely that it would get out of the garden unaided.
I went back outside.
Giving it a very wide berth so that I didn't stress it, I went to the opposite part of the garden from the gate, to encourage the Gull to walk towards the exit.
I really didn’t want to stress the Gull, but I also didn’t want it to be trapped in my garden.
I walked up behind the greenhouse and the Gull saw me and started walking towards the patio. I honestly thought we would have several rounds of encouraging it to take the correct route, but it saw the open gate and the lawn beyond.
Success!
The Gull quickly walked down the path between my house and garage and out onto the front lawn!
I slowly followed, and got there in time to see it take off from the lawn and fly away!
Phew!
On my way back indoors I saw 4 Swifts flying in the blue sky which was a treat, as people have started reporting them leaving to migrate South. I’m sure these will be gone soon too.
