LITTLE GULL

Gulls are much maligned birds; dismissed as all looking the same and being rubbish-tip-loving, chip-stealing, noisy, ugly birds. None of these accusations could be applied to the lovely Little Gull. It is tiny, looking half the size of even a Black-headed Gull, and more like a marsh tern than a typical gull. They behave like marsh terns, too, floating gracefully over water, and sweeping down to pick morsels from the surface. Adults are like minuscule Mediterranean Gulls, with dark underwings and a tern-like black bill. First-winters resemble small first-winter Kittiwakes. Secondwinters are like adults but with a few black spots in the upper primaries.