The sound of gulls could mean there is a storm coming
INLAND city dwellers may have noticed some unexpected – and rather loud – visitors over the past 10 days or so, and we would be wise to take note of them.
In London in particular, the gulls have arrived. Seemingly en masse. Squawking, cawing and threatening our chips, they wing around town with all the brashness of the worst kind of tourist, and, once their menacing presence has been remarked upon, tend to leave we locals scratching our heads. “Eh?”
A gull in the city is far from a phenomenon – there are, after all, always a small number of Thameside gulls among the pigeons and the parakeets in the capital – but to see them in any great numbers is unusual, especially when they will soon disappear again. So just what have they been up to?
The answer, of course, lies in the weather. The connection between the state of our skies and the behaviour of our avian friends has existed since year dot, but one of the oldest examples of meteorological folklore in this country involves gulls as quite excellent forecasters.
It’s thought that when there are squalls around the coast, brought on by a depression and falling pressure, foraging at sea becomes difficult for birds, often perilously so. And if storms are approaching, seagulls will be the some of the first to react.
Rather than sitting tight in the bad weather, they band together and find the most likely place for shelter, food, company and a microclimate – the city. The result, as we’ve seen after the summer’s recent storms, is an often unusually high number of visitors to our urban skies, providing a handy indicator that things may soon be rocky out at sea.
Now, it may be nonsense. They may just want our chips. But next time you spot a flock of gulls looking lost, try not to curse their very presence. Instead, perhaps batten down the hatches. It may be a warning.