The Black-headed Gull is a small gull that can be found throughout England near the sea. In winter it can be seen more inland on ploughed fields, farmlands, parks and even on rubbish tips looking for food. Although it has the name ‘Black-headed’, its head is actually a dark chocolate brown colour in the summer and in winter its head is mainly white with only a dark spot behind each eye.

The Black-headed Gull is a pale grey-white bird, apart from the chocolate brown coloured head. However, in its first summer it has brown markings on its wings. It has slim pointed wings which have whiter stripes on the edges of the upper wings. Its beak and legs are a reddish colour and its eyes are black with a white crescent ring around them. It has a wingspan of around one hundred centimetres.

Black-headed Gulls can be seen in small flocks making loud noises. They seem to be quite quarrelsome when flying in groups. They often beat their wings very quickly and are very agile in flight. They can even catch insects in mid-air. Sometimes Black-headed Gulls do a rain dance by moving their feet up and down to attract earthworms.