Life lessons from a seagull…

A pair of herring gulls nest on the chimney breast opposite our bedroom window. They’ve been doing this for at least five years now, and I love watching the babies grow up. This year’s chick (and so far I’ve only seen one) is currently at the stage of looking like the contents of the vacuum cleaner bag, and you can just see him in this picture if you look really closely. He's just to the right of the orange chimney pot

Being small doesn’t mean he doesn’t have opinions. Boy oh boy, does it ever not mean that! This morning, I could hear him not so much squawking as yelling his views, and I’m pretty sure it was about the quality and quantity of his food and the poor quality of service, because it usually is with seagulls. That made sense because the birds take it in turns to guard the nest and go and get food, and daddy (although it could have been mummy) had clearly been gone too long for the youngster’s liking.

I’m anthropomorphic, and I can’t help weaving stories. I don't try not to do it very hard either, because it’s my job. So I was watching the parent, as one parent to another, because we've all been there, haven't we? I began to admire them when she hopped down from the chimney, walked along the roof, then went up to the next chimney along. She was scanning the skies to make sure that Bratling the birdie was quite safe, but she was also saying, ‘You can shout as much as you like, but I can’t change this, and I wouldn’t change it while you’re acting like that if I could.’

That was when it struck me that I could learn a lot from Mama Seagull in this world full of shouty people who always seem to know what’s best for me without ever needing to ask me. Mama didn’t knock him off the roof or shout back. She just removed herself from the situation until Bratling stopped shouting, then had a word with her partner when he got back and then they went back and fed him. Did Bratling learn a lesson? That remains to be seen, but I did, so from now on I intend to be more seagull.

Don’t worry, I promise I won’t steal your chips because Poole seagulls don’t do that. Why should they when there are all those shellfish in the bay?

Have a good week, and don’t give in to the Bratlings.