Sunday 27th December 2009

These maps include all SOS, TTV, Birdtrack and roving records from the first two winter Atlas periods, November 2007-February 2008 and November 2008-February 2009, with the exception of most SOS records for 2009. Garden BirdWatch records only from the period November/December 2007 are included. These maps do not incorporate any records from this winter (November 2009 to date).

COMMON GULL – First two winter seasons provisional distribution map.

Click here to open a larger map in a new window.

Common Gull has so far been recorded in 31.9% of the county’s tetrads. Whilst it has been widely recorded along the coast (although there are still some gaps) it has also been recorded in almost all the 10-km squares in the county, so look closely for it in any group of gulls you see anywhere. On downland it is fairly widespread feeding on pasture at this time of the year - as the map shows - but there are still some gaps where it has yet to be recorded on the Downs.

MEDITERRANEAN GULL – First two winter seasons provisional distribution map.

Click here to open a larger map in a new window.

Mediterranean Gull has so far been recorded in 5% of the county’s tetrads. Look out for it anywhere along the coast, but in inland tetrads too. It is often seen with Black-headed or Common Gulls, so also look out for it on pastures or amongst flocks of gulls following the plough.

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL – First two winter seasons provisional distribution map.

Click here to open a larger map in a new window.

Lesser Black-backed Gull has been recorded in 10% of the county’s tetrads. This is a gull that you are more likely to see inland than along the coast in Sussex, so as with the other two species look out for it amongst any flocks of gulls that you see inland. Look for it in urban areas too.