Herring Gull behaviour

[JohnC6]

For several weeks there have been two herring gulls visiting the roof (the apex) of a neighbour's house. I've never seen them before . I assume they're male and female. They make a real racket as they approach so I look at the roof and they hover and land. They then make short 'clucking' sounds. Best I can describe it. The time before the last visit today, which went without incident, they appeared to have a fight with one pecking the other, necks locked together and rolled onto the slope of the roof then one flew off. Over the past week quite often just one has arrived but what it does..and here's why I'm asking..is to fly onto the roof, make several cries or whatever their sound is called..stand there for a few minutes then fly down onto our lawn and stomp round, neck bent down, staring at the grass and pecking at it whilst all the time continually making what actually sounds like a distress call. That or it's really angry. It's not the high pitch screech normally heard but a low sound Then it flies onto the bird bath,takes several sips of water and flies off.

Anyone any ideas what it's all about ? A bust up with its mate maybe ? Are they like that ? I recall taking a photo of a male and female Jackdaw on a branch touching each other..it was at Slimbridge and the female was giving the male a hard time and he looked sheepish and turned his head to one side. It was funny to watch but my point is that they have these relationships which,obviously go wrong. Maybe that's the problem here.

 

[Nod]

If the bird on the ground looks a bit like it's jogging on the spot, it may well be trying to trick worms into thinking it's raining so they come out of the ground.
If both the visitors are the same size, chances are that they're the same sex - the males are a bit larger than the females.