Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ix. (1916), No. 3. 5 



In November the gulls begin to gather at Rostherne 

 soon after 3 p.m. On the 5th, although only one bird 

 was visible at 3-15, over 300 were on the water by 3-30. 

 In the fading light it is impossible to count the birds 

 accurately, but towards the end of October I have seen 

 so many as 500 on the water by 3-30. Throughout 

 autumn and winter a number of Black-heads feed on 

 the mere at Tatton, and during the afternoon, just 

 before dusk, these birds rise in a body, as if by word 

 of command, and fly straight to Rostherne. Birds from 

 the north and north-west, which have been feeding along 

 the Mersey valley, arrive singly or in parties ; twenty, 

 fifty or even a hundred may come in at once, and when 

 there are a number together they usually fly in chevron 

 formation. As a rule the earliest birds fly round in a 

 body before finally settling down, but the later arrivals 

 drop straight and join those already on the water. 



It is exceedingly difficult to arrive at any estimate of 

 the numbers which thus roost together ; one can count 

 those which pass over one portion of the bank, but the 

 light, when the majority are coming in, is too far gone to 

 enable one to see those arriving from elsewhere. When, 

 however, from three to five hundred pass over a sky area 

 not more than a quarter of a mile wide, it is fair to guess 

 that at least three times this number may reach the water 

 from other points ; an estimate that a thousand birds are 

 often gathered together is probably far short of the actual 

 number. Indeed, on one winter evening, by counting a 

 group and multiplying by the whole area covered by the 

 settled birds, I estimated a thousand on the water 

 and a couple of hundred more passed over me as I left 

 the mere. On moonlight nights, the keeper tells me, the 

 clamour from this multitude is extraordinary. 



Almost certainly the increase of the Black-headed 



