BLACK-BACKED GULLS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 15, 28 October 1932, Page 3

BLACK-BACKED GULLS

RAIDING TROUT STREAMS. A KINGFISHER'S PROTEST. \ An attack by a kingfisher on a black-backed .gull, whose intrusion on a portion of the river was evidently recented by the former, was witnessed by Mr F. Dyer, a Wellington angler, recently. Mr Dyer said that fishing in the Wanganui and Manawatu districts he noticed the increasing numbers of black-backed gulls patrolling the rivers, taking the fish in the shallows'! While he was fishing along a shallow stretch of the Wanganui River a gull alighted at the end of the rapid. Immediately the gull landed a kingfisher which was sitting on a willow tree overhanging the water swept down and attacked it. It evidently resented the intrusion of the gull into what it regarded as its particular stretch of water. The gull refused to be scared off, and the kingfisher retreated to its perch in the tree, while the gull continued its search for trout. Mr Dyer said he had not heard of such a thing as tins Before. Mr Dyer believes the gulls are making considerable inroads on the trout, and travel some distance inland. He thinks the same gulls return to the same spots each time, and if steps were taken quickly to shoot them off it would prevent the gulls raiding trout streams.

Mr Dyer has for several seasons been a visitor to the mouth of the Rakaia River during January and February for trout and salmon fishing.