Gull chicks are probably entirely silent when Mum is sitting on them, but once they become mobile they can be very noisy. We can often hear the bigger ones from the boat, anchored off the island. However, when we go ashore the adult birds give their hue and cry (generally beginning to complain when we are about 50 - 100 yards distant) and this evidently gives the youngsters the signal to keep quiet and hide. The situation is somewhat different from that of tree nesting birds. Whether they are wrens or sparrowhawks such nestlings are often left unattended, as you know, but gull chicks are never left to fend for themselves. The nest is constantly guarded. When danger threatens, the parents guard their young from the air.

Of course, the colony as a whole is always very noisy and one tends to imagine that the birds are all just yelling their heads off about nothing in particular. This is not the case - but I will be pre-empting Roxanne if I say much more. We have been studying this quite a bit lately and I know that she is going to write something about it.