First pure pairs of yellow-legged gull Larus [cachinnans] michahellis along the North Sea coasts

Since 1985, newly created land in the outer harbour of Zeebrugge (51°21’N, 3°11’E), Belgium, supports fast growing populations of gulls, terns and plovers (Seys et al. 1998; Stienen et al. in press). In 2002, 2100 pairs of Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus , 3400 pairs of Lesser Black-backed Gull L. graellsii , 950 pairs of Herring Gull L. argentatus , 2450 pairs of Common Tern Sterna hirundo and smaller numbers of Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula , Kentish Plover C. alexandrinus , Mediterranean Gull L. melanocephalus , Common Gull L. canus , Sandwich Tern S. sandvicensis and Little Tern S.... Mehr ...