The sounds of early morning are distinctive wherever you live.  Here in Spittal the tuneful spring chorus of blackbird, robin and wren is regularly interrupted by the croaking of crows and the raucous calling of herring gulls.

 

(Click for a closer view)

The gulls disappear from the village at the end of the summer, returning early in the spring to stake their claim on favourite chimney pots and telegraph poles. They don’t nest on these high points (in fact I don’t know where they do nest) but there’s definitely something territorial going on here.  For most of the day the birds are quiet but towards evening one will start up a full throated cry, prompting half a dozen others to answer the challenge from the top of chimneys up and down the street.

Prompted by Becky B’s Squares challenge ‘On Top of the World’.