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So, what do you do?

I鈥檓 a PhD student at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter. I study the behaviour of urban-living herring gulls with a focus on their interactions with humans. I do a lot of staring at gulls.

What鈥檚 so interesting about gulls?

Herring gulls interest me because, despite a rapid national population decline, they seem to be doing relatively well in urban areas. A seabird that is able to adapt to urban life is quite intriguing. They also have a lot of distinctive behaviours and calls, so there is a lot to observe and decipher.

Gulls often get a bad press. Are they misunderstood?

I think they are. From a gull鈥檚 perspective, a roof is a great nesting site 鈥� they don鈥檛 know that they won鈥檛 be welcome. They may be loud, but they call to communicate with other gulls, not to be annoying. And in the summer, they protect their chicks, just like any human would protect their children. They aren鈥檛 mind-readers, so they can鈥檛 know you aren鈥檛 going to attack them. And as many people do attack and kill both adults and chicks, their defensive behaviour is hardly unwarranted. When it comes to taking food, I see them as being similar to an untrained dog: a big portion of food is just too tempting to turn down.

What are your best gull facts?

Gulls are long-lived birds, with some living for decades. Herring gulls are monogamous and usually pair for life, with both sexes incubating the eggs and feeding the chicks. They can recognise their mates and their chicks, but can also recognise their neighbours. Occasionally, herring gulls will adopt other gulls鈥� chicks, but more commonly, they will defend their own chicks from intruders.

What are you working on right now?

Right now, we are all on lockdown, so no one is doing any fieldwork. I have had to change my plans, but we are all in the same boat. I am currently writing a paper that builds on our previous research showing that herring gulls tend to dislike or avoid being looked at by people. I鈥檓 also co-writing a literature review on wild animals鈥� interactions with humans and using the time inside to get some new computer-based modelling skills.

How did you end up working in this field?

After graduating from the University of Exeter with a degree in zoology, I knew I wanted to do research, and I was interested in studying animal behaviour. I have always had a particular interest in birds, and moving to a coastal town in Cornwall meant I was suddenly close to lots of herring gulls. Most other wild animals can鈥檛 be approached very closely, so I thought they would make a great subject to study. I approached my now supervisors to ask them to supervise me on a master鈥檚 project, which has now turned into a PhD.

What鈥檚 the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?

Don鈥檛 be afraid to be wrong.

If you could have a conversation with any scientist, living or dead, who would it be?

It may not be very original, but I would love to talk to Charles Darwin. He gets a lot of criticism from evolution deniers for not getting everything right, but the fact that he was right about so many things and was able to make accurate predictions despite having much less information than we do now shows how insightful he was, which is why I think he would be such an interesting person to talk to. He had many adventures and I鈥檓 sure he would be keen to hear how the field of biology has progressed.

鈥淕ulls are like untrained dogs: a big portion of food is just too tempting to turn down鈥�

How useful will your skills be after the apocalypse?

It depends how many gulls there still are!

OK, one last thing: tell us something that will blow our minds鈥�

It is probably difficult to blow the minds of science magazine writers and readers, but there will always be things some people don鈥檛 know or haven鈥檛 thought about. How about this? You are more closely related to a tuna than a tuna is to a shark. Or, you are living closer in time to Tyrannosaurus than Tyrannosaurus was to Stegosaurus.