The not so Common Gull

I am not common.

I’m scarcer than you know

Rarer than the Black-Headed Gull

Less seen than the Herring-Gull.

They’re everywhere you go.

If you keep saying I’m common I will stamp my feet,

Not in temper but to feel like rain

On the ground beneath.

I love to eat invertebrates that live underground

And lure them out for dinner with my dancing around.

You will love my greenish stockings

As I prance about the shores

My yellow bill a sight of beauty

Like you’ve never seen before.

And when the storms hit the seas

I can fly so far inland

And feed among the landfill sites

Or join the merry band

Of brothers following tractors

As the plough churns up the earth

Throwing worms up to the heavens

I eat and eat for all it’s worth.

But I prefer the shores, the beaches,

The waves upon the sea.

Fish is my favourite dinner, 

As well as breakfast, supper and tea.

I don’t like eating rubbish

Though I do love fish and chips

I liked it best in newspapers

Not your plastic trays

So much easier to tear the paper

Then watch the empty wrapping blow away.

It gives the people something to do

To keep them getting fat,

Running up and down the beaches,

Waving arms and this and that.

They shout at me and call me pest

But it’s their rubbish that I live on.

If they would just clean up after their mess

Then I would soon be gone.