Here is a Salamanca seagull hanging about waiting for a crack at a wood fired pizza. What is it with me and seagulls ? Although it is not simply a matter of their multitudes in coastal Tasmania – although that helps when you’re scratching around looking for a photo – only a mug could deny at least an element of the propinquity effect at work here. No, it is more that gulls are misjudged , slandered and often unfairly maligned . Their critics see them as little more than opportunistic scavengers , when in fact, they are resourceful, inquisitive and highly intelligent birds. They have complex methods of communication and a highly developed social structure, lesbians or otherwise! F One must admire the way that gull colonies employ mobbing behaviour – think Soviet Army in the 1940s – attacking and harassing would-be predators and other intruders. I have a theory that most gulls are ardent Marxists, and I’ve yet to see any evidence to the contrary.