I regularly visit the Għadira Nature Reserve to see which birds have flown in and to take pictures.

Last Sunday, as soon as I got there, a man came to the reserve’s reception centre and informed the weekend wardens that there were two large birds on the beach. One had a broken wing and could not fly, and the other was dead.

One of the wardens immediately went to the beach to save the injured bird, an immature yellow-legged gull. He picked it up and took it to the reserve so that it would be taken to a vet. The dead bird was also a yellow-legged gull.

The day before this incident, somebody informed the wardens at the reserve that he saw two hunters shooting at gulls from a boat in the bay.

The yellow-legged gull has been protected by Maltese law for over 30 years. It is illegal to shoot at them, kill them or harm them in any way.

It is a large bird and males can have a wingspan of over 1.5 metres. Adults are recognised by their silvery grey back and upper wings. Immature birds are mottled grey and can be confused with other similar species.

The yellow-legged is the only gull likely to be seen around the Maltese islands during the summer months.

It is also Malta’s largest breeding bird. The largest colony is found on the plateau of Filfla; other colonies can also be found along the cliffs of Malta and Gozo.

It is only recently that this gull started to be recognised as a separate species. Up until last year, it was considered a subspecies of the herring gull, which is very similar, but adults have pink instead of yellow legs.

At one time, the yellow-legged gull was assumed to be the same species as the Caspian gull but with the help of DNA analysis, it was realised that it is a separate species and is nowadays known scientifically as Larus michahellis.

Despite these changes in scientific classification and common name, this species retained its Maltese name, gawwija prima.

portelli.paul@gmail.com