Saturday 1 September 2018

Black-headed Gull predating on Eel




Early yesterday morning I was watching this black-headed Gull wading in the shallow water margins of Ryan's field when it locked its beak on to a small Eel right on the waters edge,

The Eel was very lively and put up one hell of a fight for survival as the gull tried to line it up head first to swallow it.

The Eel managed to escape a couple of times only to be re-caught and when the gull first managed to swallow around two thirds of the Eels writhing head and body it still managed to wriggle back out.

The battle continued until the gull took a mighty gulp and finally swallowed the whole Eel complete.

The Gull looked quite pleased with itself  but I can think of many far better ways to start the day than having a lively Eel wriggling around inside my Tummy !!

















1 comment:

  1. Nice blog and great photos! I initially noticed your “seagull vs eel” capture. That looks like a sizable eel caught and staring down the captors throat here!

    So the seagull managed to win the struggle and gulpd the eel all the way down okay? Does the prey put up a good fight, I wonder if it stands any slim chance of damaging (biting, wriggling etc.) the bird’s elastic gullet or even escaping it if eaten in that condition?! Sorry for all the questions, but thanks for the feedback/information! 😉

    -Kyle

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