British Sea Birds, C.A. Gibson-Hill

Describing itself as a biography of seabirds, British Sea Birds (1947) provides more of a narrative guide to common birds found across the country, giving more of a charming insight to their behaviour compared to traditional identification guidebooks which are strictly structured on the basis of plumage, habitat, voice, etc.

Growing up by the sea has given us a bit of a soft spot for the gulls; a knee-jerk defensiveness of their nature which is so often attacked — even arguably on this very page. But we like the gulls. Their bright white feathers glow bright against gloomy skies and they’re always surprisingly grandiose when swoosh past you at eye level, particularly when gliding in slow motion against the wind.

British Sea Birds was written, illustrated and photographed by Carl Alexander Gibson-Hill, a British medical doctor, naturalist and ornithologist. Considering the page refers to Gibson-Hill’s portraits of the described gulls, it seems only right to include that extra page today —