Gulls & Terns in Scottish Borders
Our list for Scottish Borders has 12 gulls & terns recorded regularly there: 3 residents, 3 summer visitors, 1 winter visitor, 2 passage migrants and 3 scarce visitors
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in Scottish Borders in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 12, most common first
European Herring GullLarus argentatusResidentCommon55–67 cmRecorded all year
Black-headed GullChroicocephalus ridibundusResidentCommon38–44 cmRecorded all year
KittiwakeRissa tridactylaSummer visitorCommon37–41 cmRegularly Mar–Nov
Great Black-backed GullLarus marinusResidentCommon64–79 cmRecorded all year
Common GullLarus canusWinter visitorCommon40–46 cmRecorded all year
Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscusSummer visitorCommon52–64 cmRegularly Jan–Oct
Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensisSummer visitorCommon36–41 cmRegularly Apr–Sep
Iceland GullLarus glaucoidesScarceUncommon52–60 cm
Arctic TernSterna paradisaeaPassage migrantUncommon33–39 cmRegularly Aug–Sep
Common TernSterna hirundoPassage migrantUncommon31–35 cmRegularly May–Sep
Mediterranean GullIchthyaetus melanocephalusScarceUncommon37–40 cmRegularly Mar–Jun
Little GullHydrocoloeus minutusScarceUncommon25–30 cm
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Little Gull 25–30 cm
- Common Tern 31–35 cm
- Arctic Tern 33–39 cm
- Sandwich Tern 36–41 cm
- Mediterranean Gull 37–40 cm
- Kittiwake 37–41 cm
- Black-headed Gull 38–44 cm
- Common Gull 40–46 cm
- Iceland Gull 52–60 cm
- Lesser Black-backed Gull 52–64 cm
- European Herring Gull 55–67 cm
- Great Black-backed Gull 64–79 cm
Body length, bill to tail. Rare birds in grey.
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made