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Strangford Lough European Herring Gull Count Fell to 1,724 Occupied Nests in 2025

European Herring Gull standing on a post
Conservation · Population & status

Strangford Lough held 1,724 apparently occupied nests of European herring gull (Larus argentatus) in 2025, according to the Northern Ireland Seabird Report published on 26 March 2026. The count was lower than the 1,900 nests recorded in 2024 and the 1,920 recorded in 2023, which was the highest total at the site since 1986.

Despite the recent dip, the longer series shows a strong recovery from the low numbers recorded around the turn of the century. Herring gulls have increased steadily at Strangford Lough after steep declines during the late 1980s and 1990s.

Strangford remained Northern Ireland’s primary Herring Gull population

The 2025 survey found herring gulls breeding on 23 islands in Strangford Lough, making the species the most widespread breeding seabird around the lough. Eight colonies still held more than 100 apparently occupied nests, with Green Island at Killyleagh the largest at 424.

The long-term graph in the report shows numbers dropping to their lowest levels in the early 2000s before rising through much of the following two decades. The 2023 and 2024 counts approached levels not recorded since the 1980s, followed by the moderate fall in 2025.

Other Northern Irish colonies showed different patterns

On Lighthouse Island in the Copeland group, 709 apparently occupied nests were counted in 2025, down from 831 in 2024. Mew Island was not counted in 2025, so a complete total for the Copeland Islands is not available.

Elsewhere, Muck Island increased from 74 apparently occupied nests in 2024 to 154 in 2025. On Rathlin Island, the RSPB LIFE Raft project recorded 254 apparently occupied nests in 2025, up from 205 the previous year and the highest recorded count there since 1985, before a major population crash.

The report also notes that urban-nesting herring gulls are probably increasing around Northern Ireland, but reliable data remain sparse outside central Belfast. Counts from roofs and other urban structures are difficult to incorporate into the same monitoring framework as island and coastal colonies.

Sources and image credit

  1. British Trust for Ornithology. (2026). Northern Ireland Seabird Report 2025.Primary monitoring report published 26 March 2026. Strangford Lough held 1,724 apparently occupied European Herring Gull nests in 2025, down from 1,900 in 2024 and 1,920 in 2023, but within a longer recovery after declines in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Image: grassrootsgroundswell / Wikimedia Commons — European Herring Gull; representative species image, not a bird counted at Strangford Lough · CC BY 2.0 · Source

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