written and posted by members of Lancashire Dead Good Poets' Society

Saturday 28 January 2023

Tamping

Another feathered-friend themed blog for the annual RSPB Big Birdwatch week-end, though I suspect there are quite a few bird lovers who don't count gulls as friends, particularly in seaside resorts like the jewel of the north.

Tamping is an unusual word, not to be confused with stamping, which is something much more violent. It means to press down gently but firmly, and is most commonly applied to the process of compacting tobacco in a pipe-bowl, ground coffee in an espresso machine, (you'll probably have witnessed this being done in any Costa, Nero or Starbucks), and the gravel that railway-lines are laid upon. But certain birds do it too, gulls in particular, on patches of grass. They do it rhythmically like a dance to fool worms into coming to the surface, for the tamping cleverly mimics the effect of rain falling and worms love a bit of moisture, just as gulls love a bit of worm.

Who knows how the gulls happened on the trick, for it is a learned behaviour and I quite often see twenty or thirty gulls all doing the worm dance in my local Revoe Park or on the sports field behind the gym I attend. I find it an amusing and entertaining sight to watch them all tamping away. 

doing the worm dance
For the most part it's Herring gulls (as above) who seem to do this. By the way, there is no such bird as a 'seagull'. That's just a lazy generic term that arose because gulls are most commonly found around coastlines. There are in fact fifty-four distinct species of gulls worldwide. About one third of those can be seen regularly in the UK: Black-headed, Bonaparte's, Common, Franklin's, Glaucous, Great Black-backed, Herring, Iceland, Ivory, Laughing, Lesser Black-backed, Little, Mediterranean, Ross's, Sabine's and Slender-billed gulls. You'd have to go further afield to find the following: Andean, Armenian, Audouin's, Belcher's, California, Caspian, Dolphin, East Siberian, Kelp, Lava, Olrog's, Relict, Saunder's, Sooty or Swallow-tailed gulls. Some gulls aren't even called gulls, but Kittiwakes. And some seabirds that are commonly mistaken for gulls are actually Terns, though they will also happily swoop and snatch food just as gulls are known to do.

It appears that gulls go tamping more in the winter months than during the summer. That's possibly because the ground is drier and harder in summer and they have a thriving tourist population to keep them supplied with chips, fish, kebabs, pizza and sandwiches. Tamping is for when the going is soft and the pickings are lean!

As for that Big Birdwatch count, Adele and I spent a drizzly hour in Stanley Park this morning before breakfast where, in addition to several varieties of ducks, geese, gulls and terns on the lake, we also saw loads of coots and moorhens, several cormorants and a couple of herons. In the woods we spotted blackbirds, blue tits, chaffinches, crows, a flock of goldfinches, great tits, long-tailed tits, magpies, nuthatches, parakeets, robins and wood pigeons. In the hour we saw no sign of the coal tits, dunnocks, goldcrests, song thrushes, tree creepers,  woodpeckers and wrens that are sometimes in evidence. Sadly, none of the gulls were doing the worm dance today, probably because it was already raining.

Gulls Tamping
Off-season, hard of herring or chips
these clever sea-birds each paddling

a square of turf for all they're worth
like Irish dancers -- all the action in

hips, legs and feet -- their tamping
replicates the rhythmic gentle thud
 
of falling rain sufficiently to charm 
gullible worms up out of damp earth

two hundred per metre it's believed
if they've stamina and greed enough.

If you'd like to see a pair of gulls in tamping action, here's a YouTube clip: Tamping Gulls







Thanks for reading, S ;-)

29 comments:

Nigella D said...

Delightful Steve. That's so funny. I loved the poem and the video clip.

Jenny Grant said...

I'd never heard it called tamping before though I've seen gulls doing it. Well done with the poem. 👏

Flloydwith2Ells said...

That's a joyful interlude in my 'why am I working on a Sunday' work session. Thank you!

Ben Templeton said...

"...hard of herring or chips" - what a great phrase! I'm not sure I can ever love gulls but your blog shows them in a sympathetic light as highly intelligent birds.

Sophie Pope said...

You're right. I'm not a lover of gulls. Noisy and annoying creatures. The poem's good though.

Grant Trescothick said...

Dancing for worms, clever birds. It's a great little poem too.

Ross Madden said...

Well done Steve. Gulls generally get bad press so it was refreshing to read about their tamping skills. There are some lovely lines in your poem.👏

Jen McDonagh said...

I'm fairly sure we've got Laughing Gulls on our roof. Yes they can be a bit of a pain but they are part of being a seaside town. It's a lovely poem.

Debbie Laing said...

We did our birdwatch hour on Sunday morning. As well as the usual blackbirds, robins, blue and great tits, sparrows and starlings we also had chaffinches and greenfinches which we don't see very often, and like you no wrens this time. I hope the really cold spell didn't kill them. As others have said, it is a delightful poem.

Mel Pearce said...

I really enjoyed this Steve. I didn't know it was called tamping. It's a lovely poem and when I linked to the video I also found a few more clips online including this one where someone has set the gulls' dance to Irish music (just as your poem intimated). It's such fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QsqeHtRmHI

Matt West said...

Fair play Steve. I don't mind the gulls myself even when they come swooping into BR before the game's over. I guess Armenian Gulls like a bit of kebab!

Alistair Bradfield said...

You're right about terns. I've had food taken out of my hand by an audacious one (maybe a Sandwich Tern?) and they are nippier than gulls. I enjoyed your blog and poem.

Luke Taylor said...

No, not for me. Even if they dance a jig it doesn't make gulls lovable! Sorry.

Lois Hayburn said...

Very good. For some reason I always thought tamping was the term for putting out a candle or a fire. Completely wrong, of course. I was probably getting snuffing and damping mixed up in there somewhere. I never knew there were so many varieties of gull. The antics you've chosen to highlight are most entertaining, as is the delightful poem.👍

Carey Jones said...

We don't have many gulls round here, but I'm sure I've seen other birds do this, maybe crows or magpies. Anyway, an interesting read as ever and I like your Gulls Tamping.

Amber Molloy said...

I loved this, the account, the video, the poem.

Beth Randle said...

Some of those gulls sound pretty fancy: Bonaparte's, Ivory, Lava, Sabine's, Swallow-Tailed. I'm so pleased you worked the word gullible into your poem. Excellent :)

terry quinn said...

Congrats to Alistair for Sandwich Tern.

After a big white thing landed on my table in Peel and stole my chips the owner asked had I been distracted by two other big white things walking on the wall. I had. He said it was a trick. They distract customers while the first one gets the chips.

Hard of herring and chips is a terrific line.

How on earth do you know which gulls are which?

Malcolm Drysdale said...

Most entertaining.

Dani Merakli said...

Gulls tamping - such fun.

Binty said...

That was a lovely poem and those gulls are so funny.

Lizzie Fentiman said...

Our commonest gull is the Silver Gull. I don't know if it's learned tamping (a new word on me) but we've got some seriously big earthworms if it wants to have a go. I love the poem.

Charlotte Mullins said...

I love the worm dance. I'll be on the look-out for tamping gulls from now on. What a lovely poem too.👏

Phil Butler said...

A great little poem. I've seen gulls doing that and it looks so funny. I never knew it was called tamping.

Anonymous said...

Very droll, Mr R.

Mark Hurley said...

A great read. I've seen gulls doing this in groups in grassy fields, and occasionally other wading birds like oystercatchers doing it as well. I've heard it called paddling as well as tamping. I loved the witty poem.

Caitlin Shaw said...

They look so lovely and diligent doing this - I never knew it was called tamping. Your poem captures it brilliantly. 👍

Anonymous said...

Delightful. Clever gulls, I shall watch out for this behaviour.

Irene Johnson said...

I loved this! I've seen birds doing it but didn't know why.