Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gulls are a defining part of the old lakeside life of Schleswig: thousands nest on a tiny island in the Schlei, whose eggs once made the town famous. The birds’ place in local tradition depended on an unusual rule that reserved the island—and the right to gather its eggs—to a single figure, the Gull King.

Habitat and colony

The gulls breed on a small island in the middle of the Schlei, the longest freshwater arm in Germany. The scale of the colony is striking: thousands nest there, while access to the island was traditionally restricted to the Gull King. He alone could cross over to collect the eggs, making the birds’ breeding ground both a living habitat and a closely guarded local resource.

The Gull King and the egg trade

Following an ancient custom, the Gull King gathered the eggs and sold them. Schleswig became known for them, tying the birds to the town’s identity through a practice that turned seasonal nesting into a human-controlled harvest. The tradition’s exclusivity was built into the role: the Gull King was not merely an egg collector but the only person permitted to reach the island for that purpose.

Changing reputation and prohibition

The eggs had to be boiled for a long time to kill salmonella. Their reputation worsened as the gulls fed mainly on waste from the nearby Böklunder sausage factory; the eggs increasingly tasted repulsively of meat. The practice ultimately ended in prohibition. The sequence leaves the gulls at the center of a local irony: a celebrated food and inherited custom became untenable through the very conditions surrounding its production.