On a bitterly cold windy December afternoon I stood on the bridge where the Hogsmill river joins the Thames on Kingston towpath, surrounded by hundreds of black-headed gulls.

Their screaming cries were almost deafening as they squabbled to catch bread thrown by children on the walkway.

So hungry were they that they showed no fear perching alongside me on the railings peering expectantly at my shopping bag.

However, they would not have relished its contents of CDs and DVDs!

Gulls are wonderfully aerobatic seizing pieces of bread in mid-air at the same time avoiding collision as they manoeuvre to catch the prizes offered.

Any bread that hits the water is immediately fought over by a seething melee of gulls, swans, mallard and Canada Geese.

Many birds have a descriptive collective noun attached to their names.

A 'murder'of crows, a'charm' of goldfinches, 'flight'of swallows and an 'exaltation' of skylarks being just a few.

Watching and listening to those noisy gulls I immediately coined another collective, namely a 'garrulous' of gulls, meaning ultra talkative chatterboxes which the birds certainly are!

Meanwhile, further out on the river, tufted ducks looking so smart in new plumage ignored the throng, diving repeatedly to bring to the surface little round water snails while great crested grebes and cormorants went fishing in the icy water.

My thoughts turned to the Kingston swallows which, during the summer nest along here and I envied them flying in sunny South Africa while I stood and shivered on the towpath!