Gull saved from Paisley bin seen on Moroccan beach

A seagull rescued from a bin in Paisley has completed his very own Gulliver's Travels after being spotted almost 1,800 miles away on a beach in Morocco.

The Lesser Black-Backed Gull, named Gulliver, was rescued by the Scottish SPCA after being trapped in a bin on a residential street.

He was taken to the wildlife charities rescue centre in Alloa where he was nursed back to health.

Rescue centre staff were delighted to receive the news that a birdwatcher had found Gulliver sunning himself on Agadir Beach in Morocco.

The charity said the bird arrived at the rescue centre in a "dishevelled state" and weighed less than 1.5lbs (645g).

Staff gave him round-the-clock care, bathing him to get his feathers back into pristine condition and ensuring he put on weight.

Two weeks later he was released and fitted with a plastic ring to help staff track his progress.

Senior veterinary surgeon Liam Reid said: "It was incredible to find out Gulliver was doing so well nearly 200 days after his release.

"Where possible we ring birds prior to release. This gives us a passive form of post-release monitoring and we get a lot of good data back from this."

The city of Agadair is approximately 1775miles (2856km) away from Alloa, as the crow - or in this case the gull - flies.

In 2024 alone the Scottish SPCA rescued and released 2,562 animals back into the wild.

Liam said: "The success of Gulliver's rehabilitation and release clearly shows the long-term effects of our hard work and that what we do makes a lasting difference to these animals.

"It's so uplifting to see the animals we release back into the wild can go on to not just survive but thrive and in Gulliver's case migrate as normal."

The journey itself is not unusual as most gull species migrate in search of warmer climates.

Lesser black-backed gulls typically breed in the UK in the summer, then migrate to Portugal, Spain, and North Africa for the winter.