The bird and the dog Bayeaux style

[Imperial Dave]

https://www.medievalists.net/2025/07/hidden-scene-bayeux-tapestry/?utm_source=gravitec&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=Push+Notification

Fascinating...

[Erpingham]

A major problem with this is most people agree that the tapestry was made in England, probably Kent. The people who made it are unlikely to know what birds and dogs get up to on Normandy beaches. Any behaviours probably more local observations.  I'd also note the bird is not flying but sitting in a tree.  I'm not an expert on seagulls but do they often sit in trees?

[DBS]

Personally, I think it is a cat, not a dog, and the scene depicts a bird in a tree squawking at the predator below...

[Imperial Dave]

Seagulls will sit anywhere where there's food 

[DBS]

Gulls will sit in trees, but it has to be the right sort of tree; their webbed feet are not great for smaller branches, they like a good view, and need a bit of space for their wingspan to take off.  It is why in modern settings they love roofs, and harbour facilities, and cliff ledges.  Tree stumps or thick bare branches are perfectly acceptable of course.

[Imperial Dave]

Airborne terrorists

[Nick Harbud]

Gulls favourite perch appears to be at the top of chimney stacks where the emerging gases can keep them warm.

[Imperial Dave]

I find they park themselves next to the chippy

[Erpingham]

I find they park themselves next to the chippy

The only chippies in the Tapestry are carpenters, which might not have the same attraction to our avian friends.

[Imperial Dave]

evil birds nonetheless

pasty thieves extraordinaire