Speckled Marty

You don't need to physically get a license to shoot a number of species, they are listed on the 'general license' that is issued to the population as a whole. If it comes to it, you will need to justify any killing if asked, be it for health & safety reasons, crop protection or whatever. Most species of Crow can be shot without a special license, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Jay, Jackdaw and Rook. Starling and House Sparrow have only very recently been removed from the 'general license'

Be fair, there's a huge amount of different species of 'Gull' out there, these were 'common gull' and despite their name they are really not that common in the U.K. Herring Gull & Black-backed should be fair game though.