This past week, seagulls have been photobombing the traffic camera feed of Transport for London. Many were amused with the winged photobombers, and TfL itself has nicknamed the birds “Steve” and “Graeme.”
Traffic Camera Photobombers
On Monday, TfL tweeted traffic camera footage near Blackwall Tunnel on Poplar, except it was not unusual traffic that was the focus of the tweet, but the seagull that was blocking the camera’s view of the traffic below. What’s more, the seagull appeared to be staring straight into the camera.
Happy Monday... pic.twitter.com/LrgCGeSsmr — TfL Traffic News (@TfLTrafficNews) April 29, 2019
The seagull has since been returning to the spot since, so every now and then in between TfL tweets about traffic updates and accident reports, TfL tweets photos and even a video of their “favorite traffic reporter.” In fact, in one of the photos, the seagull even brought a friend, and TfL has nicknamed them Steve and Graeme.
Viral Tweet
Naturally, many people were amused with the photobombing seagulls, with some even suggesting that the seagulls get their own Twitter account, while the others are simply wondering which of the seagulls is Steve, and which one is Graeme. Some, however, pointed out that perhaps TfL might want to rethink the name, since it is possible that one of the seagulls is female and that the couple is looking for a nesting site.
As of the writing of this article, the video tweet of the seagull has since garnered over 27,000 retweets and over 79,000 likes.
Traffic for London
TfL is a local government organization that is responsible for the transport system in London, for the use and comfort of everyone who lives in, works at, and visits the capital city. One of its primary purposes is to implement the London Mayor’s Transport Strategy which covers surface transport such as buses and river services, the underground system, and crossrail, which is the new railway being built under London.
One of the challenges that TfL is facing is the rapidly growing population of London, something that they are hoping to be able to support as the years go by.
