More likely, however, was that the gull had mistaken the ball for a mollusc.
Gulls are well known for their ingenious method of breaking open shells by dropping them onto rocks or hard ground from a height in the hope of cracking them to yield the tasty seafood inside.
In this case, the gull will have been sorely disappointed, as some islanders joked when the photographer shared the photos to Facebook.
“Bet it got a bloody shock when the ball bounced!” said Stephen Le Roy.
Meanwhile, Anita Allchin quipped: “Hope it dropped it in the hole!”
Mr Ovenden, who has been photographing wildlife since the 1980s, is somewhat of a connoisseur when it comes to quirky shots.
In February, he captured a “once-in-a-lifetime” shot of a peregrine falcon hitching lift on a goose over St. Ouen’s Bay.
Pictured: Mr Ovenden’s ‘goose-surfing’ photo which achieved viral success earlier this year.
“I don’t know why it did it – perhaps it had seen the new skate park and thought, ‘I’ll have a go at that’,” he joked at the time.
Find more photos on Mr Ovenden’s Facebook page.
