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When seagulls attack...


THEY are infamous for their raucous cries and screeching, but now it seems seagulls have also developed an aggressive streak.

Reports of seagull attacks are on the rise across the country and local pest controllers are increasingly being called out to deal with birds swooping on members of the public.

Sean Whelan from Southampton-based Whelan Pest Protection, said the gull hotspots were at WestQuay, Bargate and along Queen’s Way, one of the city’s busiest streets.

He said the gulls sought out roof space and areas where they could keep a watchful eye on passing pedestrians.

“The last call I received was about a really nasty gull attacking people along Queensway, near the shops,” said Mr Whelan.

“If a gull becomes agitated with you it will swoop down and if you are carrying food it will knock it right out of your hand.”

The pest controller said he’d received about 20 seagull-related call-outs in the past year and they were among the most aggressive pests he’d had to deal with.

“If I go to do a job to get rid of seagulls I go fully covered with a mask and helmet because I’ve had gulls perch their bums above me and let me tell you they have got an amazing trajectory,” he added.

Mr Whelan was recently called out to deal with a gull problem in Hamble, where the birds had roosted in the loft of a townhouse.

Claire Cook, director of property management firm The Rent Shop, said the gulls were so protective of their new home she was too afraid to open the loft hatch.

In other parts of Britain they have already made headlines with their attacks on humans, whose heads they slash, raking them with their claws at 40mph.

Last year, a woman suffered nasty injuries when she tried to escape an attacker in Weymouth and another was taken to hospital after being savaged in Burnham-on-Sea.

However, a spokeswoman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said incidents such as these were few and far between.

Gulls are at their noisiest and most aggressive during the nesting season in April and May because they need to collect more food.

The most common type of gull along the south coast is the herring gull. The numbers have increased significantly in recent times, with many of them moving further inland.

It is illegal to kill seagulls under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, so the key to getting rid of them is bird-proofing roosting spots.

This means making changes to the surfaces, such as bird netting and spikes, so they no longer want to roost there.

However, if gulls pose a particular threat to health or safety and there are no alternative options, culls can be carried out by shooting or poisoning in rare circumstances.

A Southampton City Council spokesman said it only offered advice to people suffering from gull-nuisance and that no culling had taken place in Southampton.

Comments(14)

downfader says...
10:34am Sun 1 Feb 09

They are creatures of habit and chance combined. If they get away with something they then do it again.

Trouble is people will eat on the street and then throw their left overs and litter on the ground. Gulls then make the link and so the problem occurs. No littering, no problem - gulls go back to the sea's edge.

They are an indicator that we are not treating this land right.

Having said that I have some good photos of the herring's and black headed gulls from a while back.

Big Boy says...
10:53am Sun 1 Feb 09

Good grief they were agressive at Calshot in the 60s, this is not a new thing. Naturally they try to grab food from each other, so pedestrians are fair game in their eyes.

southy says...
2:03pm Sun 1 Feb 09

""The most common type of gull along the south coast is the herring gull. The numbers have increased significantly in recent times, with many of them moving further inland.""
get some one who knows about birds, gulls have all ways been found deep inland, you even find them in the centre of asia, and like big boy said they are a naturally agressive bird, the problem is people they move from the inland to nearer to the coast and dont under stand what its like.

D'Arcy Sarto says...
3:43pm Sun 1 Feb 09

You shouldn't tar all seagulls with the same brush. Jonathon Livingston was a remarkable individual and it's unfair that his sort should have to take flak for these chav gulls! I'm blame the parents.

Andy Locks Heath says...
4:12pm Sun 1 Feb 09

Agreed Southy - they are opportunistic scavengers - a bit like the people feigning injury and wanting TLC. All this talk of "savage attacks" "and "serious injury" is ridiculous. A bird may give someone a scratch as it tries to grab food but nothing that a sticking plaster won't fix. When I was a boy I worked on a farm and the black headed gulls swarming behind the plough had to be seen to be believed. I was pecked several times when stopping to clear the shares but their beak pressure is nothing alarming - no worse than a clothes peg! Anyone going to A & E because a gull scratched them needs to be given a sound thrashing.

Vonnie says...
5:42pm Sun 1 Feb 09

no worse than a clothes peg! Anyone going to A & E because a gull scratched them needs to be given a sound thrashing.

If you had ever had to take a child to hospital with a gashed face due to a gull attack, I think you might not be so quick to judge.

Andy Locks Heath says...
8:02pm Sun 1 Feb 09

Vonnie wrote:
no worse than a clothes peg! Anyone going to A & E because a gull scratched them needs to be given a sound thrashing.

If you had ever had to take a child to hospital with a gashed face due to a gull attack, I think you might not be so quick to judge.
And has that happened? No. You really are a berk aren't you?

Andy Locks Heath says...
8:17pm Sun 1 Feb 09

Yes a peg - that's what I said and I know because I've been "attacked" by gulls and their only weapon is speed. They weigh less than a jar of jam FFS! And define the seriousness of this hypothetical "gashed face" in this imaginary world of yours - would that be what we call "a cut?" Perhaps you didn't know that "A" stood for Accident and "E" stood for Emergency or did you just forget? maybe it's people like you who call ambulances for a bruised finger.

D'Arcy Sarto says...
8:29pm Sun 1 Feb 09

Andy, If you had ever had to take a child to hospital with a bruised finger due to a gull attack, I think you might not be so quick to judge.

southy says...
9:31pm Sun 1 Feb 09

d'arcy sarto you one of the names that cant be quoted, a gull dont have a sharp bill, they also dont have a lot of power in there bills, it can not even bruise when peck, like andy said speed is there only weapon and for that they need room, if your that worried about them, then stay close to a building or trees and they will stay clear of you.

gristle says...
10:00pm Sun 1 Feb 09

Southy says that gulls are found inland everywhere.
I can remember being a kid on the East coast, watching thousands of 'gullies' flying west every morning. Every evening, thousands could be seen flying east, towards the sea.
I've seen them foraging 30 miles or so inland without causing a problem, no attacks, no injured children, no Alfred Hitchcock.
More recently, a large scale demolition / rebuilding operation has taken place close to my home. Coincidentally, there has been a large scale invasion of noisy 'gullies'. No Echo reports of gull attacks around here though.

Andy Locks Heath says...
11:34pm Sun 1 Feb 09

Very droll D'Arcy - I liked that :-)

D'Arcy Sarto says...
8:38am Mon 2 Feb 09

southy wrote:
d'arcy sarto you one of the names that cant be quoted, a gull dont have a sharp bill, they also dont have a lot of power in there bills, it can not even bruise when peck, like andy said speed is there only weapon and for that they need room, if your that worried about them, then stay close to a building or trees and they will stay clear of you.
Southy, i have no idea why i can't be 'quoted' but can assure you that i have only one account with the echo, dont write under any other names on here and am in no way connected to the echo.
I reckon a great black backed gull could give you a serious peck!

beafy17 says...
3:58am Wed 4 Feb 09

oh no better watch out out for those killer seagulls


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