Gulls now a city menace, say councils

Seagulls have have moved into British towns and cities to breed are becoming such a problem that a major study of their behaviour is now needed, according to experts studying the birds.

Seagulls have have moved into British towns and cities to breed are becoming such a problem that a major study of their behaviour is now needed, according to experts studying the birds.

They feel the study should concentrate on where they get their food from, because food is the key to the rapid expansion of urban gulls in recent years, and to limit it might mean controlling their numbers effectively.

Trying to control them by any other means, such as shooting or poisoning, often arises considerable public opposition. Yet more and more people living close to urban gull colonies are experiencing difficulties with dirt, noise and occasionally aggressive behaviour from the birds.

A national conference on urban gulls, held in Gloucester this week, brought together ornithologists, environmental consultants and pest controllers to consider how to deal with a problem afflicting more and more local councils. A new study is felt to be the best way forward.

Gulls have moved into built-up areas in the past 30 years in the same way as magpies, foxes and grey squirrels. But in some places, their massive expansion on to rooftops means they are becoming pests on a scale not presented by the other three. Two main species are concerned: the herring gull and the lesser black-backed gull, which are closely related and have four-and-a-half foot wingspans.

In the Severn valley, their expansion has been particularly noticeable. During this 30-year period, populations in Bristol and Gloucester have grown to 1,800 and 2,700 pairs respectively, with another 2,700 pairs in Cardiff. Many towns now have colonies with hundreds of pairs; the biggest urban colony is in Aberdeen, with 3,500 pairs.

"Every town and city in the country will have urban gulls within the next 10 years," said Peter Rock, a former teacher turned ornithological consultant who is Britain's leading expert on the subject. "There are already gulls breeding on rooftops just over a mile from 10 Downing Street."

Mr Rock lists the problems urban gulls cause, in particular excrement, which can cover houses, windows and streets, and can be directed at people the gulls consider intruders, and noise, which in the breeding season in summer begins at 4am and lasts till nightfall. They damage electrical cables and block gutters with their nests. Occasionally gulls will engage in direct attacks, swooping down and trying to rake victims' heads with their claws, Mr Rock said.

"But there is no easy solution," he went on. "Although both species can legally be culled, this arouses great public opposition and is problematic anyway in urban areas. Poisoning would be regarded as a health and safety issue, as would discharging firearms in built-up areas. We can hardly have Arnold Schwarzenegger strutting down the high street with two large machineguns blasting the birds to kingdom come."

The answer, he believes lies in cutting their food supplies.

He said: "Urban gulls have few enemies. They have no predators, and they are very long-lived - they can live up to 30 years in some cases - and can produce two or three chicks a year for 10 years. Food is the only limiting factor on their breeding success."

Yet not enough is known about their food supplies, he said, because all the studies that have been done of both species have been done well away from towns and cities. "There is virtually nothing in the literature about urban gulls and their food," he said.

Gulls in towns forage for scraps, the remains of takeaways being a big favourite, and also frequent landfills and rubbish tips.

In partnership with Bristol University and the British Trust for Ornithology, Mr Rock is now seeking funding for a three-year-study of the feeding regimes or urban gulls.