Seagulls!

[Brandane]

I have lived near the sea for most of my life and have never noticed this before; but for the last couple of weeks the seagulls around here have been going nuts. From early morning to late at night it's almost constant. Hundreds of the things flying around making that horrible squacking noise that they do.

Is this the nesting/breeding season or something? Or is it just that some idiot neighbour of mine has taken to feeding them again? This does happen occassionally until they realise that once they start feeding the flying vermin, then there is no stopping as they keep coming back for more. There is even one gull that goes back to the same window all the time as the elderly occupant used to feed it. Now if it doesn't get fed, it starts tapping it's beak on the window!

Down at the seafront they are a complete menace, but that can be blamed on the well meaning visitors to the town feeding them with chips. We are getting over-run with them now. Apparently they are a protected species so no chance of a cull.

 

[Seigi]

I've noticed a lot more seagulls around too, more so than usual. My city normally has some seagulls (usually in the city centre) but I've found them hovering around my house (which is 2.5miles away from centre) where I've never seen them before, and also a lot more at my girlfriend's house who lives nearer to the sea.

 

[fossyant]

The buggers are always pebble dashing my car when we go over to N. Wales.

 

[Hacienda71]

There were about 100 of them circling over Wilmslow last weekend. See them sometimes but not normally that many. We are about 60 miles from the coast and there is no landfill within a few miles of here.

 

[marshmella]

We get them nesting on the roof at work every year, there's plenty of them again this year and West Bromwich is about 100 miles from the sea!

 

[Dayvo]

It's the same here: they've been going crazy every morning about 03.30 since the spring.

Not sure if they're seagulls or terns, but they driven me bloody mad - and they've got this very high-pitched shriek, which I've never heard/noticed before.

Do they know something we don't?

Plus the bastards always crap on our red car - 3/4 hits a day.

 

[aberal]

Ditto for this. From 3 or 4 or so in the morning and going on for a couple of hours - and also +1 for never having noticed this before. They're up to something.

Would make for a good movie that wouldn't it? About birds ganging up and attacking people for no apparent reason. You could call it, I dunno...."The Birds" or something.

 

[addictfreak]

We have had the problem in my town for many years. The local authority used to cull them, but the do gooders put a stop to that. Now the buildings in the town centre all have netting on the roofs to prevent nesting. This of course does not solve the problem but merely moves it else where. Gulls often get tangled in the netting which leads to the Fire Brigade having to come out and 'rescue' them.

But we have to be honest, most of the problem is man made. Lazy people who throw food on the ground, bins over flowing etc. All of this will attract the gulls for easy pickings. The gulls are pretty fearless, there have been stories of them swooping down and stealing food from people.

 

[Dayvo]

The gulls are pretty fearless, there have been stories of them swooping down and stealing food from people.

When I was in Exeter last year, I was walking around by the cathedral eating a Cornish pasty and a gull swooped down and took the pasty from my hand. To say I was gobsmacked would be an under-statement (and not because I'd only had a couple of bites). If it had been a young kid with an ice-cream or something...!

Bring in compulsory culling!

 

[ufkacbln]

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjj32CavzU0[/media]

 

[biggs682]

we are off to great yarmouth next week and looking forward to hearing them walk over caravan roof

 

[Davidc]

I was told by a twitcher that at this time of year the adults are teaching their offspring to fly and they make a loyt of noise about it. She also said that far more of them are nesting around houses because less food wste is going to landfill, and more action is being taken to keep them away from commercial buildings.

Don't know if any of that's right though, not a subject I've studied!

I remember my granny walloping a seagull with her handbag at Exmouth when it tried to nick our packed lunch - and that must have been in the 1950s, so not much has changed over the years!

 

[Arch]

If it had been a young kid with an ice-cream or something...!

Well, it might have been one less case of childhood obesity.

I seriously doubt a gull after an icecream would do much damage to a kid beyond a fright.

And there is no such thing as a seagull! They are just gulls, hence not being confined to the seaside....

Haivng said that, any gull that got between me and my pasty would end up as dinner!

 

[Davidc]

Haivng said that, any gull that got between me and my pasty would end up as dinner!

But are you as good a shot with a handbag as my granny?

Oh, and what do they taste like?

 

[Arch]

But are you as good a shot with a handbag as my granny?

Oh, and what do they taste like?

I doubt it, I don't tend to carry a handbag. I'd use my bare hands, to protect a pasty.

As to flavour, I suspect gamey with a fishy undertone would cover it. The Faroese are fond of grated puffin, apparently.