Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen residents urged not to feed the gulls

Post Thumbnail

Aberdeen residents have been urged not to feed the gulls to stop them becoming a bigger nuisance.

The numbers of herring gulls and lesser black-backed gulls have grown in the city, with some visitors regarding them as a nuisance.

Every year, Aberdeen City Council receive dozens of complaints about the animals, including noise, damage to property and safety.

In 2019, the local authority received 139 complaints and in 2018 147.

However, the council has no statutory powers to take action against the gulls and can only give advice to members of the public.

Gulls are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which means it is illegal to capture, injure or destroy any wild bird, or interfere with its nest or eggs, unless you have a licence.

An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: “When people discard unwanted food and containers particular in the city centre or near takeaway food outlets, that attracts the gulls so we’d ask people to dispose of their waste in a bin.

“In addition, people are also deliberately feeding the gulls.

“Our environmental health service has no statutory powers to take action against the gulls and the key to reducing gull numbers lies in reducing the ability to breed and limiting the supply of food.

“In addition, too much human food is not good for them and can lead to them attacking people to steal food. Their natural diet is based on shellfish, other small sea creatures, earth worms, bird’s eggs and insects

“We’d encourage people to heed the advice and play their part particularly not to feed the birds.”

Seagulls are attracted to rubbish

Advice for residents how they can help includes:

  • Do not feed gulls on streets and gardens or drop food scraps, as gulls are scavengers and discarded food encourages the gulls to stay within close proximity to the food source. Dispose of food waste in a responsible manner;
  • Property owners can discourage gulls from nesting by erecting deterrent devices on chimney heads and flat roof areas such as spikes and nets;
  • You can arrange for an appropriately licenced pest control company to oil or pierce eggs to prevent hatching, or have the nest and eggs removed.

More information can be found here  

This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.