A bird expert has called for people to be more understanding about gulls amid mounting complaints about the havoc they cause.
Viola Ross-Smith said that while the sea birds are seen to be causing misery in Inverness city centre, they are really adapting to find food – and humans should learn too live alongside them.
The British Trust for Ornithology science communicator was speaking out after a rise in complaints about gulls – with one even pinching a woman’s double pack of bacon as she left a supermarket.
Last month, The P&J reported that a person in the city centre had attacked a gull with a stick as diners ate lunch in Inverness city centre.
The bird was so badly injured the Scottish SPCA said that it later had to be put down.
People should ‘live and let live’ with gulls
Ms Ross-Smith, from the British Trust for Ornithology, told BBC Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme that it was time to rethink our human relationship with gulls.
She said: “At the time of year the interactions with gulls and humans are increased, as gulls look for food and chicks are fledging.
“Gull will swoop on perceived threats, even if you can’t see the chick, but the gull can see you.”
She continued: “Gulls have adapted to have dietary specialisations and they are specialised at finding food.
“They know they can get food out of bins, or that they can lift it from people carrying food.”
She said that people who are finding the birds a problem around a business or property can technically apply for a licence to control numbers, but the birds are protected by law.
The measures that people with a licence can take include replacing eggs with dummy eggs.
Ms Ross Smith warned: “Gulls will come back year after year with the same partner and once established they are difficult to deter.
“Seabirds are being affected by habitat loss, herring gulls are on the list of species at risk. We need to look after these seabirds.
“They will soon disappear if we don’t. My advice is to live and let live.”
- If you are thinking about ways to reduce the nuisance of gulls, here is what you can do about gull nests, and stay within the law.
- Read more about gulls, by clicking here.
