Culling Seagulls

[Mervyn and Trish]

There's been a bit of a debate recently about culling seagulls, which are becoming a real nuisance in some places. Of course the bleeding heart liberals say the gulls have rights, despite them killing pet dogs and hurting people.

Well as of today £600 says shoot the lot. That's what it's costing to have my car roof re-sprayed after one of the bu**ers cra**ed on it.

The poo was only on there for less than 24 hours, as I removed it as soon as I spotted it. Despite that it's stripped the top layers of the paint for more efficiently than any product you can buy in B&Q.

So if I can find the ba***rd that did it I'll cull it myself!

[Ray B]

bit of hard luck there Mervyn, the ones over my place tend to aim for the Conservatory.

Ray

[GillD46]

We have thousands of them here as we live right on the coast, but they haven't been a great problem - yet!

[Raybosailor]

Years ago in the days when I could eat pastry I went into a Cornish pastie shop in St. Ives and came out with a Desperate Dan job, a two hander of a pastie but before I could take a bite this seagull with running gear like an Avro Lancaster snatched it out of my hands.
Two lady's were sat on a bench nearby and one of them went running to the toilet as she was laughing so much she nearly wet herself. If I had a two bore shotgun on me I would have used both barrels, one for the gull and one for the old lady.
At least it gives the family something to laugh about when we reminisce about holidays past.

[Delboy]

Years ago in the days when I could eat pastry I went into a Cornish pastie shop in St. Ives and came out with a Desperate Dan job, a two hander of a pastie but before I could take a bite this seagull with running gear like an Avro Lancaster snatched it out of my hands.
Two lady's were sat on a bench nearby and one of them went running to the toilet as she was laughing so much she nearly wet herself. If I had a two bore shotgun on me I would have used both barrels, one for the gull and one for the old lady.
At least it gives the family something to laugh about when we reminisce about holidays past.

Happens all the time in St Ives Cornwall, certainly over the 40 years I have regularly been visiting. It has happened to me, walked out of an Ice Cream parlour with my cornet in my hand before I had time to even take a lick, swoosh from behind a seagull swoops takes the whole lot out of my hand.

A lot of people moan about them, I just thought it was a laugh, there are loads of notices telling people not to feed them. As seagulls attack your food from behind they advice you to eat your food standing with your back against a wall.lol.

I live at a seaside location and we have loads of seagulls, not as big as those in St Ives they are massive, but have never heard of them taking peoples food, we don't seem to have a problem with them.
Don't know if people are aware Gulls, like all other species, are protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 and the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985.

Pigeons are the ones I have problems with, they sit on the telegraph pole and wires outside our house and crap all over my car worse during the blackberry season lol, although not as bad as what happened to me in Cricceith Wales. Parked car in Hotel car park under trees, from hotel room could the hear birds at night in the trees, never thought anything of it. Next morning went to get the car and could not see it, covered in bird poo, felt so embarrassed driving it trying to find a car wash.

[Mervyn and Trish]

This was a St Ives gull. Clearly the pasty diet isn't good for their stomachs.

[Raybosailor]

Merv gulls are like Labradors they will eat anything and everything the land gulls round our way can lift the lids on wheelie bins to get inside, mind you the foxes have it off to a fine art.

[Delboy]

This was a St Ives gull. Clearly the pasty diet isn't good for their stomachs.

Just a reminder for you what the St Ives Seagulls look like, and a reminder of the Harbour in the background.

[Onelife]

Hi Delboy....looks like a nice curry to me

[Onelife]

...or we could ask gfw what they taste like in one of his famous Dorset pies

[Kenmo1]

This was a St Ives gull. Clearly the pasty diet isn't good for their stomachs.

Just a reminder for you what the St Ives Seagulls look like, and a reminder of the Harbour in the background.

The huge Llandudno seagulls are pretty lethal as well, as my son and his brand new North Face jacket found out recently. That bird definitely had a severe case of diarrhoea.

Maureen

[Raybosailor]

[Raybosailor]

Maureen did you have to post this picture up ? I will be having a Alfred Hitchcock nightmare tonight waking up shouting "my pastie bring back my pastie"

[Delboy]

This was a St Ives gull. Clearly the pasty diet isn't good for their stomachs.

Just a reminder for you what the St Ives Seagulls look like, and a reminder of the Harbour in the background.

The huge Llandudno seagulls are pretty lethal as well, as my son and his brand new North Face jacket found out recently. That bird definitely had a severe case of diarrhoea.

Maureen

Hi Maureen

A couple of years ago I was walking along Llandudo pier and felt a smack in the face as though I had been hit by a stone, a seagull had cr*pped in my face, my wife found it highly amusing.

[Kenmo1]

This was a St Ives gull. Clearly the pasty diet isn't good for their stomachs.

Just a reminder for you what the St Ives Seagulls look like, and a reminder of the Harbour in the background.

The huge Llandudno seagulls are pretty lethal as well, as my son and his brand new North Face jacket found out recently. That bird definitely had a severe case of diarrhoea.

Maureen

Hi Maureen

A couple of years ago I was walking along Llandudo pier and felt a smack in the face as though I had been hit by a stone, a seagull had cr*pped in my face, my wife found it highly amusing.

Yuck, Delboy - that's horrible. Poor you. A little bit of what hit my son flicked onto my face (just a very small bit) but that was bad enough.

Ray - having seen what one seagull can do, we now try to keep well out of the way. Maureen

[wolfie]

Our seagulls can hover in front of the house, and poo backwards..............windows, walls, they have a great aim!!!

Protected, my ****!!! It's us who needs to be protected!! Every day I wash seagull s**t off the car.

They are vermin, IMO, no laughing matter around here. They wake us up, even through double glazing, many mornings,

No use booking the chap who cleans the conservatory roof until the little blighters have raised their noisy young and headed off elsewhere.

Thinking of taking of the roof and the front off the conservatory and making it a balcony BUT, then we could not use it all year.

[Onelife]

We enjoyed a few days in Cornwall a few weeks back and whilst there visited a lovely fishing village called Coverack. The place had one main street which was lined with a mixture of quaint cottages some of which had been recently painted. It must be so disheartening to having these muck spreaders constantly doing their flypass with you having to clean up their mess....l'd be looking for revenge for sure.

[gfwgfw]

...or we could ask gfw what they taste like in one of his famous Dorset pies

Hee Hee

[Frank Manning]

Oh come on! There's nothing nicer than the cry of the gull heard from your warm bed on a seaside holiday. (Currently drowned out by sounds from the Bournemouth Air Festival! Seagulls? Beautiful noble birds; compared to pidgeons and magpies.

[Manoverboard]

Frank's right ... as we stood there acknowledging the fly past by the Red Arrows yesterday afternoon there was hardly a seagull in sight.

[Delboy]

Oh come on! There's nothing nicer than the cry of the gull heard from your warm bed on a seaside holiday. (Currently drowned out by sounds from the Bournemouth Air Festival! Seagulls? Beautiful noble birds; compared to pidgeons and magpies.

Frank

I agree when I hear the sound of seagulls as I lay in bed, they remind me of how much I love living near the sea.

Ours will be drowned out end of next week for two days during our Annual Air Show, Red Arrows due to appear on both days.

[Silver_Shiney]

So we're not allowed to kill the gulls, but we're allowed to smash the eggs? Same difference as far as I'm concerned. Urgent action needs to be taken about this menace. It's bad enough that these aerial vermin have learnt to steal food from folks at seaside locations but now they've moved inland where they have no cause to be, it's out of their natural habitat. How many little kids have to be hurt, or worse, before culling is authorised?

[Quizzical Bob]

I like seagulls. They remind me of my childhood growing up by the seaside and I love to watch them gliding about. We should all learn to love them instead of stuffing our faces at every opportunity.

[Delboy]

So we're not allowed to kill the gulls, but we're allowed to smash the eggs? Same difference as far as I'm concerned. Urgent action needs to be taken about this menace. It's bad enough that these aerial vermin have learnt to steal food from folks at seaside locations but now they've moved inland where they have no cause to be, it's out of their natural habitat. How many little kids have to be hurt, or worse, before culling is authorised?

Gulls are, first and foremost, scavengers. The beach is a great places to scavenge, detritus washes up on shore, float on the surface... some gulls will even engage in active fishing if necessary. Their feet are adapted to swimming to match this coastal lifestyle.

However, being marine is very much a secondary strategy, and will go wherever there is food. And humans are messy and wasteful, an opportunist's dream. This is also why foxes, raccoons and others are frequently found in urban environments.

Seagulls are intelligent birds. Where we see trash, they see a banquet. We've left them a trail of breadcrumbs far inland.

This article may be of interest

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19490866

[Onelife]

There should be one seagull per every kilometer of seaside air space...anymore than that then a soggy chip dangled at the end of a shotgun would be my solution to keeping the noisy buggers under control.

Talking birds.... l think my RSPB membership is due

Regards

OL