The Latest "Urban Menace"
Seagulls have plagued Scottish urban coastal areas for decades, and the problems they bring are multiplying as more birds move from rural to built up areas, lured partly by the easy scavenging opportunities offered by fast-food outlets and town centre litter.
While far more ferocious animals can be imagined, seagulls are managing to cause a fair amount of havoc in town centres across the country.
Nests, Litter and Faeces
The birds can become aggressive while competing for food scraps, don’t bother to throw away their own litter, and aren’t fussy about where they choose to defecate. Nelson’s Column in London’s Trafalgar Square has long suffered under unhygienic city birds (in this case pigeons), and anti-roosting spikes were recently installed to keep them away.
Seagulls also commonly make use of city buildings to house nests, and the noise and litter created can become a real nuisance for locals. And with wildlife protection legislation backing them, it becomes harder and harder to remove birds once they are established.
Addressing the Problem
Environment Minister Mike Russell told the BBC back in March 2003 “For too long now large colonies of seagulls have become increasingly problematic in our towns and cities”. He went on to address the June 24th summit, which was attended by local business owners, residents and members of Scottish National Heritage, and looked at the problems posed by seagulls today and ways to combat them.
Previous attempts have included releasing birds of prey over seagull-frequented areas, the oiling of eggs and netting being placed over buildings. In August 2007 Dumfries and Galloway (a hotspot for seagull activity along with Aberdeen and Stonehaven on the north east coast) council legislated at a meeting that the roofs of all future non-domestic buildings would have to be “seagull proof” to prevent birds nesting and blocking up chimneys and ventilators.
Seagull Protection
However, simply removing or killing seagulls is far from simple. According to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the herring gull population of Scotland has fallen by forty percent since 1970, while that of the black-headed gull has fallen by the same amount in the last twenty years. As the UK is home to a third of the European gull population, statistics such as these will worry environmentalists and may curb any new, excessively stringent anti-seagull measures.
Under The Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981, it is illegal to “kill, injure or take any wild bird….take damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while that nest is use or being built” (link), and also to “take or destroy an egg of any wild bird”, meaning local authorities must proceed with extreme caution whilst attempting to remove gulls, which often necessitates calling in specialist firms.
No Quick Solutions
Today’s summit gave residents, business operators, environmentalists and politicians a chance to meet and exchange views on how to tackle the problem of seagulls in Scotland’s coastal towns and cities.
Doubtless, new innovations alongside the hawks, nets and brightly coloured wind globes will be employed against Scotland’s seagulls, but with legislation currently almost totally on the birds’ side, it may be a while yet before we see the end of the latest “urban menace”.
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