Britain fights back against winged invaders

REUTERS, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND
Saturday, May 31, 2003, Page 16

Long a beloved symbol of seaside fun, British seagulls are moving in droves beyond their coastal heartland to urban centers where roofs replace cliffs for nesting and it is easier to scavenge food from rubbish than hunt depleted fish stocks in the sea. PHOTO: REUTERS

Their airborne attacks sow panic among the public. And they are always one step ahead of their pursuers.

A frightening new terrorist threat?

No, just the plain old British seagull.

Long a beloved symbol of seaside fun, the birds are moving beyond their coastal heartland to urban centers where rooftops replace cliffs for nesting and it is easier to scavenge food from rubbish than hunt depleted fish stocks in the sea.

But their anti-social habits -- including early-morning cacophonies, and protective instincts which can make them deliberately defecate on or dive-bomb humans -- are fast making the seagulls a figure of hate for many.

This has given birth to a new concept: gull rage.

"A seagull swooped on a friend of mine the other day to grab a burger out of his hand," said a tourist bus driver Peter Butler, in the southern coastal town of Brighton. "So he caught the bird by the throat and gave it a right fright. The seagulls are getting out of control. Something has to be done."

PHOTO: REUTERS

Brighton illustrates the conundrum well. As one of Britain's top beach resorts, it relies on seagulls for its postcard image and tourists delight in feeding the birds from their hands.

But in this busy residential town, many inhabitants are sick of the noise, mess and occasional threat the gulls present as they move away from the sea-front.

"I know a lot of people call them rats with wings and they can be very intimidating, but they are part of our seaside heritage," said hotel worker Peter Metcalfe. "The real problem is humans who throw them food and encourage the problem."

Gulls are gonna get you ■ Seagull is the common name for a species of birds formally known as herring gulls (Larus argentatus). ■ Seagulls mature in about four years and their coloring changes frequently during the maturation process, from mottled, to gray, to white with gray features. ■ Seagulls are a common species of bird found all over the world, but particularly the US and Europe. ■ Last month in England a dog was pecked to death in Devon. ■ Several pensioners suffered cuts and gashes in a string of bird strikes in seaside towns. ■ Postmen refused to deliver mail to a quiet mews in central London following attacks by a ``slightly psycho herring gull.'' Source: BBC and www.seagull.net

According to the country's leading seagull expert Peter Rock, their population is growing by a remarkable 13 percent annually, meaning most conurbations will before too long house a colony.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) estimates around 200,000 pairs of the two main species -- the herring gull and the black-backed gull -- now live in Britain.

"The subject of seagull menace has always been dealt with in a rather light-hearted and flippant way in the past," Rock said. "Now some people are baying for blood."

Calls for mass gull culls are growing. That could be done by shooting, poisoning or egg-destroying.

Birds of prey have also been suggested as a solution.

"Some people tried flying Harris hawks in Bath," Steve Burt, pest control supervisor for that English city, told National Geographic. "The trouble was that they were lucky to get the birds back alive once the gulls had finished with them."

Proponents of radical solutions point to reports of recent serious incidents such as a Welsh man suffering a heart attack after being swooped, a pet dog hacked to death, and a woman in England sent to hospital with beak wounds to the head.

They may also want to recommend a re-viewing of British director Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 thriller, The Birds, which portrays seagulls terrorizing a town.

But, experts counter, culls both offend nature-lovers' sensibilities and are a fundamentally flawed method. "If you remove a seagull from its niche, you just make a hole which another one will come along straightaway to fill up," Rock said.

More effective long-term methods would be to adjust living habits to pre-empt the seagulls by, for example, blocking roof crevices and ensuring waste food is not left out.

Studies into feeding habits are also needed to find out how the chicks get the high-energy, high-protein food -- equivalent to fish -- in towns to survive in such high numbers.

Another anti-seagull tactic which failed was towing rubbish-filled boats out to sea to lure them. And in the ever-more imaginative drive to curb the birds, a football club painted the roof of its stadium red to successfully deter them.

Weighed against such methods are the seagulls' remarkable adaptability and capacity for problem-solving.

"These birds are very intelligent, very quick to cotton on to new opportunities," said RSPB spokesman Graham Madge. "We need long-term solutions."

One municipal authority in southwestern England has set up a special Web site to educate the public about the problem, but is wary about radical solutions for safety reasons.

"If birds of prey are dive-bombing in the streets, they could kill themselves," said South Hams environmental health officer Kate Eveleigh. "And if people are climbing on to roofs for culls, there are obvious safety concerns there too."

Meanwhile, the menace of seagulls, who generally weigh about 1kg, have wingspans of some 1.5m and can dive bomb at 64kph, grows.

"There are various stages the seagull uses when it is upset. If you don't heed the first ones -- cries, low passes, defecating -- they will come in at high speed and rake you with their feet on the back of the head," said Rock, a veteran of such attacks during his research. "It usually draws blood."