What to do?

I agree with Gonegirl, my uncle, many years ago, was eating fish & chips and a seagull flew down and pinched some food, sadly he lost his fish & chips, he dropped them in fright! They can be quite dangerous, imagine if that had been a child?

I think a seagull might be a bit large for even the bigger female sparrowhawk to take but I wish one would take the wood pigeon that’s eaten all my wisteria buds.

I am one of those hated people who feed the gulls. Do any of you realise or even care that they have been red listed? There are not as many of them as would seem to be when they flock together. If stupid people did not torment them waving food about they would not think it is being offered to them & therefore try to take any that they see. They are very intelligent birds & yes very protective of their young. Cannot blame them for that as most of us protect our young do we not? Many people here also feed the Gulls as well as all the smaller birds.

I'm with you SillyNanny321. I think it is rather sad to be worrying about a bit of paintwork on a car rather than a living thing and the pleasure of someone who is heading for dementia getting some enjoyment out of life. (I do hear what OP is posting about not wanting to stop that btw so not directed at her, just generally)
We have pigeons that sit above our car and I only worried about them when I was concerned about what the chickens would catch from them. Now I don't keep chickens, they're welcome.

I had a similar problem when I lived in a flat and a 'lady' continually used my designated space as it was almost at her door and hers was at the other side of the car park. A scattering of bread on her car roof, very late at night, on several occasions, soon persuaded her to park in her own space, God knows what was in Aberdeen gull poo but it did the trick......and you thought I was nice?

* SillyNanny321 * which of the gulls have been "red listed"?

Do you feed them fish?

oldgaijin

Our boat was the only one that the seagulls didn't mess on, but then we had two cats on board.

I would have a quite word with the man's wife, as Gonegirl suggested. If that doesn't work you could take the matter further to Environmental control.

Gonegirl I gather it’s the herring gull, owing to dwindling fishing stock. The black headed gull has adapted well to living inland, miles from the sea, and we see lots around here in the suburbs, always attractive in their full breeding plumage, and not presenting a problem. However, herring gulls are huge and I have seen them swoop and take ice cream from my own children and years later from a granddaughter. I think I would be inclined to ask the neighbour politely to stop feeding them, unless he is feeding “the birds” in general rather than gulls specifically.

Given the circumstances, I'd go for getting a car cover to keep the poo off as the simplest way of keeping your car clean.

When my mum was becoming rather eccentric, she started feeding pigeons in a local car park, because she loved pigeons. Nothing would dissuade her - she simply didn't believe that she was causing a nuisance. I thought she might end up with an ASBO, but she was never apprehended.

Bird poo eats through car paintwork like acid, you need to get it off very quickly. I had one car roof wrecked because our wretched local pigeons used it for bombing practice. Problem was I am short, and cannot see the car's roof. Now keep a watch out of bedroom window on a daily basis!

If they were persuaded to put the food on a bird table, that might encourage the smaller birds and discourage the seagulls, as large birds find it very hard to get up on to bird tables and have to peck around underneath for the bits that fall off. Why don’t you treat your neighbour to a bird table - they aren’t very expensive and say that, as he got so much pleasure from feeding the birds, you thought he would like a nice bird table as it would attract different kinds of birds. We live just outside Oxford, which is about as far from the sea as you can get in this country, but if I put any bread for the birds on the garage roof, sometimes the seagulls appear from nowhere and the smaller birds are terrified of them. I know seagulls have to live, but not at the expense of our local garden birds!

Here in Norfolk flocks of gulls come far inland to feed in the fields especially if the fields are being ploughed. They are also in Kings Lynn.

SillyNanny123 We are plagued by herring gulls. We live behind a M&S food depot and they nest on the roof in their thousands. They make our lives intolerable in the breeding season. The screech all night long. We all have to keep our windows closed even in hot weather. The windows are covered in their poo as are our houses and cars. They attack us regularly and if one of the babies decided to sit in the road they peck our heads. My neighbour says he spends the nights of lost sleep fantasising about shooting them. Of course, there is nothing we can do as they are protected. We don’t see or hear other birds as they are all frightened off. We all hate them.

It's one of the little mysteries of life that some people never get pooped on.

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/man-fined-after-killing-seagull-that-tried-to-eat-his-chips-a4091406.html

Look around at the mess humans make- that's where your complains should be aimed, not at nature!

Chips or seagull

I used to live in Lyme Regis and about fifteen years ago I warned a man with two children that it was not a good idea to keep throwing chips to the seagulls.
He gave me a dirty look and ignored me.
In less that 3 minutes a gull swooped down and stole the fish right from his hand........he still didn't even look at me but hurried away.
We have notices up warning people that the gulls are now violent.
My own problem with them is when they mess on my clean washing,
It is really nasty stuff to get out and they also like to mess on our just cleaned windows.

I have a neighbour who feed the gulls but I don't have a car so I don't have that problem I wish he wouldn't but I can't stop him.

I think though if the gull's are causing damage to your car you should have a friendly word with his wife and try to redirect his energies into feeding garden birds as other people have already suggested.
Also when they nest if they a young bird falls into the garden the parent bird will not allow you into your own garden.!
They are very aggressive and vicious so better to nip this in the bud.

People, however dirty, rarely sh*t on other people from on high.

We had an elderly neighbour who was given as ASBO for feeding pigeons. He wouldn't stop though. He would walk along the road dropping slices of white bread behind him. I think he was mentally ill as he was eventually put in a care home.

I too live in a seaside town, and seagulls are a huge problem exacerbated by people feeding them! Seagull poo is hugely corrosive to cars, and the noise when they have built nests and are raising their chicks is awful (4.30am start to the day anyone!?). We are all issued with seagull proof refuse bags which has made the situation better, but people who feed them......are misguided and need to be told to stop.

I lived in flats once and the lady above me used to capture wasps in a sticky smelling jam jar and then take them to the nearby park to release them!!!