Seagulls attacking.

There was a news item yesterday on TV reporting about a seagull that stole bags of crisps from a shop. The shopkeeper reckoned the bird must have taken 40 bags of crisps and has now put up a sign telling shoppers not to allow the gull into the shop.

We live 10 miles from the sea and the gulls are a menace and have attacked, among others, a young child having an ice cream in the street. Humans are entitled to eat in the street, in their gardens, in the park or wherever they like, they should not be afraid of gulls. They are also very dirty, think washing, windows, cars. I acknowledge that we have ruined their natural habitat but that doesn’t make me like them in urban areas or think they should be encouraged, my very elderly neighbours lives were a misery for several years because of their “attentions*. On the other hand we contacted the SSPCA when we found a young, injured gull by the coast. As for people deliberately running them over, how could anyone?
Sorry Bluebell.

They are ingeniously clever if you watch them trying to get into wheelie bins, as I do waiting for buses..

we also have a seagull who waits outside a studio I use. They return each year with a baby who hangs around.. several generations have been there for years now..

I once, in Edinburgh, watched a positively vicious fight between a gull and a rat over some dropped food.

The rat finally, very injured, gave up and crawled into hiding

I live on the coast and love gulls.
The main problem is that, as SueDomin said, their main food source has changed, and now is mainly human leftovers. It is a natural adaptation to circumstances rather than viciousness.
There are so many signs put up to tell people not to feed them as this does result in them being more likely to grab food from people if they can; still too many people ignore them. Gulls entire purpose at this time of year is to feed themselves and their chicks and I think we humans have to accept and cope with this.

In the 80s I lived in Sydney, Australia, and I well remember the magpies; again birds protecting their young, but scary!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-66920781

I have had gulls nesting on my chimney. One of their fledglings has fallen out and spends its time stomping around on my conservatory roof. Its parents are there and it is quite frightening to go out in the garden. When the adults are on the roof, it sounds like someone tryng to break in, and they start at first light.

I heard loud squawking of gulls in the field behind my house. They were hovering and diving at a little animal in the middle of the field which I thought at first glance was a hare.

Just then 2 adult roe deer galloped out from the trees and quickly rescued their little fawn and ushered it back to safety. I’ve never seen such a tiny fawn. I was so relieved it didn’t come to harm.

We've lived here for 7.5 years, less than half a mile from the sea and have never seen them attack but have witnessed them taking food out of people's hands. They're magnificent birds and when we move in a few weeks, they are what I will miss the most.

The biggest problem is people feeding them, we've even seen council workers feed them despite the number of signs telling people not do so.

Last week on 3 quiet residential roads, we saw 3 adolescents that had been deliberately run down . They're very vulnerable and slow when wandering around on roads so easily avoided

About the boy and the ham sandwich… no one ate in the street when I was growing up it was considered bad manners, and as my Nan would say ‘common’ a sweet or an ice cream occassionally but meals never they were all eaten at home, now for some reason people cannot be out for half an hour without grabbing food on the hoof then we either chuck the remnants down or try and stuff it in an over full bin, encouraging scavenging

That’s a bit harsh, BlueBelle. Eating fish and chips or a picnic at the beach is a long-standing tradition. Not even my very strict headmistress (at my very strict seaside grammar school) would have denied us that.

Seagulls have certainly become bolder over the years. They used to scavenge any leftover food from the floor or bins. Now they’ll grab it from your hands. I’ve never seen them attack an animal or person in a busy area but it looks from this thread as though that’s getting to be common practice now. I might just invest in a tin hat for my next visit home.

My family of Seagulls live on my roof and come back every year They are so clever they find the same spot they were living on to arrive back from the Atlantic ….imagine that, flying all that distance and finding your same old home
They found my chimney 4 years ago The parents do shout at me but they don’t dive bomb me, I think they have worked out that I m not an enemy their chick has been with me 6 weeks and he’s a joy to watch growing up
I admire seagulls they are troopers they have adapted and perhaps they are teaching us a lesson …. ‘Stop leaving your crap lying around the countryside’

We live inland but seagulls are vicious on the local quay swooping and taking food from people having coffee and cake etc outside. They have become more troublesome over the years and scary. It prevents the small children feeding the ducks on the quay.

karmalady

I saw a loud group mobbing a raptor in the sky. Seagulls are so big, I wouldn`t like to get on the wrong side of one

Yes, I saw just a couple of gulls menacing a raptor (could have been a red kite or a peregrine falcon) recently.
Falcons are nesting near here so they could have been drawing the gulls away from the nest.

We have a holiday home overlooking the sea. There is a colony of kittiwakes nesting on rigs out at sea and a larger type of seagull flying around and resting on our roofs but thankfully they don’t bother us. We eat outside as often as we can but none have ever taken our food.

The make excellent parents and defend their young from all comers, which is why so many people feel under attack at this time of year. It will soon calm down.

They are on the red list. So endangered. They are magnificent birds though.

Every morning I feed the birds, and my current seagull parents stand on the shed roof “yapping” waiting for their morning feed of suet snd mealy worms. When I put it onto the roof they “thank” me by a raucous row, before quietly eating it to take back to their young. I don’t see them again until the evening when they quietly hang around the area in which I feed the foxes. They grab what they can then and fly off.

They really are bright.

I live a few feet away from nesting gulls because of the configuration of my high kitchen window next to 'their' flat roof. They can't see me but hear me go into my kitchen and go mad. I have to wear ear defenders, the noise is deafening. However they never attack me on my patio because it's too small for them to take off from. My landlord put spikes on the flat roof to try to deter them but they nested comfortably among the spikes. I admire them, they're beautiful intelligent birds, but get tired of their constant noise from June onwards and am always relieved when they return to the sea in August.

I saw a loud group mobbing a raptor in the sky. Seagulls are so big, I wouldn`t like to get on the wrong side of one

I live on the coast and must confess I have never seen a seagull attack or eat a pigeon. I've seen them eat carrion like a dead rabbit at the side of the road but they mostly hang around the seafront eating bits dropped like chips, crumbs etc. The black backed gulls are bigger and more vicious. Many people where I live have put up spiked around their chimney stacks to prevent seagulls from nesting as we have had a lot of trouble in the past with seagulls taking a particular dislike to certain neighbours and making their lives hell while raising their seaglets.

We were sitting outside a restaurant having a meal when a seagul swooped down and stole the steak from my son's plate, then in the afternoon, another swooped down and stole the ice cream he was holding. They are vicious things and some are massive.

Some of you may know I m a seagull liker living right by the sea (i am bringing a baby up now) They are beautiful birds who are very intelligent We have ruined their normal life style When I grew up as a child by the seaside the only time you saw seagulls was as they flew behind the little shrimpers or trawlers waiting to get their meal they were not even on the beach Now they have become predators to try to survive They have moved further and further inland to adapt and are constantly looking for food anywhere and everywhere They are very protective of their babies so if there is a nest on your roof *grannyactivist= they will be protecting it.
Many will be flying off to the Atlantic in a few weeks until next year
About the boy and the ham sandwich… no one ate in the street when I was growing up it was considered bad manners, and as my Nan would say ‘common’ a sweet or an ice cream occassionally but meals never they were all eaten at home, now for some reason people cannot be out for half an hour without grabbing food on the hoof then we either chuck the remnants down or try and stuff it in an over full bin, encouraging scavenging
They are so intelligent, they mate for life, are very protective of their young and are so clever at learning My chick after a few days knew how to arrive at my back door for his food and even tap his beak on the door
They are also (although seen in thousands) a protected species and are becoming less although at the moment it doesn’t seem it.
We have done this and must own it
It will be much quieter by the end of the month and hopefully my chap will start flying very soon and fly off to start a new family and visit me again next year

I recently popped in to visit my mother-in-law (we live in a seaside town) and discovered that we couldn’t take advantage of her sunny patio because two seagulls (and later others joined in) were dive bombing me every time I attempted to step through the French doors. I actually took a video of them swooping down at me as I stayed just inside the doors and put a tentative foot outside.

At this time of year they have young and can be extremely aggressive if they think there’s a threat to them.

Link for info.

www.bbc.com/future/article/20210615-why-sea-gulls-are-making-their-homes-in-our-cities

Given that seagulls’ natural food source, the sea, has been depleted of fish, and that their habitats have been disturbed by humans, they’ve chosen to move to areas with more food and safe places to raise their chicks.

We’ve really only ourselves to blame.

we live 15 miles inland and the seagulls are everywhere, it's only the last 2 or 3 years that this has happened, we usually only saw them at the coast

I live near the coast and I think seagulls are definitely getting bolder and more aggressive. I have two who are aggressive and try desperately to get into my bungalow, I have had to put a heavy net curtain across the door if I want to leave it open. My neighbour has had a seagull trying to attack his puppies even though they were in the house in a puppy cage.