How to deal with bloody gulls?!

I’m really not a heavy sleeper at all (chronic muscle pain). The gull noise doesn’t cause me any upset when I wake (several times a night), and it’s not the cause of my waking because it’s an everyday sound, not out of the ordinary in my mind.

Yes I do, as I said I feed them. I live by the sea, I accept that gulls are part of living by the sea.

The reason they are not living naturally is because WE STOLE ALL THE FISH FROM THE SEA and they had to move inland.

Ha. Do they live by you? I live 50 miles from the coast and gulls are a constant noise even during the night. Have you experienced this?

Do they wake you during the night?

I hate it at 2:30 when they waken me. Maybe you're a heavy sleeper? Nosies from the gulls circulating and creating a racket wake me up..

Sorry but property laws don’t apply to seagulls 😂. The wildlife has just as much right to be there as you do. If you don’t like them, then don’t choose to live by the sea? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Honestly, I can’t believe how dickish some people are about allowing other species to have an existence on a planet which is theirs, as much as it is ours.

I live 50 miles from the coast.
This is not a natural environment for them.

I’m listening to it now, it’s the sound of the coast, so yes, it’s got positive associations for me. They literally live on my roof, like most of the houses here, not a problem. It’s quite fun watching the chicks grow from fluffy little splats to taking their first flight.

If you live near the coast perhaps it’s not for you.

Anyway…

Can anyone suggest any other supplements, aids, remedies etc to help him get better quality sleep until that point?
(Also any suggestions about things that will actually work to get rid of the bastard gulls highly appreciated too!)

Weirdly, I have a lot of experience in both of these areas 😁 (currently listening to the many squawking herring gulls circling the house and garden right now actually).
Oddly, both I and DH had major issues with B12/folate deficiency (and then recently my eldest DD had it diagnosed too). Your DH may not be getting any relief from tablets as the issue may be that he cannot absorb B12. It has been the same for all three of us, and until we started the injections, nothing helped. Sorry. And the list of health conditions it causes is long, not confined to extreme fatigue. It could well be that once he is receiving injections (if that is what his GP decides), the gulls won’t be such a problem for him tbh. I was on a very short fuse and low tolerance of any noise that kept me awake, and even if I did sleep it didn’t make much difference. I can sleep through anything now. A 4am squawk might wake me but it won’t stop me getting back to sleep.

As for the gulls, unfortunately your flat roof is obviously very enticing for them. And unless you make it less enticing, you won’t get rid of them. Or until someone else makes somewhere nearby even more attractive. Neighbours opposite had expensive spikes and wiring put around their flat roof, and from my upstairs window, I’ve watched it make absolutely no difference to the gulls that nested there every year, they just worked round them and pulled some out (probably made them safer from predators like cats tbh). Anyway, they no longer have the issue, thanks to another nearby neighbour having a couple of extensions that had pitched roof areas, they nest there now because presumably they feel safer nestled in the gullies on the new roof. Possibly a high netting might stop them next year but they’re where they are because it suits them as a habitat, unless you can change the surrounding area you’re going to struggle to stop them coming back. DDs and I help a local wildlife rescue. I’ve rescued more than one of the fledging chicks from neighbours roof when they’ve fallen off prematurely and needed a few days on the ground working out how to take off. We’ve always got big umbrellas on standby so we can go in to the garden, that stage only lasts a few days, any younger and they’d need a proper rehabber. Also, people have suggested that you prevent them nesting next year by removing nesting material (ie not just a ready nest but actually stop them if they’re bringing material in). That’s also illegal - “preventing access to or to iIntentionally take, damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built” so make sure anything you do to prevent them is well outside of times they may be ready to nest.

He just needs to try sleeping elsewhere until they leave. If he struggles to sleep on the sofa get him to take some Nytol for the first new nights until he gets used to it. Or buy a camp bed.

To answer your question @Seagullhellregarding helping to sleep, I recommend your DH ask for sleeping tablets to be prescribed, or he can buy them online, phenergan works for me. I’m a light sleeper, I take one a night, I occasionally still wake but turn over and go straight back to sleep again. They make me groggy so I allow an extra half hour in the morning to wake up properly.

You like the constant noise?

I think if you had gulls you would actually be quite thankful of pigeons. We have both here. The gulls are way more problematic....way more.

Ah I love blackbirds and have no objection to pigeons.

It's just with the gulls who actually make a noise 24/7. Clever species but they must do shifts. It's through the night here with their absolutely excruciating calls. Yes I have tried earplugs and they even cut through them. I believe they're going beyond decibels.

If he lived near me I’d report him - it’s illegal to disturb their nests. We have them on our roofs here, the noise is just part of living by the sea, and I agree, they are amazing parents. Better than a lot of human parents are imo.

Yep
20 years and they only took me seriously when I ended up with nerve damage up until then I was told’ what do u expect of course you’re tired you’ve got kids’. And ‘ oh yes my hairs falling out too haha’

I’ve resorted to private b12 tests too. Despite my GPs fault in my nerve damage they stopped testing after a few months of the tablets. I’ve never been given a follow up check on that irrespective of nhs standard procedure to do so

Have I found the culprit who have nicked my gooseberries? Would that be pigeons? Every year the gooseberries disappear, we never get a single one.

We have one pigeon who sits on the chimney and coos. Next door have loads as they have solar panels

Edited as I hadn't made any sense whatsoever!😂

No. I have pigeons though.

They make a racket.

Hoo hoo hoo. Hoo hoo hoo. hoo hoo hoo. All the bloody time. And they eat all the fruit tree shoots.

I would swap the pigeons for gulls in a heartbeat.

But then I've never had gulls before so maybe I would hate them.

Blackbirds are nice to have. Star performers.

Lol. Do you have any living right close to you?

No, that is untrue. They are definitely not in decreasing numbers in towns, far away from the coast. This is a myth, perpetuated by conservationists.

But they're not living naturally by depending on takeaway scraps...that is not their natural environment.

Do you have them living in close proximity to you? They do not sleep and make excruciating noise. I am woken through the night by them and need sleep, I have to go to work.

I like seagulls. The cries remind me of being on holiday as a kid.

They are also pretty smart and can eat chips, ice cream, hot dogs, burgers, rats and rabbits (see Youtube), as well as go into shops and steal bags of crisps.

Not sure I would like a gang of them on my roof though.

All wild birds, their chicks and their nests are protected under the Wildlife Act in the UK. Gull numbers, specifically Lesser Black Backed and Herring, are decreasing. Herring numbers are plummeting alarmingly and they are now a red listed species.
That is why.

I would string fishing line or wire or netting across the roof if possible, to stop them landing, and spikes on the chimney and any other flat surfaces.

You’ll still hear them shrieking and screeching though as they fly about.

Hope away, it isn’t going to happen though.