Why are seagulls such a pain?!

[Fillyfrog]

I actually think seagulls are the bane of most seaside resorts. We went to Llandudno in north Wales today, it's such a lovely place and been a favourite for many years. But today the seagulls were so awful, I saw countless people getting their food stolen from them to the point where instead of risking to eat our picnic on the front we ate it in the car! Some of the gulls are absolutely massive, I saw one steal a full ice cream from a toddler in her pram and I feel like it must have hurt, she was beside herself. They seemed worse than any other time I've been there.

Why do they do this? Do they not have enough food to eat? I know tourists must drop litter and food etc and I often think of seagulls like, eating some chips someone's dropped on the floor but when did it evolve to swooping in for people's sandwiches?! I can't imagine living somewhere seasidey with them there all the time 🙈

(light hearted thread)

@BSB30 why do you not consider them comparable? I live in a tourist town, there are signs everywhere saying please do not feed the gulls, their feces contains botulism and spread diseases, feeding them makes them aggressive and people seen doing so are regularly shamed on local FB pages for still doing it 🤦‍♀️.

Unless there’s some drip feed that it was in 1950s and the birds were all starving or something I’m amazed no one confronted you about it at the time or the people you were with told you how idiotic it was.

@ShamefulNameChange1 I think because it's something we always did as kids, it was something you did going to the seaside. Granted, I haven't been to the seaside for a long time and haven't seen the signs you mention. If those signs had been there, I of course wouldn't have done it.

What is the precise location of the survey? Is it an oil rig or a rock somewhere?

Swallows tend to stay around their nests this time of year to prevent their chicks or eggs being stolen by predators. I am just curious why these would turn up 60 miles from land.

No they don't!

@jakephi

Yes they do ,!

Wildlife has just as much right to live on Planet Earth 🌏 as us ,!

It's humans careless and destructive behaviours that is altering the way wildlife naturally is...such as food litter, and massive fish trawlers greedily grabbing most of the fish out there,

Seagulls like some other creatures ect has intelligence to adapt to our ever increasingly incroaching ways too,

They are not stupid and I think are often wildlife, well some wildlife are probably more intelligent than some humans walking the Planet Earth, !

@jakephi

Hope that has enlighten you,

If that hasn't?

I strongly suggest to watch wildlife programmes and read books and watch youtube videos...

I just happen to be very geeky about love of nature related stuff,

Yep. If humans chuck food everywhere what can we expect. Birds don’t think “ooh I mustn’t take those chips, the human is still eating them!”
Plus - they were here before we were 🤷‍♀️ If you don’t like gulls, stay away from the coast!

I love seagulls, honestly ever pay time I see one steal someones food I can’t help but feel happy, my inner dialogue turns into Ricky Gervais I don’t even feel bad for that. It’s majestic.

You should create YouTube Shorts/TikTok videos. You could become a viral sensation 😋

I have a great photo of ds1 in his pushchair in the immediate aftermath of a seagull nicking a chip

Chatillon · Yesterday 19:44

What is the precise location of the survey?

It's a survey for a wind farm, I don't want to give the name / location. I'm assuming that they were migrating. It's very common to get birds of all sorts on ships.

We've had owls, a buzzard one time and mid Atlantic, a pair of greenfinches.

Would be interested to hear why you think that. You are an animal. They are an animal. They are existing and so are you.

Actually they're not, they're herring gulls 😀

Yes they do. Arguably more right, seeing as they were here first (first evolved around 150 million years ago, whereas humans rocked up around 200,000 years ago).

No wonder the planet's fucked.

@Goodread1 let's geek out together ❤️

moggerhanger · Today 09:50
jakephi · Today 01:50

No they don't!
Show quote history
Yes they do. Arguably more right, seeing as they were here first (first evolved around 150 million years ago, whereas humans rocked up around 200,000 years ago).

No wonder the planet's fucked”

Quite. What a stupid comment.

I live in a seaside town but down on the actual seafront they’re not too bad. They nick chips and ice creams, but they’re fairly polite and almost apologetic about it.

At work, a couple of miles inland, they’re a complete menace. They nest on the roof and every time we try to leave or enter the building they dive bomb us, empty the skip (which doesn’t contain food) everywhere and shit on everything. They gather in groups in the gateway and shout at everyone coming in and out, they refuse to move for cars (we’ve completely abandoned 1 particular parking space) and they sit on the telegraph pole outside my office window staring at me - I swear they’re plotting my murder.

We’re forever rescuing baby seagulls that have fallen off the roof so you’d think they’d be a bit grateful.

I was in Torquay a few years ago walking down the high street with my niece aged 9 at the time, she had a chicken sandwich from Tesco, she had 1 bite and a seagull landed on her head and stole the sandwich, it cut her head in a few places with its feet, I agree something needs to be done; they are a pain!

In Aldeburgh, Suffolk, if you get caught feeding them, you get fined.
They do this so that people will stop feeding them in hope they will move on and stop terrorising the locals.

It doesn't stop the evil things swooping down though, it's petrifying.

I suppose you cant blame them, Aldeburgh do have the best chips!

I live on the coast. When I was younger it was rare to see a gull close up. Sometimes near the beach, but never in the town or round the houses. Then people got rid of coal fires and started putting more rubbish out, and they learned they could nest on houses, rather than rocks out at sea, and get a free meal by ragging the bin bags.

They're not too bad here, but the next town over, they are a menace. Although they can get a bit vicious when they've got babies (any time now)
We've got a tame one who likes to hang out on my back wall.

I have one who walks into my kitchen whenever I leave the back door open.
My cat just sits and watches it.

This video shocked and impressed me in equal measure when I first saw it.

It does help give a true sense of the size of them though and how much food they require. I’m team Gull Humans are the real pain

😂 that is brilliant!

Because in llandudno (dd's favourite place) fucking idiots feed the damned things. They're living on maccies basically. They don't need to fish as they can grab food from tourists. No ageism intended but a lot of older people visit and the ladies like to leave their uneaten food for the birds. The wardens get very mad about it.

We take a two man pop up festival tent to the beach to eat in and we see people laughing at us. Within a day the beach is covered in them.

DH took this pic on holiday in Devon last year