To think seagulls are giant rats with wings

[HaggisMcSporran]

exept worse, rats dont shite on your washing, attack you from above and steal your barbecue food out of your hands, even worse at this time of year when their babies have hatched, i know they are just protecting their young but FFS i cant even let my poor dog out the back garden, its a quivering wreck, as soon as it goes out they pounce, and the council cant do anything because they are protected species, they hunt in packs round here, ive seen mothers running down the street with their prams to get away from them.

[Orbinator]

Oh and they eat cat food, so leaving that outside will attract them, apparently.
Scary buggers. Makes me feel pigeons have a bad rep in comparison. After all, they get the mangled feet from train tracks, chewing gum etc, are chased by kids everywhere they go and yet rarely try to retaliate and let's face it, are no way near as threatening!

Oddly I've never seen a seagull with the ubiquitous lump of chewing gum stuck to it's foot or a one legged one for that matter...

[xJulesx]

I was was on Broadstairs beach yesterday with DP and DD;We were only there for the day; due to the on/off drizzly weather, the beach was almost empty. The seagulls were like a scene from the birds!! My lovely picnic was a nightmare, We had about 20 birds surrounding us, trying to steal what ever they could. DD thought it was funny and was sharing her lunch with them!! Which soon stopped as this gave them the green light to get closer and closer; attacking and pecking at anything.

That said; I still like to watch them; and feel that they have as much right to be here as us; annoying fuckers or not!!

[Ormirian]

We had a seagull theft hat-trick in St Ives one year. DS1 lost some chips, I lost a pastie and then later that weeks so did DS2. Very clever little blighters though and quite brave compared to other birds. Saw it happen to another kid and his dad had complete meltdown - he was actually shaking his fist and stamping his feet in rage Kept us amused for ages ....

[LineRunner]

It's about not feeding them. Not leaving food waste dumped on pavements. Not leaving bread crusts lying about in school playgrounds and in parks or on the beach.

Same for pigeons. They over-breed and their learned behaviour is the nuisance, flocking and swooping and shitting.

Some people seem to feed them whole loaves of bread in my town, deposited randomly on the pavement. Are they quite sane?

[hiddenhome]

Birds are descended from dinosaurs, so you'd expect them to be really aggressive and nasty

[RollingInTheAisles]

My friend had them on her roof and were attacking kids in her garden, the council sent a man round with a shotgun!

[Orbinator]

There were high hopes I'd win one of the races I was in...alas, only came second :(

[CurrySpice]

I have a pathalogical hatred of seagulls since one swooped down and snatched the sandwich out of the hand of my toddler daughter as she sat on my lap, wrapped ina towel.

Scared the bejeezuz out of both of us and gave her a nasty cut on her finger

Hate the fucking agressive things

One shit on my leg on Holland last year as well

Fuckers!

[Tchootnika]

Good luck though, to be shat on by a bird, apparently. So something must have gone right for your ma, Orbinator ?

[Driftwood999]

We watched Hitchcock's "The Birds" recently. Never fails to give me the creeps. According to Wiki "The Birds, inspired by a Daphne Du Maurier short story and by an actual news story about a mysterious infestation of birds in California, was Hitchcock's 49th film" I'm off to bed now before the dawn chorus.

[Orbinator]

Whatever you do, don't mess with the babies! Every seagull in town will be flapping around you within seconds if a chick is under threat!

Whoever got pooed on by one - my mum had the same happen when she was on her way to my sports day. It's about as close as we can get to imagining the trauma of cows flying. Never did come out of her suit either

[ChristinedePizan]

I don't like them. Even their bloody babies are enormous great grabby things. It's like The Birds here in the summer, sodding things swooping down if you so much as put a sandwich down between bites

[YoungMotherTubby]

Hate them. Live near the sea and the odd time when it is a warm night can't open the windows coz the screeching starts about 4 in the morning.

[ApocalypseCheeseToastie]

What does seagull taste like ?

[Tchootnika]

yearningforthesun
Really? Do you know what sort? (What bird preys on a seagull... but not on dogs, cats, sheep, etc.?)
Are you in the UK?

[Orbinator]

Abra In Brisbane they have Ibis which are their version. Much uglier. At least ours look slightly cuddlier.

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

YANBU, they are. All birds are flying rats.

[Orbinator]

Well, exactly MrMan. I mean, they can fly, so obviously the oil rig idea is out...

[MrMan]

Forget the zombies.. What's our plan when the seagulls decide to take over??

[Abra1d]

You don't get them as much in other countries because they are better at clearing up rubbish and just generally less grubby.

I hate them.

[Orbinator]

I saw one peck at a boy's eyes on the beach in Hastings years ago. He had chips and was running at them, to be slightly fair, but still, 3 of them attacking him was a very scary sight.

Shortly after a man went around shooting at them with a shotgun (again in Hastings) and I think was arrested

I also remember hearing on the radio that the head honcho who studies them said they are getting increasingly aggressive and people are being attacked more frequently. He urged for a funded study as he forsaw huge problems...never heard of him again. Seagull conspiracy? Maybe...

Didn't help when I was being followed by a giant specimen yesterday. Had to stop at the traffic lights waiting to cross and he kept sneaking up behind me. Size of a pug dog, so you get the fear. I had to keep turning around and stomping my foot to keep him a meter away . Ran away as fast as I could when the green man came up, I'm ashamed to admit!

[Tchootnika]

Ormirian - I'm definitely with you on that one.
This seagull thing is to do with the amount of food that gets chucked out, isn't it? And seeing what's happened with the burgeoning population of urban foxes (often mangy, unhealthy, die slow deaths having been hit by cars...), things can't be looking that good for seagulls, surely?
(Sorry about the doom and gloom, btw...)
DBF - I know, I know! Horrid, horrid, horrid thing, it was!