To want to kill the birds

[Notattheseaside]

I know I will probably get some hate for this but here goes.

For the second year in a row seagulls have nested on my neighbours roof, last year we had a miserable 4 weeks or so as one of the babies fell of the roof and was in our garden, I couldn't let the dog out as the seagulls kept swooping for her, pooed all over her several times and started trying to attack her (dog was not bothered with the baby gull) To hang out washing I had to take a sweeping brush to protect myself, same with getting in the car as anyone even walking past our house was attacked by the gulls.

This year 3 babies have been born, I'm trying to sunbathe in the garden and it literally sounds like I am at the seaside (nowhere near) there is probably well over 30 gulls on near by roofs and they spend their day circling our garden (we don't feed them). One of the babies are now in the neighbours garden so the gulls are starting the swooping thing again.

We are miserable, we can't have a BBQ as they start diving down, the wee ones are too scared to go out to play because they get swooped, can't let the dog out in the garden and it's far too hot to walk her (and leaving the house is getting risky with the swooping unless we run straight to the car)

The council and pest control can't or won't help and say they are protected so can't be touched, neighbour will deal with the nest once the chics leave.

What to do in the meantime? Can't face dealing with this until August. Can they be killed? Is that to terrible to even consider it?

What you need is a cat. A big one. Like a tiger.

Sorry, no sensible advice but sounds like a totally nightmare. You can't and mustn't try to harm them but you could try deterring them. If one of the chicks is in your neighbour's garden, I assume it has fledged and so when the other two follow suite, you can deter them.

Yeah please don’t use mesh. It causes ALL types of birds a cruel death not just the ones that get on your nerves.

To answer op no you can’t kill a protected species. The chicks will move on soon and then your neighbour should seek advice on non mesh deterrents for next year. All the best.

Oh the squawking, damn things are sitting on the chimney pots, despite the cowls so you can hear them. Only good thing is with 2' walls and good dg you're cool in the house, my sash windows are open top and bottom

I think it's ridiculous that the councils answer is "they're protected, nothing can be done", when they are physically attacking people and destroying their lifestyles/wellbeing. Just one of these terribly British things where we have to accept being attacked by large birds for several months of the year.

I can't understand why your neighbours didn't take any action last year and have allowed it to happen again!

I am very sympathetic. My gran was injured by a gull swooping on her and ended up with a bruised face and marks from the claws! I've had food seized out of my hands. We've also had babies on the ground and the parents are extremely aggressive and dive-bomb you. I don't know what you can do this year except endure it and make sure it doesn't happen next year. You cannot injure them. We did move the baby on the occasion it was on the ground as it's an area full of cats, we moved it (with umbrellas over us) to a lady who took injured birds. I'm guessing not many people want to take in baby gulls but she did. That led the parents away anyway. My mum has seagull scarers and all kinds up to stop them nesting, once they nest you are legally obliged not to disturb them.

We are by the coast, and the same happened to a friend of mine. When she called animal control the guy said 'we can't do anything unless they've actually attacked you, but if they have, we can come and remove them'. It took her a few minutes of back and forth before she realised he was hinting / prompting her to say that they had. A few days later, they were removed.

Worth a try?

Also, for next year, worth checking out properly as this is hearsay but I believe due to protected status the birds themselves can't be harmed, but the nest / eggs can be, if caught in time.

A local falconry can be hired for bird pest control. They have trained hawks and falcons to come in and scare the pigeons and gulls away.

I've a similar situation with crows each year but it eases off when the fledgling birds move on. They're remarkably clever birds and seem to have decided to set up a new colony, if that's the word, at my house. The crows at the nearby farm attack them and seem to try and kill the chicks so we have to chase the neighbouring crows away.
Fines are justifiably high for killing birds and I'd be quite sure that neighbours would report you so you can only follow some of the good advice given.

We live in a cul de sac OH gets a ladder and removes nesting material whenever it appears for neighbours who ask him to. You really should deter them before it happens with deterrent on the roof

@Headbandheart
as it says in my last line of text “they made their nest round the corner next year”. You may have interpreted this as round the corner of the street. Nope. Literally round the corner of my house. They were on the road facing side, now they are on the 90 degrees to road side. I don’t think a metre or two bothers them really. I have not killed, harmed or particularly inconvenienced them. The fact I mentioned they re nested next year should have helped your concerns that their habitat was being further reduced.
also,
the mesh on the balcony is very visible from the workshop which is in use 7 days a week. Should a bird become entrapped in it it would be freed. None has, it is very taught rather than loose and tangly. They are more at risk from the birds of prey.

Yep, round the corner did mean round corner from your house. Not unreasonable assumption
thanks for the clarification.

a copy paste from Gov web site

You’re breaking the law if you:

intentionally kill, injure or take wild birds
intentionally take, damage or destroy a wild bird’s nest while it’s being used or built
intentionally take or destroy a wild bird’s egg
possess, control or transport live or dead wild birds, or parts of them, or their eggs
sell wild birds or put them on display for sale
use prohibited methods to kill or take wild birds

Then he is breaking the law

a copy paste from Gov web site

You’re breaking the law if you:

intentionally kill, injure or take wild birds
intentionally take, damage or destroy a wild bird’s nest while it’s being used or built
intentionally take or destroy a wild bird’s egg
possess, control or transport live or dead wild birds, or parts of them, or their eggs
sell wild birds or put them on display for sale
use prohibited methods to kill or take wild birds

Is there any obvious reason why they keep nesting in your neighbours roof?

If they are attacking you, yes you can do something about it…"protected" or not.
You 'll need to apply for a licence (see info at link below) and once you've got that I would suggest hiring a pest exterminator to net them and and take them away to be euthanized humanely. Or contact pest control first as they may have their own licence.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/wild-birds-licence-to-kill-take-or-disturb-for-conservation-or-public-health-and-safety-a09

By the way, falcons, fake birds etc will do absolutely no good so don't waste your money. And note that now that these particular gulls are established on your neighbour's roof they will come back next year, and the one after… with the family increasing in size every year. They can live for 27 years by the way.

Seagull's here group together to 'worry' the odd red kite!

Every year the seagull's come back to this area - about as mainland as you could get. YANBU OP - seagull's are arseholes.

Last summer we put plastic spike strips all in our gutters and it is better. I love the birds, but our cat kills everything in the nest so it's kinder to discourage them. I wouldn't want seagulls either

What you need is a cat. A big one. Like a tiger.

I think there is something in this. A few years ago I went to a seaside village in Corfu and didn't hear or see a single gull. However, the place was crawling with feral cats! Not even big ones either... they were quite scrawny.

@deedledeedledum No, no reason other than over the past few years seagulls in the area have been increasing and last year they decided to make a nest on the neighbours roof. There must also be a number of nests nearby and they are all friends by the looks of things, neighbour just gently moved the baby out of his garden as one of the parents were swooping his toddler, as soon as he moved the baby at least 8 adult gulls came out of nowhere and were dive bombing him, they are on a number of the neighbouring roofs just people watching.

Clearly a threat to health and safety of the residents. This is the grounds on which you can be granted a licence to cull them.

I've been dive-bombed by Herring Gulls before now, walking my dog up a hill to the vet. There was a whole flock of them launching themselves at both me and my dog. They are such huge birds it's actually very scary and intimidating, especially when there are several of them!

They charge a fortune and the gulls will be back the following day. Huge rip off 🙄
There's not much you can do this year other than put up a sail/gazebo but your neighbours defo need to take steps to ensure they dont return next year.
We have a love/hate relationship with our tawny owl babies, we love them, but God, when it's 2am and they are on the corner of your dormer roof, screeching, I could merrily turn them into a pie.

One of the fledglings has managed to get itself down onto my single apex roof over my kitchen, and it's been there several hours. I daren't let the cat out as the gulls keep flying down. The amount of mess is annoying and I can't water my plants.