to think this Whitby seagull was just watching and waiting for me to get my seafood before diving in

[cakeorwine]

Day out in Whitby today. Bought a seafood dish - mussels, prawns and cockles. Just walked away eating it and a gull just swept in and stole some.

Watched them later. They were just hanging round on the shack next to the store. Watching. Waiting.

Maybe this guy should have been around

Whitby man in eagle costume deters seagulls from stealing food - BBC News

I had this when I bought my son an ice cream at the seaside. We were walking back to the car and I noticed about 20 gulls following us on foot. One distracted me, then the rest went for my sons ice cream! It was awful, but very cunning of them!

Whitby seagulls are complete thugs.

Yep that’s what they do. We were in Cornwall once and got ambushed for a pasty. Then one brought its offspring over to try its luck, they are literally training their children to do it too.

Also one stole my 2 year olds sandwich and he wouldn’t eat a picnic outside for most of summer, poor thing.

That's very clever of them

Yes, I watched one last year. Sitting on a lamppost, watching an ice cream van. It picked a bloke, watched until he got to the right angle, then swooped in and took his ice cream cone. Well planned and well executed!

Yes they do.

Seagulls are incredibly intelligent.

They're sneaky feckers over in Whitby. Though they're not as sneaky just down the road in Scarborough but I still refuse to eat anything in the open.

I used to sneak chips into my poor brother's hood and watch them dive-bomb him! 😏🤣

They use to be more polite though. Thirty years ago they would wait for you to throw them a chip or be content with the leftovers but now they are feral and dive bomb your tray before you have chance to shake salt over them.

Whitby seagulls are terrifying. I've huddled in doorways eating my chips.
Can't think why they don't just poison a batch and cull them!

The Whitby 'eagle' isn't going to frighten off any self-respecting seagull!

There are signs all around Whitby warning about the bloody seagulls. They're horrors!

See also Gibraltar apes 🦧. We were robbed of our picnic while sitting in the car! Also grabbed small child’s ice cream and a mars bar (separate occasions).

Seagulls are thugs but very clever thugs. I live by the sea and the little buggers know every kind of food wrapping, coffee cup, anything that's had food in it, we had one that lived on the bin outside McDonalds and became a local landmark.
They even recognise the shape humans make when they're carrying food, say when someone is holding chips in front of them, they swoop down and brush your head with their wing so you drop the food, then grab what you've dropped.

There is very little fish left for them in the sea so they rely on the people on the shore to sub. Put a paper napkin over the top of your food and keep it close to your face. Anything at arm's length is at risk.

Since the 'don't feed the seagulls' notices were put up, they've become more feisty and will get their chips by any means necessary.

Blackpool seagulls are 'arder 💪💪

I suppose their are rules about making seagulls fight it out over a bowl of chips to find out who owns the title?

A Whitby seagull divebombed me a few years ago and stole half my fish from my fish and chips. I've been to Cornwall a lot and find the Cornish seagulls much more polite 😂

The ones in St Ives are the hardest of the lot. They're bred to steal food from tourists in the SW.

They’re so clever. Apparently they can even distinguish regional accents and they target people who they know are not from the local area more than locals as they’ll likely be less savvy with guarding their food.

I honestly think if a seagull can get the better of you then they deserve the chips

They were fine during the lockdown. Our local seagulls were catching small crabs.