How to deal with bloody gulls?!

[Seagullhell]

Posting in AIBU shamelessly for traffic, sorry, but getting rather desperate for some help!

We moved to our new house earlier this year. Our bedroom is in the extension with a flat roof, upon which, we quickly found out, are nesting seagulls. And OMG, the NOISE 😭

It annoys me a fair amount, but I'm generally capable of going back to sleep after being woken. But it's starting to make my DH ill. He's always been a light sleeper, so when they start up at 4/5am stomping around (it actually sounds like they're dropping rocks), he can't get back to sleep. He works in a high pressure job and has a long commute half the week. It's reached the point where he's called in sick - in nearly 20 years I've known him to do this once, maybe twice.

Since this all started we've discovered he has a B12 deficiency, and he's waiting for an appointment to delve into and hopes to get injections prescribed which we hope will help with the lightness of his sleep generally. But what else can we do?!

He tried sleeping on the sofa - can't sleep. The other rooms are occupied or face a busy main road. He's tried earplugs, but can't sleep in them. He's taking B12 tablets until his docs appointment along with magnesium to help, but they don't seem to do anything.

We've got to the point where we can't help but wonder about just kicking the bloody nest off the roof. We know this is illegal, so we won't, but it's hard watching him reach breaking point and not feeling a bit murderous.

We need tips to get him through the summer where the babies will have flown the nest and we can engage professionals to do something to hopefully prevent them from coming back.

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!)

They sound like they are playing boulder football! It was year round when I had a flat roof, not just this time of year. They like to stomp.

Only option is to swap rooms with someone on the lower floor, preferably someone who is a heavier sleeper.

I have seen something like this...(wait for it!)

...but sometimes a gull can get caught up.in it.

if you think the dbs are over and above and a health issue again you should contact your council Environmental Health

Although I’m sure you’re aware they don’t take account of non man made noise so won’t do anything anyway but worth a chat perhaps

Ugly. I’d pitch that

Thanks for that. And no, the council will not take any notice.

Feel like I might go insane with the noise. It's 24/7. They don't let up!@

I knew the majority of MN would hate them. I live by the sea, that's part of living here. We invaded their territory. Thankfully I live somewhere where people help the chicks if they fall out their nests and if any of them get injured.

Such a MN response. Thankfully there will be no culls.

I’d be buying a BB gun if it were me. We went to Staithes one year on holiday and those creatures are an absolute menace. I spent the week fantasising about how I’d cull the lot: a huge raft just off the shore covered in bacon and plastic explosive would be my chosen method

Aren’t the young ones leaving the nest soon?
You could download the Merlin app (birdsong identifier) and play some buzzard or eagle calls which I’m sure would get a reaction. But no point now the young are there but could use it next year to deter them nesting.
But I go to bed about 9.45, asleep by 10.30 and wake at 4-5 am - up at 6 -time to browse social media before starting my day. Surely DH could do similar.

we had a similar issues with swallows who nested right outside my bedroom window . We had to put up with it for thr first cluthch but when they came back the following year to build in thr same spot we washed off their nest each day. Honestly it took about a month of this before they fecked off. They come back every year and try and start a nest which we also wash away each time but it doesn't seem to take as long for the penny to drop with them.
my sympathies. Guls are practically rodents in my eyes.

I have always loved by the sea and it’s just background noise to me. I love them.

Good for you!

They are noisy. They nest opposite my house too and match on the roof. However I do think they are entitled to live somewhere tho I don't go as far as feeding them directly they do share food out for other birds sometimes .

I work at a secondary school and we occasionally get a trapped gull inside. Last time it happened, it was stuck at a high up window. Don’t worry, our caretakers managed to get it out! But the whole time it was trapped inside, its mate was anxiously watching it from the other side of the window.
I know they’re not the most popular birds, but I found this adorable 😳

He needs to persevere with the ear plugs. He will
get used to them.

Wow - I've just got back from a day out with the kids and want expecting as many replies! I'm sharing the thread with DH and I/we will respond to individual messages as needed a bit later.

Do you live right by them? Are you woken up all night from them? They don't go to sleep. How would you feel if they were making an horrendous noise all during night

It's fixking horrendous btw. I have to work in the morning

I live about half a mile from the coast. An old medieval ship building port with a lot of seagulls.

So yes we get them all the time
Plus farmers machinery through the night at harvest and sewing time
Plus sheep bleeding and foxes

As we’re a listed 14c timber building we also only have single glazing and many of the lead windows don’t even fit the openings properly so there are large gaps.

We have oriel windows with nothing between the overhang and us other than floorboards ( we can see the grass outside through them)

So yes we have a lot of 24 hour noise that we are just used to.

Not a brave bugger, a bastard. Interference with nesting birds is illegal and a generally shitty to do. We’ve created this issue by the way we live, the least we can do is not interfere with their breeding cycle and kill their babies. I hope karma gets him, and tell you to report him but you’re clearly just as bad, only not as “brave”.

Swallows,I can’t believe you did this to swallows.

I despair at humanity.

Did you not feel embarrassed typing that out, you should be. Utterly bizarre and gross.

Not even one tiny bit no

Stayed in a holiday cottage, we arrived in the dark, in the morning I thought there was another flat upstairs with toddlers running about. Bastard seagulls wearing hobnailed boots.

I live by the sea and as a fellow light sleeper, I can confirm they do make a blooming racket at an ungodly hour. Ours start at first light, around 3.30/4am this time of year. The good news is that they are noisiest at this time of year, as they have chicks. I barely notice them during the winter. The bad news is that they return to the same spot every year, so buckle up, this is your life now!