AIBU to ask what works to keep nesting seagulls away?

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Got 2 seagulls who are nesting on the roof and are now invading the garden, found on of them in the back door in the kitchen this morning. The dog scares them away but she’s upstairs on her back by the fan cooling her privates and declined to come downstairs.

what works to scare fucking seagulls.

Tiger

Aren't they a protected species?

If they are already nesting then you must not interfere with them. See here for more info. https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/what-to-do-if-gulls-nest-on-your-roof

Not this year but for next year make sure you’ve blocked whatever space they are nesting.

Good luck once the babies are here they will swoop to attack you.

Very little in my experience. They nest on buildings at work.a guy comes round with a hawk now and again which freaks them out and then they just come back. Building opposite has some daft hawk statue. Again does nothing after about 5 minutes.

I don't know if council pest control have any ideas. They're pretty aggressive when rearing chicks.

😂 or you could just open the door they usually fly off .

Hawks (seriously, we have a man brings them to fly around our estate).
there’s also a seagull scarer noise on YouTube which is quite effective played out of the window!

High pressure hose works a treat during their “nest construction” period.

I can't offer advice but had to say thankyou for making me laugh with your description of your dog - my girl also likes to cool her privates and has zero shame.
I hope you sort your issue out - I do like seagulls but yes, they can be pretty nasty little buggers at times,

Coincidentally Dh was also talking about seagulls this morning, they have a nesting pair at his work seriously divebombing people, nesting birds are protected and his company have had to go through procedures before they can get anybody in to deal with it,

You can't do anything. Herring gulls are a protected species and you can be prosecuted if you disturb them or allow your dog to do so.

they are very intelligent birds and excellent parents until they kick out their young (end of July-ish)

until then, stay friendly to them and try to keep the dog from barking at them/chasing them to avoid them dive bombing.

<lives at coast have them nesting on neighbours roof>

Stay friendly? Someone should tell the little bastards that.

<also lives on the coast and have them nesting on neighbours houses. They did try it on mine>

We have a nesting pair on our roof. I’ve just come to accept they’re part of the family now.

Steven (the mum) has been hollering at us all week but strangely since DS shouted back at her she’s given us a rest from divebombing!

Show more kindness to the others you share the planet with, including seagulls.

Literally nothing. I paid a company a bunch of money to install spikes and the gulls just built their nest so big they were able to nest on the top of the spikes, then over the course of the next year they ripped all the spikes off.

They are really smart and it's their house now unfortunately

We also tried the noises, and fake plastic hawks etc to no avail

There's nothing you can do. It's illegal to disturb nesting birds.

You're going to have to leave them alone and put up with them, and when they've finished nesting, install some deterrents for next year.

Their baby will come down off the roof soon and then the parents will be regurgitating gross stuff all over your garden and the babies will poop everywhere

They do leave eventually

They've been nesting on the roof for years. Luckily the babies usually land on our neighbour's roof rather than in our garden. We aren't awful to them and the dog is all handbags at dawn with them rather than actually chasing them.

This year though the parents are right in our faces - as I say actually coming in the back sliding door into the kitchen and that's the door that is open to keep the house cool.

He was also eyeing up my toast as I tried to have breakfast in the back garden.

I'm wondering if fake owls, CDs, shiny spinny things or fake hawks on a kite actually work or am I wasting my money.

They are very bright - but they are scarey buggers when they divebomb you.

If you carry a pole or umbrella above your head they won't hit you
They might shit on you.

In winter get chimney pots meshed to stop them returning

If the baby is in your garden move it, to a low roof. I put into our gated back lane. Every bloody year

There's literally nothing you can do to stop them now they are here and nesting. They are yours for the summer now - sorry.

They are far too clever for any of that crap.

They've learnt all of that behaviour from people feeding them over the years and leaving their food out for them to easily grab. It's all whole reason they're further inland now rather than nesting in cliffs and fishing like they should be. We've made it easy for them.

Your one and only option is to stop them coming back next year by gull proofing your roof. Do this in late Autumn and before Christmas because once days start getting lighter, birds are already scoping out nesting areas ready for spring.

You need spikes, but big ones, not the little ones meant to deter pigeons, the big ones. They might not work if other nesting areas are scarce, but if there are other places to next, they hopefully won't bother. The other option depending on your roof is post and wire. None of this is cheap, I'm afraid.

I know they can be noisy and it's scary when they divebomb, but they are only protecting their young in a hostile world that we made it possible for them to enter.

@goodoldsussexbythesea thank you. I'm not sure spikes will work - they have found a comfy spot between tall chimney pots so the spikes would have to be about 4 foot tall. I know a guy with a hoist - I might check with him - he's pretty straight talking.

And I'm not really wanting to walk around the garden with an umbrella but accept that may be the only way to go.

A lady a few doors down used to feed them in the morning - I was glad when she moved but now wonder if she was doing us a favour!

I'm also feeling sorry for the little birds - we've got fledgling house sparrows and were leaving out mealyworms but the gulls are now taking them so we've stopped.

Honestly the spikes we got put in were massive and installed properly and not the wee ones and they just did not work. The gulls do not care. We had a team come up with a cherry picker etc and they were legit and recommended. You could give it a go for next year but it's expensive.

I think all the shiny things and fake hawks etc are good because they make you feel like you are doing something at least. Even the live hawks don't always work - I know people in facilities management where there is budget for this and intervention success rate is very mixed