Author Ed Taylor has always been fascinated by Gulls making the headlines. Please find below some links to some recent news stories. If you have some of your own you would like to share, please contact us.
14 February 2019
People are again being told not to feed the birds after soaring seagull numbers triggered a 100pc rise in complaints across Great Yarmouth. The amount of free food in the Market Place is flagged as the main reason for their swooping activity with new solar bins touted as a possible solution.
Last year in response to a wave of seagull related violence hawk-walks were introduced to deter the birds, accused of muggings and pictured in posters wearing bandit-style eye-masks.
Discounted methods of controlling them include culling, fines for people who feed them, and the “oiling” or removal of eggs – with the council favouring a more gentle educational approach.
16 September 2019
The media tells us that Public Enemy Number 1 is a vicious, white-plumaged menace known as The Seagull. With a hooked bill, beady eyes and a raucous call that rings across the land at any hour of the day or night, it seeks to tear our flesh, steal our food, and perhaps kill and eat our children and pets.
“Seagull terror: lock up your babies”, “Giant gulls ate my dog” and “Seagull flew off with cat” are among the many sensational headlines of recent years.
But are gulls really as bad as the tabloids would have it, and are things becoming worse? Are these birds becoming more predatory, aggressive and dangerous? Let’s look at the evidence.
Devon’s seagull cull: The day GUNSHOTS sounded across the bay14 February 2019
Shady goings-on in Starcross and ringing gunshots in Torbay: Seagulls faced a cull in the 1970s
The gull: A protected species of marine bird to some, an aggressive and unhygienic menace to others.
It’s no surprise that seagulls have become a topic of national discussion this week, with a series of incidents originating with the alleged kidnap of a small dog in Paignton.
So it is timely that a pensioner from Torbay has brought back to light the tale of an organised culling in 1975 that saw gunfire, and a subsequent flurry of strong opinion, heard across Torquay.