26 August 2010
Gulls – and in particular the Herring Gull (Sunday name: Larus argentatus) – they’re causing mess, mayhem and terror throughout the land, both along the coast and inland. They’re causing physical and mental distress to the human population. Shoo them, shoot them! Cull them, kill them! They’re threatening the viability of sustainable communities all over Scotland. They’re prolific and proliferating. Something has got to be done about it. Or so you might think from news stories and radio phone-ins.
So let’s look coolly, calmly and rationally at this. Are you a laraphobe (a gull hater) or a laraphile (a gull lover), and if you’re the former can I persuade you to become the latter? (And if you’re a seagull – Keeyow, kyow-kyow-kyow, ga-ga-ga – you know what I mean.)
The Herring Gull
It’s a surprisingly big, white-breasted, pink-legged, black wing-tipped, yellow-beaked bird. Most of us can recognise it. It’s among the most commonly encountered birds in Scottish towns and cities. But despite what you might think from all the critical attention they attract their numbers have fallen dramatically. For Britain there’s been a 43% decline in the last ten years, and over 25 years the fall has been at least 70%. (There is no reason to suppose that numbers in Scotland have not been falling.) Last year the herring gull was added to the RSPB’s “red list” of at-risk species.
Why are numbers falling?
Various Scottish seabird species have seen falls in their populations and lack of breeding success in recent years. The reasons are not fully understood but climate change is playing a significant role – the warming of the seas is causing reductions in the small fish that seabirds eat, increased storm activity may be affecting birds (like puffins) in some of the areas they overwinter in. However, for herring gulls, there are other significant problems – eg reduction in fishing activity; health and hygiene regulations causing less fish waste available at processing plants, the closure and filling-in of open landfill sites, the loss of nesting sites as old buildings are demolished and new buildings come with seagull defences (Aberdeen is a good example). And so gulls, deprived of their traditional nesting sites and food supplies, build nests where they can – sometimes to our inconvenience – and increasingly have become established away from the coast.
Is there really a problem?
Undoubtedly gulls can be noisy and messy. And they do sometimes attack people but not on a regular basis. Head-pecking occurs when they are tending their chicks. Like other birds and animals they are protective of their offspring and when they perceive a threat they will react. But they will rarely inflict any more than a minor cut, and usually they can be warded off if they seem a bit aggressive. (They’re a lot less dangerous than cows which are responsible for human deaths most years, and merely pussy cats compared to dogs which send thousands to hospitals every year!) The menace of seagulls is surely exaggerated. We can take measures to stop them nesting where it is particularly problematic. They can in certain circumstances be moved on or killed. But note that gulls are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and you must not take any action before you find out what is allowed and how you may go about it. Read RSPB Gulls and the Law. 
So let us learn to love our gulls and live alongside them. They are splendid birds. They do a grand job in scavenging the food waste we throw down on our streets. They may scatter about material they find in bins and they may peck through plastic bags of rubbish and strew the contents on the pavements –but it’s largely our fault for disposing of our waste so carelessly and thoughtlessly. The herring gull is trying hard to adapt to the loss of traditional nesting sites and food sources, and is doing not too badly considering the changes it’s had to adapt to. But it needs our help, appreciation and a little bit of forbearance. That is surely not too much to ask.
What do the seagulls think? Nothing at all! Gulls, like other birds, do not consciously do anything. They may appear to be “intelligent” in many respects, but there is nothing going on in their heads – there is no awareness. Everything they do is instinctive – the product of eons of evolutionary adaptation. And that only makes them, as other animals, all the more remarkable and truly wonderful.
More about gulls.
Montrose – Where Seagulls Dare
The seaside town of Montrose is under seagull siege. Many people have left. House prices have slumped. Angus Coonsel (that is the local authority, not the man called Angus Coonsel) has implemented (after many meetings and consultants’ reports) a strategy (single-pronged) to deal with the menace. Signs have been put up all over the town and on its approaches, warning people not to feed the gulls as they may become aggressive. Not everyone is impressed. According to long-time resident Angus Coonsel, 54, “What an idiotic idea this is. If I was desperate for a chip or a corner of someone’s sandwich I would become aggressive if I wasn’t given one or the other. Why should gulls be different? Let us extend the hand (holding chip or sandwich corner) of welcome and friendship to our feathered fiends, sorry, friends.”
Gull Trivia Part One - Some Famous Gulls.
Big Chief Sitting Gull, Sir Florence Nightingull, Gulliath, Pussy Gullore, Gullfinger, William Topaz McGonagull, Gullbert and Sullivan, Miss Gull de Lox, Gullileo, Hannah Montana.
Gull Trivia Part Two – Places in Scotland named after Gulls.
Gullapool, East Gullbride, Gullmarnock, Gulliecrankie, Gullspie, Gulloway, Isle of Gull, Glen Seagulls.
Gull Trivia Part Three – Building in Scotland named after Gulls.
The National Gullery of Scotland.
Gull Trivia Part Four – Shopping Centre in Scotland named after Gulls.
Buchanan Gulleries Centre, Glasgow.
(that’s enough gull trivia)
If you wish to contribute any other things gulls have given their names to, or indeed wish to comment on anything in this piece, please post below.
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