Seagulls are as much a part of the seaside as buckets and spades and fish and chips. Not everyone likes them though – they’re the marmite of sea birds! Find out more about them, plus how to stop them from nesting on your roof.
Seagulls in Towns and Cities
Seagulls live in towns and cities alongside us, as well as here at the coast. In the absence of their natural cliff-front habitat, they nest on chimney pots and rooftops.
They live cheek by jowl with us humans. Intelligent birds, they’ve become adept at taking advantage of our rubbish, scraps and often slovenly ways. A lot of people love them, some people really dislike them, others are indifferent. However, birds can become territorial in defence of their young when they are nesting. Especially when the young birds fledge and leave the nest.
How to Stop Seagulls Nesting on Your Roof
Herring Gulls have full protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. It’s therefore an offence to remove nests once they’re started and it is certainly illegal to remove chicks.
If you had gulls nesting on your chimney last year then it’s almost certain they will be back again this year. Seagulls pair for life, and they can live for many years. Once they pick a nesting site they’ll return again, and use it for many years to come. Gulls start to build their nests around the beginning of April, depending on the weather. They’ll be with you for some weeks until the chicks have fledged.
How to stop them nesting on your roof
If you don’t want seagulls nesting on your chimney you need to take precautions outside the nesting season. Seagull-proof your roof in winter, outside the breeding season, if you don’t want them at your house.
You’ve got roughly until the end of March to get your chimney and roof protected against seagulls nesting there for the summer. They can cause excessive noise, mess, and damage to homes. Residents often find their swooping and diving threatening, and they can launch vicious swooping attacks in defence of their chicks. Particularly if they think that you are a threat to them (so being mean will only make matters worse!)
Various types of proofing solutions are available from a number of outlets. You can get plastic spikes to glue onto ledges and chimney stacks. Or chicken wire cages etc. They’re designed to stop or discourage gulls from nesting on roofs and chimneys. You can contact private pest control contractors and roofers who are able to supply and fit these devices.
REMEMBER: it is illegal to remove or disturb seagulls without a specialist licence and permission to do so.
What To Do with Baby Seagulls
When the baby seagulls leave their nests they have to learn to fly and be a seagull! The first weeks when they fledge are a nightmare for coastal residents (particularly if you like wildlife). Flying is a struggle, especially for a reasonably large baby bird. They have no road sense, so wander into the highway. With no sense of danger they’re sitting ducks for all kinds of things. In fact they have no sense at all! This is a very young bird in the next photo. It’s tail feathers are very short, and there are bits of baby-bird down still showing. It’s feet and it’s beak don’t look like an older juvenile birds either.
Each Spring sees numerous baby seagulls being injured or killed. If you find an injured bird you should take it to a nearby vet. If it has a broken wing (or worse) they will humanely put it to sleep. They don’t generally charge to do this. This poor baby landed in our garden here at Visit Fylde Coast. With a broken wing we took it to the vet who later put it to sleep.
How to catch a seagull to take it to the vets
First of all find a cardboard box which is a bit bigger than the bird. Put some holes in the side (or use a cat/dog carrier). Then find an old towel.
Put the towel over the top of the bird making sure to get it over its wings. Tuck the towel under the bird and hold it firmly to stop it from flapping and wriggling. Keep your fingers away from its beak because it will try to bite you. Put the bird in the box and tuck the top in flap-wise, so that the bird can breathe. Once it’s contained and in a dark place it will settle down.
Seagulls in Trouble
People are getting a better understanding of the dangers that rubbish and plastics can do to wildlife. Fishing litter is a big problem, not just to seagulls but all wildlife, and dogs. If you find a seagull which has become entangled in fishing line and/or hooks, you should take it to the nearest vet.
If you do find an injured or lost baby seagull please don’t ring us here at Visit Fylde Coast – we don’t have the facility to attend to them!
Adopting a baby seagull
If you find yourself supervising a baby seagull which isn’t badly injured but has become separated from its parents, you could try looking after it yourself. When an older bird (that still can’t fly) falls out of the nest it should stick its wings out and flutter to the floor (ie not die in the process). You could provide it with a bit of shelter and a bowl of water and see if the parents come to feed it.
If the parents abandon it, then tinned dog or cat food is your best bet for food. Depending on the age of the bird you might also need to give it a helping hand. Use a teaspoon or a pair or tweezers to feed it, until it gets the idea. Bear in mind that your new offspring will need to be fed multiple times a day, every day for weeks, and given fresh water. You will almost certainly end up with a pet for life too, and they live for 20+ years!
All around the coast there are people with their own ‘pet’ wild seagulls. They live a completely normal life, flying about, nesting and doing what seagulls do. They stare through the windows of their adopted families until someone comes outside to feed them. When they have their own babies and need more food, they bang on your windows and doors to call for room service!
A pair of ‘pet’ seagulls is a handy thing to have. They’re intelligent, funny, and good company if you like that kind of thing. Plus, they are territorial and will keep the other seagulls away from your property. You won’t end up feeding any more birds than your very own pair. We’ve got first-hand experience! Our pet seagull, Homer, has been with us for easily 15 years!
Declining Seagull Numbers
Despite the fact that some people find gulls unpleasant birds to live alongside, the number of gulls is in decline all over the country. We should be helping these creatures to survive.
The UK population has fallen from 750,000 pairs in 1993 to about 378,000 pairs now. We have six common species, of which one is the Herring Gull – spot them by their pink legs. Although they are primarily water birds, none of them are in fact ‘seagulls’. They are all found just as much inland as they are on the sea. Yes, they are noisy and brash and in large numbers can be overbearing. Especially for people who don’t like birds. However, they have a strong survival instinct, and that’s what they are doing.
We have destroyed their cliffs and beaches where they used to nest, so opportunistically they use our roofs. The seas are overfished so they scavenge on landfill. Some of us have undesirable habits and leave out rubbish, food waste and plastic bags, so these intelligent birds search out their food in our waste.
The sound of cawing gulls is as much a part of the British seaside as the smell of fish and chips. No one would dream of getting rid of chippies!
- Interested in the birds around you? Take part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch
More about Seagulls
The resident population of gulls is joined each spring by flocks which migrate back to northern cliffs and beaches to breed. Of course here on the Fylde Coast we don’t have cliffs and the beaches are well used, so we’re not that aware that the population has swelled.
Of the six species, the Herring Gull gets the worst of the bad press. The Black Headed Gull is slightly smaller and wears his cap in summer, reverting to a white head in winter. The Herring Gull and Common Gull have pink legs. The bigger Lesser Black Backed Gull has yellow legs.
Did you know…?
Young herring gulls are just about the only birds in the world that can ‘fire’ their parents when they are chicks? Some youngsters decide that their parents aren’t offering them enough food and move to the nest next door. They start begging for food and hope for a forced adoption.
Have you seen them doing their stamping dance? They’ve very funny when they do this. It’s to bring worms to the surface. Here’s one in action –
Several species are known to form female-female pairs in colonies of normal pairs. Even more bizarrely, they set up home and attempt to raise a family using sperm donated by a neighbouring male (by copulation) and some of these pairings actually work.
Seagulls live sociably in colonies and it’s been shown that sleep passes over a flock in waves. Each bird monitors the vigilance of its neighbours. They nest close to each other, often in colonies, and feed and roost together too. This colony living requires good communication skills and ease with each other.
A Helping Hand
Regular reader Maria contacted us with a heart-warming story of her kindness to animals, Maria told us: “Our Herring Gulls have been getting a bit of a bad press but I see the majestic side of a beautiful bird.
“One summer I watched a juvenile suffer for three days with no water in scorching heat. On the third day I could stand it no longer and took it some water. The poor thing gulped the lot, watched closely by the parents. I returned with more water and a small amount of cat food which it greedily ate. The parents watched from a safe distance seeming to understand what I was doing. They did not try and take the food or water off the juvenile or intervene in any way.
“I went home and phoned the RSPB telling them what I had done. I told them I knew it was wrong to water and feed a gull but I was not going to watch any animal suffer. Far from getting reprimanded for my actions I was thanked. No animal or bird should suffer.
“Yes I have watched these gulls cheekily steal food from outdoor cafes but I have also seen people attack them. These people then wonder why the adult gulls dive bomb at their heads.
“I hope my photographs show a different side to something wonderful and majestic. At night as the sun is setting they seem to follow the sun as if trying to catch the last rays. They noisily call to each other flying westwards and often float in the water in the glorious golden skies. I know these gulls don’t have the beautiful songs of a smaller bird. But as my small grandson says, they sound like they are laughing, and I have to agree.”
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