Menace or misunderstood? The battle over Scotland's seagulls, as tales of 'brazen' attacks grow

Pressures on their natural environment are driving gulls into urban areas, causing increasing friction.

They have been condemned as a menace and a threat to human life, with disturbing tales of residents under siege and children left with blood running down their faces.

Seagulls, it would seem, have a lot to answer for. And now some MSPs are determined to take action.

Jim Fairlie, the SNP minister for agriculture and connectivity, has announced a "summit" on gulls will be held later this year in Inverness, and last week former Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross held a debate on gull control in Holyrood.

Are seagulls causing a growing nuisance in Scotland's towns and cities? | Getty Images

Among the cases he raised was the “terrible story” of a woman in Elgin who “fell outside her house as a result of a gull attack, broke her leg, went to hospital, came out of hospital and was attacked again”.

Elsewhere, an elderly woman in nearby Miltonduff had to spend £2,000 a year removing nests from her property as a result of dive-bombing gulls, he said. Mr Ross called for action “before we see someone killed”.

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Speaking to The Scotsman, the Highlands and Islands MSP said gulls were becoming more “brazen”, adding: “They seem to be just growing in numbers in the urban areas and the attacks seem to be getting more vicious.”

His party colleague Craig Hoy said seven children were attacked over a single month outside one local business in Eyemouth and left with “gashes to the scalp and blood running down their faces”.

Aberdeen is often touted as Scotland's seagull hotspot, with reports of "XL Gullies" terrorising residents. Tory councillor Michael Kusznir has called for the legal protections that apply to gulls to be loosened or removed.

He described the Granite City’s gulls as "big vicious creatures", adding: "We're in a situation where they have got far too many protections and we should be looking at making it easier to curb their numbers."

But others argue seagulls - a colloquial name for several different species of gull - are misunderstood and misrepresented, while populations are actually in serious decline.

"I think words like 'menace' or 'nuisance' are really unhelpful and sort of inaccurate, because what that type of language does is it creates and reinforces this perception that the gulls are somehow acting maliciously, that they are out to get us, which is not true at all,” Kirsty Jenkins, director of policy at animal welfare charity OneKind, told The Scotsman.

"The reason that gulls have ended up moving to our towns is that their natural nesting sites and food sources are becoming more scarce, and that's primarily due to human activities. They're intelligent, they're quite resourceful, so they've learned to adapt to living in towns instead. And what they find there are safe nesting sites and an abundant source of food.”

Paul Walton, head of habitats and species at RSPB Scotland, said non-lethal measures to deal with gulls could “genuinely work”.

He said: “The gull species seen in urban areas are, like nearly all of Scotland’s globally important seabird populations, in steep decline nationally. Pressures on the marine environment like climate change and competition for food with human fisheries are driving the overall declines, and the gulls’ move into urban areas.

“In towns they find roofs as predator-free nest sites and plentiful food on streets, mostly from accessible food waste. Non-lethal measures can genuinely work: by installing, before the breeding season begins in spring, devices like wires on roofs to deter nesting, and by keeping waste food off our streets, we can ease the areas of conflict and learn to live alongside these wild birds.”

Ms Jenkins said the risk posed to some vulnerable people needs to be recognised, but also pointed to non-lethal solutions.

"I'm not trying to make something simple when it's not,” she said. “I think it's complicated. But I think it's the willingness to look into it and start trying to find solutions rather than just resorting to blaming the gulls and saying we just have to kill them all."

NatureScot, which can issue licences to destroy nests and eggs and kill chicks, says it has a duty to balance health and safety concerns with gull conservation. But Mr Ross is strongly critical of the quango.

“NatureScot, in particular, are a joke,” he told The Scotsman. “I mean, the way they have approached this in recent years is ridiculous.

“For example, telling businesses to supply shoppers with umbrellas to protect them from being dive-bombed by these gulls surely is not sensible or credible, but that was genuine advice issued by a Scottish Government quango.”

He said the agency had a “huge” conflict of interest. “They are on the one hand charged by the Government to protect bird numbers and to conserve bird species, and on the other hand they are the arbiter of license applications to control these birds,” he said. “And it is simply not possible for one organisation to do both.”

Mr Ross wants the coming summit in Inverness to be open to the public and chaired by an independent figure. The Scottish Government said logistics were still being finalised.

A NatureScot spokeswoman said it took its responsibilities “very seriously” and carried them out “in line with the relevant legislation and the Scottish Regulators Strategic Code of Practice, ensuring all licensing is lawful and proportionate”.

She said: "We understand gulls can sometimes cause problems in our towns and cities. At the same time, gull populations are facing serious declines. NatureScot has a duty to balance health and safety concerns with gull conservation.

"In the longer term, we need to find ways to live with gulls and other wildlife. This calls for collective action and we welcome the discussions in Parliament, as well as the minister’s commitment to hold a summit bringing together key partners.

“We will continue to work with local authorities to ensure that collaborative gull management plans are put in place for future years, with a focus on effective preventative measures, deterrents, changes to behaviour and guidance."