Seagulls: Has anything ever been done?

As stated they are a protected species and we have only ourselves to blame for this, their normal seafood diet in the sea has been totally overfished so now they have to come ashore to try to find food to survive, they build their nest now in Cities when years ago the would build them on Cliffs and near the sea so we are going to have to live with them they have no choice if they want to live. Doing anything to them that could kill them will find you in Court.

There was a seagull living on the leftovers in the skip at the back of the huntsman for years.
Big as a fcukin ostrich he was.

skinny90 wrote: »

Could introduce a bigger bird of prey? :cool:

Release a lock of buzzards in town and May the strongest survive.
It’s a wonder they don’t have some sort of ultrasonic sound machine that drives them off and is inaudible to humans like the similar ones for rats

I was flying a Drone at the harbour last year , I heard this loud squawking noise next minute a big Seagull chased the Drone all around the place trying to catch it, I decided to give up and land, they really do defend their nests and will go after you if you are close to their nest especially if the young have hatched. Its hard to blame them because when they used to have nests on Cliffs the chicks would be targets for other birds so its only natural for them to defend the young.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

There is occasionally a hawk around, which does attack them.

More hawks would be the most humane way to deal with this I think.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Have you ever seen a hawk attach a gull? I've heard it happening (couldn't see it from my window) - sounded harrowing.

Somebody above mentioned gull-proof rubbish bags: would be interesting to hear more about these. In a city like Galway where many properties don't have any floor-level outdoor space for storing rubbish bins, hygienic, feasible rubbish disposal is quite a challenge.




Someone above mentioned the woman who feeds the birds: she does indeed use porridge oats. But only the pigeons (and rats) eat her offerings. Seagulls don't do porridge. At one time there were three women doing it, but I think we're down to one now.

Saw her this evening with I would say her daughter dropping food at O Neachtains and near the Dail Bar

For some reason, they have a tremendous fear of stamps.

derekshelvin wrote: »

I genuinely didn't mean to upset anyone, I am just a bit frustrated that I am paying taxes to fund a council who gets up every morning to clean our streets and try to keep our nice city as beautiful as it is while someone then spends the day pouring porridge oats around at every corner feeding animals that are causing so much noise and potential diseases.

All I am suggesting are some local measures (e.g. fines for throwing food around or warning signs like other cities have) that might help. I just took a walk through town and the streets are destroyed with those oats and bird dropping all around them, I hadn't realised someone was doing this.

Those who are living near this issue will know what I am talking about.

I know perfectly well what you mean: I am living right in the middle of the city, with gulls nesting in buildings all around: When I want to use the table on my balcony I usually have to clean bird-**** off it first. (If I'm in charge of buying the next table, it will have some kind of umbrella.) I would support a cull - but it's not currently legal.

The bird-feeders and the gulls are two quite separate issues. Gulls don't seem to eat the porridge oats, and AFAIK they don't eat pigeons (which do eat the oats.

The people who systematically feed the pigeons usually have emotional / social issues: fining them likely wouldn't make a whit of difference, they wouldn't pay. They may feel less need to feed birds if society appointed support workers whose job it was to befriend them (the feeders, not the birds!) - or they may not.

Some of the bird-**** problem is also from starlings, who nest in various buildings and seem to make an incredible mess for their body size. I don't know if they're protected or not.

And for all the mess and noise that birds make, when the pubs and clubs are open, humans make a truckload more.

GrumpyMe wrote: »

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/dublin-s-night-workers-in-38-years-i-d-never-seen-an-owl-in-the-city-centre-1.4268886

Sean-Michael Larkin, an inspector on the night shift for Dublin City Council, has never seen the city so empty in more than three decades cleaning the city.... Instead of seeing people, he’s seeing wildlife. “The seagulls are gone because the fast food restaurants are closed . . . and because the seagulls are gone, the foxes have come back in.

Not the case, so far anyway, in Galway city.

Back in mid-March, the gulls (and the street-beggars) became quite a lot more aggressive when their food (money) sources abruptly dried up. I was expecting some, at least, to go away, but they didn't. They must have found some food sources. And now with lots of places open for takeaways again, there is more food left lying around again.

Deleted User wrote: »

No one is suggesting eradication, but if you don't think they are out of control then you are either sitting in the middle of Meath and don't see any,

Or are a fool.

Hi denertha, I live coastal, we've a big population of Herring gulls with a good few Black Headed gulls some Lesser Black Backed gulls the odd Great black backed gull for impressiveness. I'm very familiar with them and I'm no fool! We don't have a big litter problem where I am, but Howth is very close to me and with a lot of tourism, overflowing bins in the summer (not this summer) and fish processing plants there's a percieved problem.

As long as there's rubbish there's going to be Herring gulls in populated areas of Ireland. Get to the source of the problem and you'll sort it out.

What are your suggestions?

Hairy Japanese BASTARDS! wrote: »

Why the fuçk are seagulls protected ?

They're a pest and must be eradicated.

Just as someone claims nobody wants eradication!! It's hard to believe, but the Herring gull is on the red list of birds of conservation concern in the country, however they're common enough in coastal towns with easy pickings for them like discarded chip bags, fish from processing plants, plastic bags of rubbish that can be pecked open.

Paddico wrote: »

They are a delicacy in some Scottish Islands.
Lets shoot and eat them instead.

Should we remove the "nose rings and tattoos" before cooking or before eating?

If we didn't leave our parks in a state and our bins overflowing with sh1te lying around them, seagulls might go back to the sea to find food......but we are too stupid as a species to join the dots.

TheBoyConor wrote: »

That would also drive off all other wildlife and probably be a menace to people's pets.

The solution is to stop fishing.

The solution is to fish within quotas and have proper mesh size for targeted species.
Also to have a government that doesn’t sell off their fishing grounds and allow other nations in to pillage our seas.
Neither of which would happen