No one seems to love herring gulls, not least the Prime Minister who felt compelled the other day to declare yet another pointless war with an enemy that we probably had a significant hand in creating. The RSPB argues the contrary that the population has halved and down to 378,000 pairs, which makes our wee colony of a few hundred seem a tad insignificant.
The JNCC, who are the UK repository for nature conservation facts and figures say that “reasons for decline in the herring gull are not fully known” and in one breath blame botulism from refuse tips and in the next the lack of food scavenged from those same tips. Can it be that discards from fisheries have played a role?
What is known is that numbers of gulls have been increasing in towns and that this has something to do with rich pickings courtesy of a burgeoning fast-food sector, lazy disposal of wastes in black bin liners or even lazier lot who leave bins open, along with dazzling street lighting and lack of natural predators. It seems that human control methods are not terribly effective (we haven’t tried eating them, which I reckon might work) as the wily things quickly find workarounds.
All of which draws one to conclude that the Herring Gull is probably a survivor.
In their defence, Stephen Moss writes eloquently:
In defence of seagulls | Stephen Moss
So this year, instead of wasting a precious weekend writing to the Council, and before taking my bucket and broom to the car/deck/windows, I spent a bit of time watching the chicks and their parent’s behaviour. You really couldn’t ask for more protective parents, leaving aside the fast food, which I am sure ain’t good for us let alone the unsuspecting gull chicks.
Despite all the publicity, the causes of gull crime persist, so lets point the finger at humans. Who is going to suggest we cull them?
RoofScapes from Phi Iota on Vimeo.