This is my issue. My neighbour has either a new partner or he is a lodger but he has been feeding the seagulls for a while now - months. I have lived in my house for 21+ years and my neighbour and I have spent almost all of that time trying to keep the seagulls from nesting on our adjoining chimneys. They have actually fallen down her chimney and laid dead after getting stuck in there.
I've seen a number of different kinds of foods being thrown onto their lawn and I've also had seagulls swoop down and dive bomb us whilst sitting in our garden!
Feeding seagulls this way has encouraged many a sly fox to visit my garden and I was sure that one day....a seagull would meet it's fate!Sure enough....only yesterday evening, whilst eating dinner....there was a commotion outside - squawking seagulls swooping on slices of dry bread. I ran out and slammed a metal dustbin lid on the ground which dispersed the pesty birds.
On retiring to bed last night...the trump sounded...
...mummy fox called her little ones to feast on her catch!!! I will spare you the photos that I took of a dismembered seagull that I found on my lawn this morning. A slice of the same bread was in my water bath!
I saw my neighbour in her garden this morning, so I took the opportunity to ask her, to ask her 'friend' if he would stop feeding the seagulls. She had a plate in her hand and tilted it to slide a fried egg off onto the lawn!!!! I saw red! Her response was "Ohhh...the poor seagull. It must have been the friendly one that sits on the roof"! Grrrrr....she had more compassion for a dead seagull than she has for people. It was her kitten that ate the egg whilst we were standing there talking.
So....I repeat....Pleaaaase ...Do NOT feed the seagulls....it encourages them to come inland which is not their natural habitat and the food attracts rats!!!
So....I repeat....Pleaaaase ...Do NOT feed the seagulls....it encourages them to come inland which is not their natural habitat and the food attracts rats!!!
Rant over! I've cooled down now.
2 comments:
Oh dear. We have very big seagulls here in Troon and luckily people do realise they're better off not feeding them. Once you start they don't wait for the scraps any more they are big and bold enough to just come and take what they want out of yoru hands while you're still eating it! Fish & chips or ice-creams are often not safe at the seaside!
Oh my god, how awful. I live by the sea too, and I can't bear it when people feed the gulls. Thankfully we don't seem to have any 'feeders' near us, but I'm not surprised you saw red. Nobody wants to see that kind of carnage in their garden, and I have to say I would worry about the rats too.
I hope they stop. If not, would environmental health be able to help you?
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