Eat with your back to the wall: smart ways to keep seagulls at bay
The attack came silently. A flash of white, a blur of feathers and the ice cream was gone. My four-year-old son was left staring at the stub of a cone in his hand.
The herring gull, dwarfing my little boy with its four-foot wing span, soared away over the Dorset beach, its prize grasped between its claws. My son was too shocked to even cry.
This will be familiar to anyone who has spent any time in a British seaside town. Wherever there are fish and chip shops, pasty stalls or ice cream kiosks, flocks of seagulls gather like pickpockets looking for an easy mark. Even in many inland areas, they are considered a nuisance.
With sunseekers flocking to the beach this weekend as temperatures are expected to top 34C, gulls are likely to get a windfall.
Neeltje Boogert, associate professor in animal behaviour at the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus outside Falmouth, Cornwall, is gloomy about seagull-human relations. 'I think it is getting worse, but the reason for that is we have more and more people carrying food around like a walking buffet,' she said. 'Gulls are a polarising species — some people hate them with a vengeance. But it is a bit perverse to blame the wildlife for being in our space when we took away their space first.'
Seagulls are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, so culling or harming the birds is illegal. This is for good reason. Numbers of herring gulls, the most common gull species, have dropped by 72 per cent since 1969 across the British Isles, a significant enough fall to put them on the 'red list' of threatened species. Of those which remain, three quarters are thought to now live in urban areas, attracted by stable rooftop nesting sites and abundant sources of food.
Many towns and cities have scrambled for ways to contain the issue. Aberdeen has tried bringing in a hawk to scare off its resident seagull colony. Other authorities have tried ultrasound deterrents or lasers. Councillors in Worcester even proposed lacing food with oral contraceptives to bring down numbers.
But Boogert said it is important first to seek to understand gull behaviour. In Britain four gull species commonly nest in urban areas: herring gulls, kittiwakes and lesser and great black-backed gulls. Of these, only herring gulls will steal food from humans.
Even then, the vast majority of herring gulls prefer to seek natural sources of food rather than chips or pasties. 'They are like football hooligans,' Boogert said. 'Just a few of them are giving the rest a bad name.'
• Town besieged as 'hooligan' kittiwakes return in force
Boogert and her colleagues have spent years studying gulls in Falmouth. 'We have found 90 per cent of parents feed their chicks with worms and beetles. It is not human food that they are giving to the them.'
In one study, the scientists tried to tempt herring gulls with food to see how they reacted. 'Only about one in four gulls would come down at all. Most are very hesitant about coming anywhere near people.'
Boogert believes the few aggressive gulls, such as the one that stole my son's ice cream, are displaying learnt behaviour. Stealing tourists' picnics is not innate or instinctive — it is something that has been taught to them by their parents. 'When we have observed juveniles, we have seen they are really bad at stealing food,' she said. 'Adults are successful about half the time.'
But they have learnt how to up the odds. 'If there's a superabundance of food — a big picnic on the beach, for example — they will call other gulls. They will recruit them to exploit the food source and give them safety in numbers.'
She said it is easy to resent this behaviour, but added: 'They're just doing what we would do. They like an easy meal in the same way we do. It is why fast-food chains are so popular. For them, it is much easier to steal food from people than it is to go find some fish in the sea.'
When looking for food, gulls will avoid conflict, she said. It is why the gull targeted my youngest son, rather than his older brother or me or my wife. It is why it got the ice cream without leaving a scratch on my boy, a precision attack with zero collateral damage. 'When they are looking for food, they're not out to get us.'
But she added: 'It's quite a different story when they are protecting their chicks.' This is part of the reason gulls have such a reputation for aggression. As the RSPB puts it: 'Gulls are excellent parents and invest a lot of time into caring for their chicks. Dive-bombing is an instinctive behaviour to defend their offspring when they feel threatened.'
During the nesting season in May and June, and when the chicks begin to fly the nest from June until August, protective gulls will attack any human, dog or other animal which comes near their offspring whether they are still in their nest or on their first tentative flights.
'When they perceive you as a potential killer of their babies, they will definitely swoop in,' said Boogert. 'When we are studying the colony we wear helmets, because they will go for your head.' Gulls will attack with claws or beaks, or even target would-be assailants with their droppings.
If on the beach — and the chicks are nowhere in sight — there are some proven strategies to avoid having your ice cream stolen. First, make eye contact. 'If you look at the gull, it knows it has been caught red-handed in its intention — it will stay away,' Boogert said.
Second, eat with your back to a wall. 'They will attack when they have a clear approach route and an exit route. The same goes for eating under a parasol or an umbrella or a roof. If they can't see their escape they will not attack.'
Some coastal primary schools in Cornwall have put up lines of bunting in order to deter gulls. 'It blocks the access flight and exit flight.'
Finally, carefully consider your beach snacks. 'Gulls want calorie-dense foods,' Boogert said. 'If you are eating a carrot, you will probably be OK.'
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