Doing This 1 Simple Thing Can Stop Seagulls Pinching Your Food At The Beach

Once when we were on a family holiday in Wales, my nan was about to tuck into her perfectly golden fish and chips that she had bought from a local takeaway. I don’t remember much from that day but I do remember her food.I remember it because from that day until the day she died, my nan spoke about the ‘bastard seagull’ than had eyed her delicious-looking tea and decided they wanted in on the action.To be fair, I don’t blame the winged fella. It looked amazing and smelled nearly as good.That being said, it turns out that if my nan had just behaved a little differently, she could have spent the following 20 years talking about how delicious that fish supper was.Not to victim blame oor Annie.How to stop seagulls stealing your foodBack in 2019, the University of Exeter published research that gave a key insight to deterring seagulls from nabbing food and it all comes down to eye contact.The researchers put down a bag of chips and timed how long it took for herring gulls to approach the food, knowing that they were being watched. Then, they compared this to how long it took when people were looking away.The gulls took 21 seconds longer on average when they were being looked at.Of the 27 that approached the chips, 19 completed both the “looking at” and “looking away” tests.In a statement, senior author Dr Neeltje Boogert said: “Gulls learn really quickly, so if they manage to get food from humans once, they might look for more.“Our study took place in coastal towns in Cornwall, and especially now, during the summer holidays and beach barbecues, we are seeing more gulls looking for an easy meal. We therefore advise people to look around themselves and watch out for gulls approaching, as they often appear to take food from behind, catching people by surprise.“It seems that just watching the gulls will reduce the chance of them snatching your food.”The researchers say their study shows that any attempt to manage this issue by treating all gulls as being alike could be futile, as most gulls are wary of approaching people. Instead, people might be able to reduce food-snatching by the few bold individuals by modifying their own behaviour.Keep your eyes peeled!Related...UK Gardeners Warned: Don’t Leave These Items On Your Lawn In A HeatwaveThis Is One Of The Worst Things You Can Do To Gardens In A HeatwaveThese Common Medications Could Make The Heatwave Harder On You

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