I have walked amongst Scotland's largest seagulls - they are a menace

AS anyone who has ever had the ill fortune to meander down Aberdeen’s Union Street around 3am on a Sunday morning, seagulls can be a bit of a problem.As they feast on discarded kebabs, burgers, baked potatoes or even the odd buttery, the thousands of birds are quite a sight as seem to move as one like a feathered carpet down the famed thoroughfare.They are big too. Very big, probably the biggest in Scotland, and with their size comes with equally large beaks, and that is where the problem lies.Have anything edible about your person at that time of the morning then you really are in trouble.For gulls, like some of us humans, seem to have forgotten all about their traditional diet of healthy fish discarded over the side of a trawler, and now prefer fast food – and more of it the better.And you can see their point in a way. Why would you want a measly fish straight out of the sea, when you can gorge on plump ones wrapped in batter and served with chips. However, it is not a laughing matter really, as there are increasing examples of people getting hurt by the hungry birds up and down the country.Now the problem (again) has been raised at Holyrood with former Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross warning that Scots risk losing their lives over the “growing problem” of “dominating” gulls if action is not taken to stop them. That is quite the claim but at least had evidence to back it up. In the chamber, Mr Ross spoke of gull horror stories including one woman who fell outside her house as a result of a gull attack, broke her leg, went to hospital and then, upon her return, was attacked again. The debate was led by Mr Ross after he submitted a motion stating that the parliament should note concern around the reported changes to the approach taken for granting licences to control gulls in recent years by NatureScot.He argued that this has led to fewer licences being approved.A total of 2,041 licences were granted in 2023, however this figure fell to 505 in 2024.He told the chamber there is a “clear conflict” in the Scottish Government body Nature Scot between conserving and preserving bird numbers and controlling the applications to regulate bird numbers. Mr Ross also criticised NatureScot and the Scottish Government for being on the side of seagulls and not humans during a sometimes heated debate at Holyrood.The Former Scottish Conservative leader said: “Currently they are clearly conflicted between conserving and preserving bird numbers and also being the agency that looks at and deliberates on applications to control birds.“It is not possible any more for Nature Scot to do those dual roles”.Mr Ross pointed that Nature Scot keep a record of bird deaths or injury but not take any record of people injured. He said communities and businesses in his own constituency of Moray, Nairn and Inverness have had significant problems with gulls in recent years, but that many communities across Scotland also experience similar problems.He also said the gulls are causing “mental health issues” as their constant screeching torments the general public. “They are a menace,” he emphasised to parliament. Mr Ross said he is not ignoring that people are encouraging gulls by feeding them and he accepted that was “part of the problem”. Gulls “dominating areas” are also seeing a reduction of other smaller birds, he argued.Mr Ross called on more “robust action” from the Scottish Government and NatureScot to protect humans and businesses from “the menace of dangerous gulls”.It is hard to argue with Mr Ross on this one as we can all probably recall being menaced by seagulls at one point or another in recent times.His point about smaller birds being driven from some areas is also true, as I can vouch from my own garden, which can suddenly become full of gulls, particularly when people put bread out.Of course, this is always well intentioned as it put out for smaller birds who cannot get a look in as everything is hoovered up by the aggressive gulls.I live a good 30-odd miles from the coast too, proving that the problem with gulls is not confined to seaside communities.Residents and businesses in the former fishing port of Nairn on the Moray Firth believe gulls have become a serious problem.A survey by Nairn Business Improvement District (Bid) last year received 85 reports of gull attacks.Manager Lucy Harding told the BBC: “That was quite worrying. It is an issue I regularly get reports on, of people being attacked for food particularly.”Gulls, like other birds, are protected by law and Scotland’s nature body, NatureScot, has strict rules around how they are controlled.A licence is needed for the removal of nests and eggs from the roofs of buildings in areas where gulls are deemed to be a nuisance.But Ms Harding said it was now harder to obtain the necessary paperwork.Nairn Bid has put in place other measures to discourage gulls from nesting in the town, including reflective devices designed to scare birds away from rooftops.Gulls are a coastal species, but they have been drawn into towns and cities due to the plentiful places to build nests, a lack of predators - and lots of opportunities to find food.In their natural habitats - the coast and farmland - the birds eat carrion, seeds, fruits, young birds, eggs, small mammals, insects and fish.NatureScot issued 2,633 nest removal licences across Scotland in 2023, and 1,601 in 2024. It said it understood gulls could sometimes cause problems in towns and cities, but at the same time populations of the birds were facing “serious declines”.NatureScot said it would continue to issue licenses where gulls were causing a health and safety issue.RSPB Scotland say that people and gulls could coexist if the right action was takenNumbers of herring gulls, a species people are most likely to encounter in urban areas, have fallen by 48% in Scotland since the 1980s, according to RSPB Scotland.Clearly the answer then is not just mass culling of gulls, but it is fair to say that more robust action needs to be taken before somebody does get seriously hurt. But the answer ultimately lies with all of us and the amount of food that we just casually throw away, which then attracts gulls.We all need to look at our own behaviour and stop blaming the gulls, however menacing they are, for everything. Ultimately, we are the problem and therefore we are the solution too.