Is it food or nest sites that attracts 'seagulls' to cities?
A
It’s probably a bit of both. Gulls – especially herring and lesser black-backed – have been colonising our towns and cities since the 1940s. For some they are welcome visitors; to many, however, they are troublesome pests. The shift from burning to depositing waste in land-fill has provided the birds with new scavenging opportunities, while rooftop nests are often less vulnerable to foxes and other predators. Either way the result is mess, noise and even aggression towards people and pets. A recent study showed most gull-human conflict occurs around foraging rather than nesting activity, which suggests that restricting food sources is a better way of reducing conflict than disrupting nesting.