Eggstraordinary
GULLS’ LAYING PLOY FOXES CONTROLLERS
CRAFTY seagulls have learned to delay laying eggs to outsmart pest controllers.
They used to lay all three each season at the same time.
But after seeing pest experts remove their nests from roofs, they have changed their habits.
The brainbox birds’ tactics have got pest controllers in Elgin, Moray, flummoxed.
Rob Teasdale of Specialist Vermin Control said: “They’ve grown to know that people take their nests and eggs away.
“So now they lay two eggs, wait 10 days and then lay their third. They can only lay three a season so they’re keeping one back just in case.
“Gulls are horrendously smart. You have no idea how cunning they can be.’’
Seagulls are protected so their nests can only be cleared before eggs hatch.
So far this year experts have removed 400 from rooftops, but fending off gull attacks while up climbing up ladders is only part of the problem.
The experts must adapt to the birds’ natural guile too.
Moray Council’s gull fightback in Elgin is the only free scheme of its kind for householders in Scotland.
After a 2019 trial it was expanded this year when gull complaints soared.
But the clever birds are adapting their habits in a bid to throw experts off the scent.
Just the sight of Rob’s van sends them flying.
He added: “They recognise me. We’ve gone to clients in the past to clean nests and all we need to do is drive in and all hell breaks loose.’’
Moray Macleod, the council’s acting head of housing and property, said it could take “four or five years” for the benefits of the strategy to materialise.