Flying gull struck pensioner on head

Christine Kerr, 73, was left with a nasty gash on the right-hand side of her head that needed to be checked by medics at Ninewells Hospital.

The Ardler woman said she initially thought she had been struck by another person, and that the impact had knocked her glasses off her face.

Christine was crossing Whitehall Street after a trip to the Post Office when the incident took place just after midday on Thursday.

A member of the public, who retrieved Christine’s glasses, then told her a bird had struck her in the face.

She said: “It honestly felt like I’d been walloped with a cricket bat from behind. I clutched on to my face, I was in tears. I’d been coming up Whitehall Street from the Post Office and it happened as I was crossing the road towards Primark.

“I decided to go into Boots – I didn’t know what had happened at that point.

“A man picked up my glasses and told me it was a bird that had collided with me – he said even the bird was stunned.” She added: “Because of the impact of the collision I assumed it must have been a gull.

“If that had been someone frailer I have no doubt that might have killed them. I felt dizzy afterwards when I went into Boots.

“Staff at Boots told me I should go to A&E as it had drawn blood from the right hand side of my face and that I might need to get a tetanus shot. Fortunately my injuries were only superficial.

“I definitely think the issues with gulls is getting worse in the city centre – it puts you off going into town.”

Dundee City Council regularly faces calls to do more about the city’s gulls, which are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

A council spokeswoman said: “Pest control officers are actively involved in removing eggs and nests throughout the breeding season, which is approximately April to July, and while this action greatly reduces the i ncidences of aggressive behaviour as well as disrupting and reducing the breeding pattern, it can take between five and seven years for the effect to take hold.”

A PENSIONER said she thought she had been “walloped by a cricket bat” after being smacked on the head by a gull in the city centre.

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Christine’s head