Why scourge of seagulls is on the rise

● Councils urged to take problem seriously amid ‘growing misery’

Seagull attacks on children, the elderly and pets are among a record level of complaints about the birds recorded this year.

Councils logged more than 1,200 complaints from January to July – with more litter after cuts to bin collections fuelling the rise in incidents.

Complaints about seagulls in Scotland have hit record levels, fuelled by more litter and cuts to bin collections.

Local authorities logged more than 1,200 complaints from January to July this year – double the average over the past three years.

Angus Council recorded the highest number of complaints of any authority – more than 1,100 seagull-related issues since 2017. With a population of 116,000, that is about one for every 105 people.

Across Scotland there have been dozens of attacks on children, the elderly and pets. One complaint came from the parent of a seven-year-old girl who had the tip of her finger sliced off by a dive-bombing gull.

There have also been more than 150 calls to police since last year. These have included incidents where the gulls have been implicated in neighbourhood disputes, assaults and road traffic incidents.

Experts say the gulls are moving inland for easier pickings, with some suggesting that council spending cuts have meant fewer bin collections and more litter.

Politicians are calling for action to curb the birds, which are protected under law.

Oliver Mundell, the Conservative MSP for Dumfriesshire, said: “These shocking figures reveal the growing misery seagulls are causing in many coastal communities. It is about time local authorities started taking the issue more seriously.”

Last month, Queen of the South FC threatened to eject fans who fed seagulls at their Dumfries stadium after dozens of the birds took up residence on the roof of a stand at Palmerston Park.

In Aberdeen, where there have been more than 400 incidents in the past three years, the council said: “Life has become very easy for urban gulls due to the discarding of food, particularly in the city centre, and people deliberately feeding them.”

Steve Milton, of Total Bird Control, confirmed gulls were moving inland.

He said: “It’s thought that difficulties in finding wild food caused gulls to move inland, where they find scraps readily available in towns and cities.

“They are very clever birds and can work out, for example, if bins are collected on certain days or if collections are once a week or fortnightly.”