Residents of Lowestoft, Suffolk, are reporting an alarming increase in aggressive seagulls this summer, with locals describing the birds as a 'menace'. Jenny Riley and Angela Forster, who have owned beach huts in the area for decades, say they now have to eat inside to avoid having food snatched from their hands. 'This is the worst summer I have known for seagulls,' Riley said.
Lowestoft's herring gull population is estimated at 10,000, around 15% of the human population, while kittiwakes have grown from a single breeding pair in the 1950s to over 1,000 nests today. The birds cause mess and smell in the town centre, with guano posing a hazard to passers-by. Some residents are calling for a cull, although they acknowledge gulls are part of the seaside experience.
The problem is not confined to Lowestoft. North Yorkshire Council is developing a gull management strategy in response to 'gull mugging attacks' in Scarborough and Whitby. In Lyme Regis, Dorset, a public space protection order bans feeding birds to deter herring gulls, while the Highland Council has conducted a census of the birds. Despite legal protections, former Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has called for licences to kill gulls.
However, experts say that overall gull numbers are declining sharply. Herring gulls and kittiwakes are both 'red listed' due to population drops. At South Walney nature reserve in Cumbria, herring gull nests fell by 96% between 1999 and 2020. Dr Viola Ross-Smith of the British Trust for Ornithology explains that gulls are moving into towns, not increasing overall. Professor Helen F Wilson of Durham University notes that this shift is due to various factors, including changes in food availability and nesting sites.
