It's that time to resurrect the Seagull issue again. They screech 24/7, disassemble dustbins, befoul our cars, buildings and washing lines and are generally considered a pest. On the other side of the coin they are beautiful creatures doing what comes naturally to them. So what is to be done? Bridport Radio wants your views. If you have not already done so please register here and you can leave your comments.
There must be a colour that gulls won't go near! why doesn't some enterprising bin-bag manufacturer do some research into producing a gull-proof bin bag and make themselves a fortune by patenting the idea? just a thought......... doug
Posted by brian, on 11-03-2006 15:18,
It should be a general rule that people have bins with lids on which are not easily opened by rats, gulls etc. seagulls are loud and annoying, but then so are we, right? and no one wants to cull us! I don't agree with culling any animal - it is wrong. they have a right to live, just as we do. JL
Posted by Vocal Local, on 14-03-2006 13:26,
I agree with a Cull, vermin is vermin. It does not help as there are several members of the Bridport community feeding the gulls. Ideally preventing them access to bins, by every house having a wheely bin would be ideal, but this does not stop the problem of them dive bombing people when they have young, several people have been hurt. In short Cull as many as possible and fine people for feeding them, they would not incourage rats and seagulls are vermin the same as rats!!!
Posted by dogface, on 24-03-2006 19:39,
The Chamber of Trade has been trying to get a Bylaw in place for some time to encourage rubbish to be placed in a gull-proof bin - but its a slow process ........
Posted by tinymind, on 27-03-2006 14:04,
The Gulls need to be culled as they are out of hand, They are no more than flying rats the only difference is Rats don't defacate on your head. Also why not cull anybody who feeds the Gulls this might make people think before they feed them.
Posted by 6of1, on 30-03-2006 09:35,
Perhaps if we called it harvesting and not culling people would not mind so much, not many people are kicking up about the thousands of chickens that go to food production every week. So let us take some seagulls and serve them up to grockles as a local delicacy - ""Sea Chicken - mmm with that delicious flavour of bins and tar""
Posted by ooaargh, on 04-04-2006 17:22,
Culling is a pointless waste of time as they breed like crazy and will keep coming, still this will give the gung ho, kill crazy cullers something to do. What you need to do to reduce the numbers is replace thier eggs with china ones. That way before the daft gulls realise that is not going to hatch it is too late in the season to start again. I run a company manufacturing china eggs although I see no conflict of interest. Does this mean I could become a councillor or even an MP
Posted by chancery, on 07-04-2006 21:27,
I think that our local Golf Club should be very active in prompting the prevention of this bird flu by banning all birdies, eagles and albatrosses from the course.
Posted by draino, on 09-04-2006 12:09,
Gulls only natural predator is the Sea Eagle but with an eight foot wingspan I dont think we need too many of them around either.
Posted by Stretchy Nuts, on 12-04-2006 09:20,
being as we (humans) think we are at the top of the food chain, surely there is another predator of the gull... us!
Posted by Waldorf and Stadtler, on 12-04-2006 09:22,
Intead of culling, we could introduce trapping and mis-direction. With some careful timing, and by handing out sachets of seagull pheremones cleverly disguised as Fishermans' friends at carvan parks across the area... When the caravaners leave, they'll take flocks and flocks of horny seagulls with them. Killing two birds with one stone (groan).
Posted by rustic, on 14-04-2006 12:24,
“When the seagull follows the trawler he is looking for the sardines”, so says that great philosopher Eric Cantona, but he has got a point (and a wicked left foot) Evolution states that we all descended from apes, well if that’s the case how come there are any apes left as they should have all evolved by now into us. Likewise so the theory goes is that a fish wriggled up the beach grew a few feathers and started to fly. Based on that principal if you throw enough dolphins off of west bay cliff eventually one of them is going to grow feathers and fly. Likewise if you keep holding seagulls under water they will eventually dump the feathers grow scales and restock the sea with fish. This is the sort of thinking that makes Britain great
Posted by denzlepob, on 12-05-2006 23:02,
Seagulls aren't stupid, they can fly, walk, undoo a bin bag, remove chips from the elderly, sqwooork, poo on cars that have just been cleaned, impersonate cats, fight, stay up all night, stay out all night, sh*g anywhere, sh*t in mid air, shoplift, steal from boats and talk about YOU behind your back. I have never seen a seagull roll a fag.
Posted by the bat, on 30-05-2006 10:17,
Keep the Gulls, Cull the Drug users.That's wot I say.
Posted by denzlepob, on 01-06-2006 21:11,
Cull the drug abusing gulls.
Posted by The Bat, on 06-07-2006 19:56,
A seagull chick has fallen out of its nest into the car park at my place of work in Bridders. I have named him 'Stevie'. Stevie is really cool, and I have been feeding him crab sticks to nurture him whle he becomes fully fledged and can look after himself. I check on Steveie once or thrice a day and hope to see him take to the sky and sore into the blue one day soon. I think people should be more tolrant of gulls, they were here first. Yours, ... The Bat
Posted by Footy Seagull, on 19-08-2006 12:21,
While we are getting rid of all the seagulls we should also get rid of all the fish in the sea. Just image if there were no fish in the sea it would be a lot cleaner because there would be no S***t from all the fish!!! Oh yes we should also get rid of all porpoises, seals, dolphins, whales etc to keep the sea nice and clean for the oil tankers to dump their oil in. Oh and don't forget all the pidgeons who are always s***ing on people and buildings. The we can get rid of all the dogs (oh yes please) so our pavements and beaches are clean. Any more ideas for getting rid of wild life to keep skies and seas cleaner?
Posted by Carlito, on 22-08-2006 12:26,
Seagulls should be trained in stick-twiddling and used to replace fat majorettes at the Bridport Carnival.
Posted by Ivor Bigun, on 17-10-2006 18:21,
The last time you were down West Bay,how many Seagulls did you see feeding from the sea ? I bet 99% of them have no idea whats in the water anymore as they were not brought up to feed from there. Their numbers do need to be controlled though,and i believe that anyone who owns a property should be obliged to ensure that these birds can NOT nest on their roofs by any means necessary !! If they can not breed in town then they should move on else where,unlike the towns druggies!
Posted by Pandora, on 22-03-2007 22:21,
I agree with 'yardarm' - if we weren't so slovenly the gulls wouldn't be interested in the public places but find food elsewhere. We have rooks nearby who squawk, break bits off of my birch tree for their very clever nests, steal hen's eggs out of the houses, pull up beans and peas and leave droppings like all birds do - it's against the law to harass their nesting areas so we live and let live and swear at the same time!
Posted by Bentley, on 07-05-2007 21:49,
Seagulls are the re-encarnated souls of dead sailors, every one who has ever had anything to do with the sea knows this is a fact and not some superstitious nonsense, so if you kill a gull (or shitehawks as they a warmly known by seafarers) you are killing a dead sailors soul. So don’t do it. You should also know that it is tradition that if ever you find yourself in a place that sells alcoholic beverages and talk with any man that earns any sort of living from the sea then you should buy him a drink to get good luck for the day.
Posted by cernem1alt, on 08-05-2007 22:02,
seem to remember a news story...contraception the pill 3I think they tried it in Bristol on seagulls
Posted by Vocal Local, on 09-05-2007 14:58,
Forget the pilling and start the killing!! Now is the time of the lovely dawn chorus of shitehawks sqwarking and ripping bins open.... Well i have started early and ensured a few will most definatly not be making any more noise as they now 'sleeping with the fishys' I have emailed the councils pest control department, and was advised to go to there website and download and print the various PDF's carry these at all times, and you can legally remove seagulls. Direct action.....
Posted by tuzo, on 18-05-2007 07:18,
i have just welcomed back a pair of gulls that nested nearby last year,at the start there were a few indiscretions on the laundry (drying outside) but after making a deal (ie two pieces of vogel bread, very tasty by the way) to the father, no more accidents, and as they are so territorial no other gulls either.. adopt your own pair, and you will not get hundreds, you should see how they drive off unwanted competition.
Posted by Carlito, on 18-05-2007 13:49,
So Tuzo, you're paying a couple of megalomanical seagulls running an avian protection racket to keep other seagulls from swamping you. Will you pay me to go away then?
Posted by ranga, on 09-06-2007 10:58,
Having observed gulls recently... They use the rooftops as a safe nesting ground, away from predators. Thanks to the slobbishness of our fellow residents there is also a good supply of food freely available on the streets most summer evenings. They nest in early April to May. If the nest is removed, they wont be raising their great fat chicks over the subsequent months, and will bugger off. This prevents the feeding frenzy they enter as the summer wears on, and the chicks get bigger. If we got rid of them when they tried to settle, the bins they rip through to feed their young will remain largely untouched. Also, some more domestic and smaller garden birds might get a better chance to stage a revival in numbers. (cull the cat?) By early August the seagulls abandon nesting grounds and return to the sea. Have you noticed it all goes eerily quiet in the mornings? We have to make them unwelcome, and while climbing up onto your roofs and braving their divebombing is a bit tricky, it will get rid of them without resorting to poisoning or mass murder. It would also save the council a few quid purchasing wheelie bins, employing some armour wearing climbers to keep the rooftops clear.
Posted by shagsack, on 13-06-2007 21:51,
BRILLIANT! i'm up for some of that mate ...just bought a 'Black Widow' catapult off e-bay to deal with em... Anyone out there got a pot of marbles they want to give to a good cause??
Posted by Bentley, on 16-06-2007 16:38,
WEll ranga it sounds to me like abit of a Rod Hull appreciation society that you have going there. Many people reding your views will no doubt take to the rooves on their rickety old ladders and you know where this is going to go.... Are you an insurance salesman per chance?? I think this would be an ideal way of giving the long term unemployed a way of giving something back to the community by sending them up to clear off the shite hawks. I was going to suggest people on community service but most of those thieving toe rags should have been locked up in the first place and the last thing I want is a bunch of crims on me roof workling out ways of knicking yet more of my stuff. We could always use it as an initiation right to grockles that want to move in, we caould call it BGT or ""bridport gets tough"", but we would really mean ""baby gull twatting"" is there a market for baby gull pelts??, bloody hell this cider is strong
Posted by Carlito, on 18-06-2007 09:47,
Well...following the success of Rabbits and Cane Toads in Oz...I reckon the introduction of mountain lions would probably sort them out. Ferocious feelines hanging around on the roof tops, maulling seagulls. PERFECT!
Posted by tuzo, on 18-06-2007 10:33,
oh dear the ""grunts"" season is upon us again,scratching their bellies, picking their noses dribbling cider down their fronts and thinking of ways of killing birds....still i suppose it keeps them busy?
It's that time to resurrect the Seagull issue again. They screech 24/7, disassemble dustbins, befoul our cars, buildings and washing lines and are generally considered a pest. On the other side of the coin they are beautiful creatures doing what comes naturally to them. So what is to be done? Bridport Radio wants your views. If you have not already done so please 
