17th August 2011

LYME REGIS: Call to cull 'vicious seagulls'

by Philip Evans

“VICIOUS seagulls” have become a health and safety hazard in Lyme Regis, regularly attacking passers-by, including young children, and snatching the food from al-fresco diners on the seafront.

These were the sentiments of Sidmouth Road resident Vicky Norman who made an impassioned and hard-hitting plea at last week’s meeting of Lyme Regis Town Council to find a solution to a problem causing great distress to traders and visitors.

Mrs Norman pulled no punches in condemning the council for not doing anything about the problem, stating: “I am sorry that this is a pretty bad indictment of what we have allowed to happen in this town over the last few years.”

Mrs Norman said she and her husband Tony had been highlighting the problem of herring gulls since 2009 but there had been no help from the council. She had been featured in the local press and had written about a possible solution to the problem.

Mrs Norman said she had spoken to town clerk Mike Lewis about the situation and he had said it was a matter for West Dorset District Council but they were “seemingly” unable to do anything about it.

She told the council: “Because of this I have decided to try and take up this problem for the traders who have no one who wants to help them because they are too busy to do it for themselves and the gulls are becoming a health and safety hazard.”

Mrs Norman, who has emphasised that she wants to find a humane solution to the problem, said she had visited all the food outlets at the Cobb hamlet and all, with the exception of one or two smaller ones, had said “someone please help”.

Call for cure

Mrs Norman continued: “Many of them are losing revenue. For example, steak has been snatched off plates before they even get to the tables along with coffee being filled with gull mess when the customer has drunk it before noticing it.

“When customers leave their tables the gulls descend and break countless items of china and glass ware, all of which has to be replaced. Many of the traders have had to buy umbrellas to keep the birds off.”

Mrs Norman called for an immediate cure to the problem as the gulls were getting “ever more vicious”.

“It will end by children receiving horrific injuries if a mass attack occurs while children are enjoying eating on the beach.

“I have seen children having a lovely time eating ice cream surrounded by about five gulls. If one gull bolder than the rest attacked a child there would be a feeding frenzy by the others and there could be serious injury inflicted.”

Mrs Norman said she had evidence of a two-year-old being attacked in July and had many other instances of “gull predations”.

Hurt by birds

She said the lifeguards had told her that people had been coming to their position on the beach having been assaulted and hurt by the birds.

Speaking to the traders she had found some who would be prepared to contribute to introducing flying birds of prey on the beach during the busy months, adding: “Because these wretched birds are protected we cannot cull, but if it is possible that would be the best answer.

"The flying of Harris hawks and other large raptors will frighten he gulls and drive them away. It would be less traumatic for children to watch a possible downing of a gull by a raptor than being assaulted by a huge bird for your ice cream.”

Mrs Norman said she had taken a census of 57 people on the beach and ascertained that 73 per cent had not seen the WDDC signs on the Cart Road asking people not to feed the gulls.

She continued: “As far as I am aware the no-feed ban is not enforced on a proper basis so a byelaw might be a good idea and then the notices could be a little less polite.

“If you do approach people seen to feed the gulls you get filthy looks and rude replies. Patrols on the front might be able to prevent feeding and we could use volunteers for this.”

Mrs Norman said there were several ways of dealing with the problem, including hawk profiles on an automatic revolving pole which can be fixed on buildings and used in conjunction with raptor flying.

Mrs Norman also advocated every household in town being issued with gull proof bags as a matter of urgency, as holidaymakers and residents who went away for a few days usually put out their refuse where gulls could get at it before the refuse collections.

Mrs Norman concluded her statement by saying: “I hope we can get this show on the road before the Marine Parade becomes a no-go area for eating in peace.”

The Mayor, Councillor Sally Holman, told Mrs Norman that many people in the town shared her concerns. She reminded councillors that local window cleaner and fire chief Virgil Turner was given permission to shoot gulls but this had resulted in many complaints. However, she hoped a satisfactory solution could be found.

District councillor Daryl Turner said there was no legal requirement on WDDC to deal with the problem but they could grant special licences for action to be taken. He said that qualified falconers could be engaged but this could cost between £30,000 and £40,000 per annum.

Councillor Turner confirmed that his brother Virgil had been given a licence to shoot the gulls but it was a “very emotive subject” and it had caused a lot of problems.

He added that it was West Dorset’s view that it would be very expensive, but they could commission a study into the problem at a cost of £1,000.

Councillor George Symonds, who also serves on the district council and runs a business on Marine Parade, confirmed there had been many attacks by seagulls on young children on the seafront.

“This is an on-going problem and we need to see if we can do something about it,” he said. “It is time Lyme Regis Town Council looked into this.”

Councillor Lorna Jenkin said she had seen falcons flying in but then being chased out again by a “multitude of gulls”.

Councillor Mark Gage said there was no simple answer but he was prepared to take the matter to the Strategy and Policy Committee for consideration.

He accepted that “the population of seagulls in Lyme Regis is unnaturally large”.

Councillor Rikey Austin pointed out that using a special contraceptive had been very successful in dealing with the problem in London.

PICTURE: THE HERRING GULL - Now a “vicious” health and safety hazard causing mayhem on the seafront with regular attacks on children and adults