General Discussion
Disappearance of Sea Gulls in Dawlish
It seems to me that there are alot less sea gulls in Dawlish. There is no sound of them where I live and no sound of them by the sea. I know in the past the sea gulls can be a complete nuisance; where they are forever scrounging for food. The lack of their existence in Dawlish is a worry for me in that where is nature taking us? Now we have freak weather during (storms, rain and winds) winter together with hauntingly stillness of the day with absence of sea gull squawking; it is all so foreboding...?
There were plenty over the fields today. I think they just move in land a bit in the winter. They'll be back in force in the summer.
They will be out following the plough its just a shame they will come back to wake me up every morning as the sun comes up, there are to many and they used to be culled but some bright spark gave them protection.
Bit early in the year for this to kick off, isn't it ? ... usually the "cull them" rubbish in here (and in the press) starts in early July when they are "ferociously" and "aggressively" defending their newly flown babies ...
When did they used to be culled, leatash ?
leatash you are so positive, you give me hope or perhaps the local zombies will come out drag you to a field and have you culled, let say for a good harvest this year..
They were culled prior to them having protection under the Wildlife and Countryside act in 1981 stating it is a offence to interfere with them in any way that includes removing nests that are being built on private property. I will remind folk that the Herring Gulls carry transmissable disease that you can catch from there droppings and they include Thrush,Salmonlla,and Ecoli they also carry Bed Bugs,Ticks,and Fleas. The other side of the coin is they are a fine looking bird and have been drawn into towns and Cities because of our wastefullnes we discard food as though its gone out of fashion plus we have fished the sea and removed the huge amount of herring that once visited the West Country shores. So because of human activity we have deprived them of there natural food source and have provided them with burgers,chips,ice cream,pasties maybe due to this not very healthy diet there lifespan will be reduced.
@leatash - those herring gulls description sounds like a few people i see shuffling around town.