Are Seagulls a Pest [Archive] - Caithness.Org Forums

the nomad

18-May-07, 08:45

A menace with no real place in the food chain, all they do is cr*p on everything, when they are nesting they are vicious, other breeds kill chicks and take eggs. I watched a gull land on a rof yesterday and take all the other seagulls eggs for tea, it was like the battle of Britain, scorries everywhere and the big one having his dinner wasn't phased by it all.

[evil] DEATH TO ALL SCORRIES[evil]

Sandra_B

18-May-07, 09:18

I think they'd be less of a pest if there wasn't so much food and rubbish around to attract them...

Metalattakk

18-May-07, 10:27

Ash

18-May-07, 10:29

i hate seagulls, everytime there has been abit of decent weather i hang out my washing..but this weeks seagulls have taken to leaving presents for me on my washing! [evil]

Rheghead

18-May-07, 12:19

I don't see them as a pest. I think they do a great job of cleaning up the rubbish we leave behind. I think we are the pest.

Elenna

18-May-07, 12:30

Says it all for me:

'E Scorrie

A sleek and gutsy glowering thief, Ah'd seize a boul til hit him.

(Anyone got the rest of this poem? I've searched high an' low on this electrical interwebnet-thingy but I can't find it anywhere.)

There was a thread a couple years ago about well-known (or half-remembered) Caithness poems. I recalled it, because I enjoyed it so much! Have a look at http://forum.caithness.org/showthread.php?t=1862&highlight=caithness+poetry Metalattakk. The scorrie poem is on the second page.

And to answer the original question of this thread...seagulls are fascinating creatures, clever and handsome birds, and great fun to watch. Unfortunately, since they are natural opportunistic scavengers, their nature and habits have been dramatically changed over the years (the last 40 or so, especially) by more and more contact with humans and the refuse we produce, from which they find an easy food source.

But they definitely are pests when they come into unwanted contact with humans, and they can be aggressive. There is nothing worse than to be out about the town, with no possibility of going home to change, and getting splatted from above :roll:! The noise on early summer mornings is awful, and its a pain in the backside to have the washing fouled or the bins raided and scattered, and even downright scary being dived at by parents protecting their chicks, or even having food snatched out of your hand. We have even had them come into our kitchen when the door was left open and help themselves to our collies dinner! He hates them now, and will furiously chase them whenever he gets the chance.

I think they are something one just has to put up with, if you wish to live near the coast. Love, respect, or hate them, they are a part of the life here. We have friends in the States who have the same kind of troubles with raccoons...though I have to admit, raccoons cant fly....:D

brokencross

18-May-07, 14:27

My enduring memory of Wick scorries are from back in the summer of 1975 and I was on holiday and it was nothing to do with scorrie scoot.
I had been to a house party near the North School and was walking back to my aunties near Northcote Street at about 4.30 in the morning; during the whole walk all I could hear was the continual Caw, Caw, and screeching as if the scorries were mocking me and my long lonely walk.
My dear old dad used to say, that if you saw scorries further inland than usual it was a sign of bad weather.

Angela

18-May-07, 14:33

My dear old dad used to say, that if you saw scorries further inland than usual it was a sign of bad weather.

I've heard that too, brokencross, and it seems to be true.

My uncle used to tell me about Caithness scorries being sent "down south" to be eaten during WW2 :eek: Plucked presumably, as according to him they were purporting to be a tastier bird, can't remember which.

Don't know how much, if any, truth there was in that story though...:confused

candyfloss

18-May-07, 15:04

Too right they're a pest, they poop on the my washing and on the car when we've just washed it................... oh, and the kids trampoline [disgust] I think one of our neighbours are feeding them though :roll:

ginajade

18-May-07, 21:48

If it wasn't for the scorrie our roads would be littered with slaughtered rabbits as well as the left overs from the kids dinners. Have to agree it seems that we are more the pets than the scorrie. As for christening my car, they seem to like mine more than anyone elses in the car park. Maybe because it's blue? However they make me wash it , so I have to commend them.

percy toboggan

18-May-07, 21:59

Ignorance based post: are 'Scorries' seagulls? and do they take 'rabbits'???
Blimey!

I watched 'Valiant' with my grandaughter yesterday which has nowt to do with anything much except it sounds like if only they could train gulls to 'home' they'd be onto an absolute winner !!

I'll be seeing them in the coming week - gulls. I love their call/cry. But I'm a city boy, more's the pity.

(Boy?)

Cedric Farthsbottom III

18-May-07, 22:04

Have seen a lot of dead crows lyin about Wick.Is this scorries attackin their nests for eggs.Been dive bombed and whitewashed by scorries so I say their no pal oh mine.Cannae wait for the Assembly Room scorries to arrive again....noo thats the hardest scorrie gang in Wick.:lol:

Julia

18-May-07, 22:15

George Brims

19-May-07, 00:57

Cedric, scorrie is indeed the Caithness name for a seagull. Another one is "maa"- a Norse word I suspect. Scorries don't take rabbits (clean up road kill nicely though), but they will kill weak newborn lambs, as will crows. The particularly nasty type is the greater black-backed gull, a huge blighter with a wingspan like an albatross.

crayola

19-May-07, 02:15

MadPict

19-May-07, 10:30

Another thread on a similar topic -
http://forum.caithness.org/showthread.php?t=11633

Yes they are a nuisance - like pigeons. Rats of the Sky.....

nightowl

19-May-07, 15:43

Now I don't mind them at all, they nest on my roof and it doesn't bother me in the slightest, we have even named one Steven (after Steven Segal - Seagull, get it!). Steven regularly visits us and pecks on the window for attention, he often snots on it too but he can't help it poor lad.

I'm with you on this one, Julia. I have a seagull who visits too, and has been coming for over twelve years. I see him as a magnificent creature who survives hardships I can only imagine. It's only because we live so closely with them, that we witness their "survival of the fittest" tactics. Nature programmes on telly only give us a glimpse of what goes on in other species - it can be hard viewing at times.
Can you imagine, though, the amount of food waste there would be if not for the seagull, who mops it up and converts it into beautiful bird. Rats would rule even more than they do now - then we would know what vermin really was. So even if it's for that reason only, happy foraging, Jonathon!

MadPict

19-May-07, 16:29

...who mops it up and converts it into beautiful bird.

No, they mop it up and convert it into guano.....

pulteney person

19-May-07, 17:16

we have even named one Steven (after Steven Segal - Seagull, get it!). Steven regularly visits us and pecks on the window for attention, he often snots on it too but he can't help it poor lad.

I have one named Sammy (I called one of the chicks Steven a few years ago!) Sammy calls at my house from May to October every year and sits at the window. Once the chicks are flying, he comes with the whole family.
When the window is open, he sits with his head inside and I blether to him all the time. I know that people have problems with Herring Gulls but in this part of the town a lot of houses have individual birds that call in for food. A lot of the scorries have names round here (you couldn't make it up). I think the one that calls at my house nests at the cliffs.
But he is a hard kinda bird but I don't think he is one of the assembly rooms scorries!!! haha
If another scorrie comes into my garden, he attacks them and rips feathers out of them but he comes to me and eats from my hand (I make sure I never actually touch him though)
I think they are lovely and their beautiful snow white feathers are so clean looking.

I'm not knocking what anyone is saying about being atacked, I'm just passing on my own experience with the Pulteney scorries. I know that wild birds can frighten people. I have had first hand experience with black headed guls, fulmers, great skuas and a lot more.
As for the noise of the scorries - I think we are so used to it that we hardly notice it.

johno

19-May-07, 17:16

seagulls ARE dirty filthy good for nothing vermin that should be wiped of the face of the earth. i personally hate them with a vengance.
beautifull animals like red deer are culled every year as seals are. creatures that do no harm to anyone, yet this scurge is allowed to breed and multiply indiscrimatley. something far wrong here i think?.[evil]

peedie man

19-May-07, 17:33

nothing wrong with the scorries,,they won 5 nil today

johno

19-May-07, 17:40

nothing wrong with the scorries,,they won 5 nil today
glad to hear that. a good result, five nilleh. were they playing against east end boys club, heh heh?[lol] [lol]

Mister Squiggle

19-May-07, 19:56

There's a scorrie that sits on our coal shed roof and eyes the dinner as I prepare it. I can feel his beedy little eyes on me as I fillet the fish, slice up the chicken ... It gives me the absolute creeps and reminds me of a story told to me by a friend years ago, who had a phobia of seagulls well into adulthood, after a rogue seagull stole her sausage roll from her hand as a toddler.

I think they are flying rats, but then they probably don't think much of me either. Live and let live, but if that little beggar out there thinks he's getting any of my southern-fried chicken, it's war.

Bloo

20-May-07, 00:23

They can be annoying especially if you've been to the local chippy on a nice sunny afternoon and bought scampi and chips. Me and a mate learnt that lesson,:lol:

Jeemag_USA

20-May-07, 01:42

No animal on this planet is a pest, there are just a lot of humans in their way unfortunately :roll:

JAWS

20-May-07, 10:21

They are nothing other than the rats of the bird world. In fact, thinking about it, that's probably being insulting to rats.

johno

20-May-07, 10:29

They are nothing other than the rats of the bird world. In fact, thinking about it, that's probably being insulting to rats.
WELL PUT.....................[evil] [disgust] .

horseman

20-May-07, 11:43

You decide, pest or enterprising.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6665307.stm

Scorries are smashing!Great big well presented birds.

Visit to my neice in devon last week, everyones best repeated memory???Yea ,the big noisy gulls.First thing I do when coming in to wick, is go via the harbour (we usually have g children) and we get a good luck blob on the windscreen, and for townies (inland) it's great! And for me as an old weeker, its bloody magic..:lol:

brokencross

20-Jul-07, 20:31

May be a pest but ingenius with it!! An Aberdonian scorrie at that
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=469620&in_page_id=1770

johno

20-Jul-07, 21:14

I've heard that too, brokencross, and it seems to be true.

My uncle used to tell me about Caithness scorries being sent "down south" to be eaten during WW2 :eek: Plucked presumably, as according to him they were purporting to be a tastier bird, can't remember which.

Don't know how much, if any, truth there was in that story though...:confused
WELL IF IT IS TRUE THEY DID,NT SEND ENOUGH OF THE DAMN PEST,S DOWN SOUTH. THERE,S STILL TO MANY OF THEM HERE.

DarkAngel

20-Jul-07, 22:12

Seagulls are defo a pest..I just washed the car...drove into my mums...Parked the lovely CLEAN car...Only to arrive out to it 2 hours late covered...I mean its was Coverd with poo...Must have been a target shot for them all...:(

justine

20-Jul-07, 22:16

i dont think that they are...And if all would remember that these birds have been coming in land for centuries before man built houses.so they were here first. If you dont want to put up with them then dont live by the sea....

Kenn

20-Jul-07, 22:28

Definitely not a pest, they are amongst the best scavengers in the world and clean up more mess than vultures they are also alot better looking.
Like so many have commented, if there was not the free sources of food that we humans provide and if we had not encroached so much on their breeding sites then we might not have such a problem with them encroaching on ours.
I chuckled about the ones that take food out of peoples hands, happened to my son when he was sitting on a harbour wall and that was a black backed gull of the lesser variety not the great black backed.
I live within sight of the sea and love to hear and see these birds and am quite prepared to put up with a few weeks mayhem whilst they breed and rear their young.
Oh, by the way deer are not so harmless, they can cause enormous enviromental damage to both trees and and grasslands and as in many places they are not natural inhabitants, their numbers have to be controlled.
Final point I thought a scorrie was a young gull still with the speckled plumage not the adults.

engiebenjy

21-Jul-07, 00:57

We used to live directly across from the shop in question on the Castlegate. Scorries in Aberdeen certainly used to be a massive problem, before wheelie bins came in. You never had to look far to know which area was bin day. On the castlegate it used to be exacerbated by a pair of delightful old dears who thought they were feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar square, but instead ended up with a hundred scorries round about them with two wee pigeons fighting for the food. We used to feel like it was a minefield walking home for fear of being pooed on!

johno

21-Jul-07, 10:58

aye, you have them nesting on your chimney with young in the nests, i dare you to venture out of the house let alone sit in the back garden.
I solved that problem by going onto the roof and stuffing between the cans with chicken wire so that they cant get in. now my neighbour has inherited the the problem.. but now i can go into my own garden without fear of attack.

helenwyler

21-Jul-07, 11:22

We were camping in a lovely small site down in Cornwall some years ago. Lovely warm balmy evening, children running about bronzed and carefree, adults having a glass of whatever after a hard day climbing sand dunes and surfing, smoke wafting up from sizzling BBQs, seagulls wheeling overhead ....aaahhh!

Suddenly there's a furious cry of "Bring back my bl**dy chicken!!" and the hilarious sight of a man leaping across the field, slashing the air with his spatula[lol]!

bluelady

21-Jul-07, 11:45

We had a seagull at work who the others called George, who would come to e window every day and peck for food. It had a ring of old scones in its throat and was still running around for more. We thought that with all that in his throat, we would proberly find him on his back, legs up in e air, but no e bloody thing was back next day beady eyes at e window going tap tap tap. I dont mind them as long as they are by e sea, but if i could find e one who did one e size of a cowpat on my bonnet last night, id send it further than south [lol]

SNOWDOG

21-Jul-07, 11:47

Seagulls are a total menace. You cant feed normal birdies in your back garden cos of the vultures, they dump on the car as soon as you've washed it and they've woken me at 4am every morning this week with their banshee shrieks! :mad:

Thumper

21-Jul-07, 11:59

Have you ever tried walking along the seafront in Thurso with a tray of chips???It is one of the scariest things I have ever done in my life :) I had about a hundred scorries divebombing me!Threw the chips away in total panic and left the horrors to it!I wouldn't go as far as calling them pests but they can be very intimidating! x

celtchicky

21-Jul-07, 21:54

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb156/celtchicky/waynesmix018.jpgheres a pic of our pet eddie who loves til steal catfood !!! :lol:

golach

21-Jul-07, 21:57

This one is the thief
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/6907994.stm

celtchicky

21-Jul-07, 22:00

clever LOL

wifie

22-Jul-07, 23:35

Well until I read these post I would have said that scorries were indeed flying vermin. Really though it is the idiots who leave the litter or worse still the nuts who think it is so sweet to feed them. If they didn't have all the easily accessible goodies that are left by uncaring humans they would revert back to being/doing what they should.

Julia

22-Jul-07, 23:45

They may indeed be viewed as pests but they are extremely devoted parents, one of their chicks fell off a roof near us and we had to rescue it as some kids were torturing it, we handed it over to the SSPCA, Mr Julia was the one sent to catch the chick and six weeks later the scorries are still swooping and dropping 'bombs' on him whenever he leaves the house.

canuck

23-Jul-07, 00:14

The Aberdeen story made it to our local Toronto news tonight.

Seagulls are a bit of a cultural icon here. Years ago one of baseball's star players decided to rid the Sky Dome (our baseball diamond) of one pesky critter. At an inning break, said player hurled a ball at the bird and was subsequently charged with cruelty to animals. In time, he was traded to our team, but he was never allowed to forget the seagull incident.

As for seagulls in Caithness, they nested on the roof outside the windows of my flat. Drove me crazy as they were awake from dawn to dusk all summer long.

floyed

23-Jul-07, 09:43

YES they are a nuisance i left a bag of rubbish with old soup left over spag ball ect at the back door last nite. Meaning to put it in the bin before i went to bed but forgot. (i no sort of my own fault):confused
Woke up this morning to it all over my back door steps ahhhhhh!![evil] It was honking had to use bleach to get rid of the smell not a nice start to the day.