Are Seagulls a Pest

[brokencross]

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

[the nomad]

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.

DEATH TO ALL SCORRIES

[Sandra_B]

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

[Metalattakk]

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. )

[Ash]

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!

[Rheghead]

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]

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/showthrea...ithness+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 ! 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....

[brokencross]

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]

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 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...

[candyfloss]

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 I think one of our neighbours are feeding them though

[ginajade]

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]

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]

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.

[Julia]

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.

[George Brims]

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]

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.

DEATH TO ALL SCORRIES

Do your opinions extend to posters of that ilk?

[MadPict]

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]

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]

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

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

[pulteney person]

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.