As spring arrives, so does the influx of gulls, with lesser black backed and herring gulls being the two prevalent species of urban gulls in Gloucester. They breed at this time of year and, during this time, become a noisy and aggressive problem.

Natural England removed these birds from the General Licence in 2019, stating that they were endangered species. Obviously they have never been to Gloucester, or many other towns and cities in the south and west, which are plagued by these birds.

Over the past two years, the Council has been prevented from exercising the gull control measures we have utilised for many years to prevent runaway population growth. In previous years, our best estimates showed annual growth rates of about 3%, but in the past two years that growth rate has risen to 16%. With that growth the gull’s territory is expanding and they are spreading out into the suburbs.

Plenty of feeding opportunities

It was suggested in the past that gulls lived in the city because of the availability of food. This is only partly true. There were many which fed at the landfill site and many others scavenged from litter bins and carelessly discarded food waste. However, gulls can travel up to 80 miles per day round trip and with the canal and river and landfill sites within that range there are plenty of feeding opportunities for them. The real reason that they like city living is because they are safe on rooftops from any predators except humans, and we are forbidden now from preventing their runaway population growth.

I have spoken to three government ministers from Defra asking them to intervene and allow us to once again deal with an ever-increasing problem. However, Natural England have only offered an ‘Organisational Licence’ which allows only limited intervention. Last year, using this licence, Worcester were only able to deal with about 80 instances out of some 2,000 gulls living in the city. Similar was the case with Bath.

I have been advised that the issue of the General Licence has been returned to Defra, but I have not yet heard that it will include our urban gulls. Until it does, the population will inexorably rise, the disturbance will increase and the hundreds of thousands of pounds we have spent controlling the gull population will be wasted.