Residents to fight back against the gulls! (From Yeovil Express)

Residents to fight back against the gulls!

2:00pm Monday 4th January 2010

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RESIDENTS are to work together in a bid to rid their neighbourhoods of problem seagulls.

South Somerset District Council received plenty of complaints during 2009 from people worried about being attacked by dive-bombing seagulls with the birds nesting on the tops of houses.

But council bosses have been left scratching their heads on what to do about the birds because they feel that if they solve the problems in one area, the seagulls will just simply move to another.

The council’s principal environmental protection officer, Vicki Dawson, has said in a report that a questionnaire sent out to 700 homes in the Forest Hill area of Yeovil showed that the main problems were experienced in Yew Tree Close and Beechwood.

The survey results showed that 82 people had been attacked by gulls in 2009 with 20 homes having gulls nesting on their roof with 33 chicks successfully hatched.

But she said: “Having undertaken extensive investigations into this issue and having attended many meetings locally and regionally it is concluded that there is very little that can be done on a district-wide basis to prevent problems with gulls occurring.

“The problem being that most action available will simply ‘push’ the problem around the district.

“But there are various options available to householders and property owners to take action in relation to their own homes and where small communities can work together and in doing so the costs can be reduced.”

Members of the council’s Area South committee will hear tomorrow (Wednesday) that residents in Yew Tree Close and Beechwood are already teaming-up to look at ways of preventing seagull problems in 2010.

While the council has looked in detail at the Forest Hill area, there have been problems reported from across Yeovil and other towns within the district such as Chard.

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