Concerns from communities leads to Aberdeenshire Council review on gulls
Councillors on Aberdeenshire Council's infrastructure services committee are to find out more about a review to be carried out by the local authority on gulls.
It will be held after a number of communities raised concerns about the birds.
More details will be provided to the committee during its meeting on Thursday.
The report that will go before councillors, prepared by Gordon Buchanan, service manager, environmental health and trading standards, outlines: "The council has received a number of complaints relating to urban gulls from communities across Aberdeenshire.
"The director of infrastructure services has requested that a review of the council’s response to gull complaints is undertaken and that the service provides the committee with an update on our current approach to gull nuisance and future actions.
"The impact of gulls is a significant concern for a number of communities across Aberdeenshire.
"Protective services has received 83 general gull complaints and 38 feeding complaints.
"The concerns raised by complainants relate to noise; aggressive behaviour; fouling and feeding of gulls.
"Gull species can live for up to 25 years and unlike other nuisance bird species they lay relatively few eggs each year.
"The nesting season begins in spring each year with gulls laying a single clutch of eggs, typically between two and three chicks.
"Once the eggs have hatched, gull behaviour becomes extremely aggressive towards any perceived threat until the chicks have matured and left the nest. This usually occurs by the autumn by which time urban gull concentrations begin to disperse as species either migrate to warmer climates or gather in coastal locations to take advantage of rich marine food sources.
"The impact of gull concentrations in towns and villages can be quite severe.
"Their droppings are rich in nitric acid which erodes sandstone, corrodes anodised metal services, timber and other cladding materials.
"In addition, gulls are known to transmit E. Coli and salmonella through their droppings."
The report highlights that the council has a range of interventions that it currently applies to assist with the control of gulls.
These include egg and nest removal; gull proofing buildings; controlling the availability of food and gull scaring.
The report added: "The effectiveness of these interventions will be very situational and often it will be the aggregation of a number of interventions that will prove most effective.
"In order to develop an overall strategy for responding to community concerns an overarching review is proposed to be carried out, led by protective services.
"Such a review will involve liaison with relevant partners, communities and local businesses."
Aspects of the review have already commenced with the local authority starting discussions with Moray Council, Aberdeen City Council, RSPB and Nature Scotland.
The review's work will also see the forming of local and Grampian wide, short-term working groups to consider both strategies; considering all legal options for minimising gull issues; and reviewing previous intervention strategies.
It will also focus on producing a clear communication strategy setting out what can be done; identifying areas that are most affected and carrying out analysis so that the most effective solutions can be applied to them; and detailing the resources that would be required to implement an effective strategy.
The committee will be asked to agree that a further report will be submitted to it in January detailing the actions arising from the review.
Councillor Brian Topping has submitted a notice of motion for the item which states: "That the infrastructure services committee agrees:
"(i) To instruct the chief executive, on behalf of the council, to write to, and engage with, the Scottish government regarding the law on the protection of certain seagull species, and to see what can be done for our badly effected seaside towns in regard of seagull mess and its removal.
"(ii) To instruct the chief executive, on behalf of the council, to write to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) requesting they look at the current restrictions on councils and the public on removing seagull mess, e.g. restrictions on power hosing pavements.
"(iii) That the council does all it can to help communities improve the situation caused by seagulls in our communities."
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