2011: A busy breeding year for Seagulls
Seagulls are large birds, who deposit large amounts of debris in their colony sites including large bones and discarded food. Serious blockages within drainage channels and guttering systems can occur as a result of the buildup of this waste along with nesting materials often leading to a bill for tens of thousands of pounds to unblock the system and re-decorate those areas damaged by water.
It doesn't stop there: nesting material, fouling waste and food waste promote weed growth while the aggressive behavior displayed during the seagull nesting season poses a physical hazard to building occupiers, maintenance staff and even to the public as the gulls will dive bomb and attack anyone they deem a threat to their nests and young.
Eco Environmental act for many of the UK's Facilities Managers to provide an overall Bird Control Programme to reduce the impact breeding gulls may have on a site.
We provide a full, bespoke bird deterrent service, including design and installation, to building managers. Each solution is tailored to the individual circumstances; nevertheless, we often install physical deterrents such as bird mesh netting and roost inhibitors or bird scarers such as distress call equipment, together with falconry services where appropriate.
The wildlife and countryside act 1981 (as amended) permits authorized persons to:
Take, damage or destroy the nests or to take or destroy the eggs of both Lesser Black Backed and Herring Gulls in situations where other legal non lethal methods such as scaring and proofing are ineffective or inappropriate.
In these circumstances Egg and Nest removal is an effective legal alternative and provides a cost effective solution to managing a seagull problem on large expanses of roof area. Egg and nest removal prevents the aggressive behavior developing and over time encourages the adult birds to relocate so that the colony size reduces.
In 2011 we have noted that the number of eggs per nest is up on last year, the birds are laying eggs earlier and the number of nests per colony is high on sites we have just taken.
Ultimately, we are aiming to manage the bird pest problem using cost effective resource every year, building up a cycle of visits to control and keep down the numbers of gull and, in doing so, reducing the many problems that arise from a seagull infestation.
