Years of efforts to exterminate urban seagull colonies could be responsible for an ongoing explosion in numbers.
The Courier’s Don’t Be Gullible campaign has uncovered evidence showing the nuisance gull population has tripled since the year 2000 and that the unwanted spike may be down to misguided efforts to shift them.
Peter Rock of Bristol University, one of the country’s leading gull experts, claims preventing gulls from returning to their nests may only serve to radically multiply the population.
The revelation comes as our special series shines a light on the local gull menace in Dundee, Angus, Fife and Perth and Kinross.
We reveal the measures Dundee airport has been forced to take as birdstrikes rocket and our reporter finds out first hand just how bold a hungry gull can be.
A Dundee cat-lover tells how a seagull made off with her kitten and we speak to a local parent whose baby was attacked in its pram.
