Bath & North East Somerset Council plans to work with two universities on an 18-month research project into gull behaviour. Behavioural ecology and psychology students from the University of the West of England and Middlesex University will map and track the behaviour of the gulls as they interact with their food sources and nesting sites.
Alongside this, the Council has also earmarked £60,000 to trial a series of measures to deter the gull population from settling in the city. This includes free roof treatments, including the removal of nests to affected properties in designated areas where evidence confirms large, or increasing, numbers of breeding pairs. This is part of the Council’s co-ordinated approach to the gull problem – which also includes reducing access to food sources, and communicating the importance of keeping the streets clear of litter and waste and not feeding the gulls.
“It is, of course, welcome that the Council is taking the problem of urban gulls seriously. The Liberal Democrat administration worked hard over the previous four years to introduce various innovations to discourage urban gulls. These contributed to slowing the growth of gull populations, and it is reassuring to note that the new administration is planning to continue with many of our measures.”
“However, it is ridiculous if B&NES Council has been forced to go it alone and independently set up a research partnership on the life cycle of the urban gull, after the Conservative government cancelled the £250,000 package of funding into just this issue. The Lib Dems fought for years for the government funded project, which was dropped as one of the first actions of the incoming Conservative government. It is to be hoped that a research project on this local scale will produce useful results.”
