'Barry Island's dive-bombing seagulls should be culled'

"Aggressive" seagulls have been scaring children and dive-bombing visitors in a seaside town and should be culled, a cafe owner has said.

Marco Zeraschi, of Marco's Cafe on Barry Island in the Vale of Glamorgan, said the problem had been exacerbated by visitors feeding the birds.

Some residents reported swooping gulls causing injuries and stealing food from people's hands.

The Vale of Glamorgan council said seagulls were a "common problem".

All species of gull are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which makes it illegal to intentionally kill or destroy an active nest or its contents.

But the law recognises in certain circumstances control measures may be necessary, and licences can be issued permitting nests or birds to be destroyed if there is no non-lethal solution and if it is done to prevent serious damage to agriculture, the spread of disease, to preserve public health, preserve air safety or to conserve other wild birds.

Mr Zeraschi said: "I would strongly recommend a culling. There is a lot of them now...

"They're becoming more aggressive and bolder."

He said he often had to replace broken cups and plates after the "frenzied" gulls landed on tables and had occasionally had to replace customers' stolen food if they had not been warned about the issue.

"We've got to warn every customer we serve. We tell them to please be aware of the seagulls… they just dive bomb. Any opportunity they're in.

"We've got one seagull here we call Caesar. He's very intelligent because when we put the wooden spoons out with numbers on for people to have food the bird will follow the spoon knowing there's going to be food coming."

Mr Zeraschi has made signs for his cafe and handed them out to other food businesses "but people don't take any notice".

"What really frustrates a lot of traders on Barry Island is that people feed them.

"They'll throw a tray of chips and it's like a mad frenzy and scares the children. People have got to be educated," he said.

He wants the council to erect larger signs to tell people not to feed the gulls.

David Lewis owns seafront cafe Whitmore + Jackson and has also put up a sign to warn against feeding the gulls.

He said: "The one thing that will help is if people don't feed the birds."

The gulls have cost him too: "In the past I have refunded people because their food has been stolen from them."

But he does not think a cull is the solution: "I wouldn't want to see a cull… I think people need to manage the situation as best as they can.

"People need to look after their rubbish and make sure that they're putting it in the bin as soon as they're finished with it and not leaving it hanging around.

"As traders we need to make sure that we're keeping on top of tables."

Jacque Depaul from Barry said her 91-year-old mother Helen Charles was recently injured by a seagull when visiting from Merthyr Tydfil.

"One swooped down and she went like that [waved it away] with her stick because she was holding a sandwich.

"It waited and watched her and when it was ready it swooped down and caught her just across her lip and gave her a little cut...

"It took the whole sandwich out of her hand, they're dangerous."

She does not have a solution to the issue: "What can you do? It's just something you've got to put up with when you live at the seaside unfortunately.

"It's the holidaymakers. They need to be educated not to feed them."

Deryn Kemp, also from Barry, is sick of the gulls: "Personally I would like to see a cull of them," she said.

"They're getting bigger and there are more of them every year."

She said she had fitted spikes on her roof to deter the birds but they had destroyed them.

"My mum and I were sat here [outside a cafe] two or three months ago and we had a bacon baguette, half each.

"Mum was a bit slow picking hers up... it [the gull] didn't take the whole baguette, it just took the bacon.

"We've been pooped on a couple of times... it was in my hair and I had to get in my car like that, get home and shower.

"They're gross, they're really, really horrible," she said.

Colin Smith from Vale of Glamorgan Council said: "Unfortunately, seagulls are a common problem at seaside resorts.

"We will consider making them [signs] more prominent in an effort to address this issue.

"Culling seagulls is permitted only in extreme circumstances and we will need to take advice before deciding whether such action is appropriate in this instance."

The issue is not unique to Barry Island.

In July a man from from Prestatyn in Denbighshire was advised by his local council to use his umbrella to dodge the "vicious" seagulls he said were repeatedly swooping at him from his roof.

And in Aberystwyth in Ceredigion and Tenby in Pembrokeshire seagull-proof bin bags have been issued in certain streets to reduce food rubbish.