SPICe Briefing on Gulls

I have been contacted by a number of constituents about nuisance gulls. To understand more about the background of this issue, please see the below briefing composed by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

My main query to SPICe was that while gulls are protected I wanted to find out if this protection extends to when they are nesting in housing estates and causing alarm and distress to the local community.

Legal Framework

Like all wild birds, gulls are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Please find a link to the Act below:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/69/contents

Section 1 of the Act covers the protection of wild birds, their nests and eggs. Section 4 provides for exceptions to this general protection for the purpose of:

(a) Preserving public health or public or air safety;

(b) Preventing the spread of disease; or

(c) Preventing serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber, [F21, fisheries or inland waters]

General licences are available for this purpose (see below).

All wild birds are also protected through the EU Birds Directive (Directive 2009/147/EC) which bans the deliberate killing or capture of birds, the destruction of their nests and taking of their eggs. The Directive can be found at:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/legislation/birdsdirective/index_en.htm

Local authorities and control of gulls

Councils have no statutory duty to take action against any species of gulls. However, in Scotland, gulls can legally be controlled under the terms of General Licences. A General Licence allows authorised persons to carry out activities that would normally be illegal. You do not need to apply for a General Licence but in order to use one you must ensure that you meet all of the criteria, terms and conditions stated in the Licence.

Lethal control of three species of gull (Herring gull Larus argentatus, Great Black-backed gull Larus marinus and Lesser Black-backed gull Larus fuscus) is permitted under General Licence 03/2018: To kill or take certain birds for the preservation of public health, public safety and preventing the spread of disease:

https://www.nature.scot/sites/default/files/2017-12/General%20Licence%20for%20Birds%20-%202018%20-%20To%20kill%20or%20take%20certain%20birds%20for%20the%20preservation%20of%20public%20health%2C%20public%20safety%20and%20preventing%20the%20spread%20of%20disease.pdf

The owner or occupier, or any person authorised by the owner or occupier of the land on which the action authorised is taken, is able to take appropriate, lawful, action under the terms of this licence. Where general licences are not available e.g. for Common gull, a specific licence can be applied for and may be granted under specific circumstances.

Further information and guidance can be found on the SNH licensing pages at the following link:

https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/safeguarding-protected-areas-and-species/licensing/species-licensing-z-guide/birds-and-licensing/birds-licences-public-health-and

You may also be interested in the Guidance to Accompany the Statutory Nuisance Provisions of the Public Health etc (Scotland) Act 2008, section 10 of which outlines the legislative provisions available to control feral birds including gulls:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/01/23142152/12

Local authority responsibilities – nuisance complaints about gulls

Local authorities are expected to respond to complaints about problem gulls on council owned property. Local authorities can tackle the problem of dropped food and litter by making people aware of the consequences of feeding gulls, and to increase street/pavement cleaning at key times of the day, and supply bird proof litter bins.

Responsibility for dealing with nuisance complaints rests with the local authority. They have a duty to investigate complaints under the Statutory Nuisance provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, as amended. This includes powers to issue an abatement notice, which if not complied with can result in conviction in a fine. There are, however, no statutorily-defined limits for what constitutes a statutory nuisance. Each individual case is for investigation by an environmental health officer, who will then decide whether the law is being breached according to the specific circumstances. In the case of gulls, statutory nuisance provisions could only be used in very limited circumstances, where someone was doing something to encourage them e.g. feeding them, in which case it might be the food source that constituted the Statutory nuisance.

SPICe blog

Last year, SPICe published a blog containing a number of Frequently Asked Questions on gulls and gull control which your constituents may find useful. Please find a link to this below:

Here come the gulls: SPICe FAQs on gulls and gull control

Parliamentary Questions

I have carried out a search of the Parliamentary Questions database using the term gull/s. The most recent relevant PQ I can find is from 2018. I have copied this into the attached word document along with a number of PQs on the topic from previous years.

Fife Council

The Fife Council website contains a page of information on gull nuisance which can be accessed here:

https://www.fife.gov.uk/kb/docs/articles/community-life2/safer-communities/pest-control

The page notes:

‘Each year during the summer months we receive a number of complaints about the problems caused by seagulls.

To lessen the problems we can all play our part by:

not feeding the gulls, deliberately or by dropping litter and
property owners gull-proofing their properties before breeding season starts.

We have no statutory duty to deal with gulls and, although we can give advice, we encourage property owners to contact a private pest control company for gull-proofing measures. If the birds are not on your property we cannot make the owners of the property they are on take any action.

All birds are protected under law, as are their nests, eggs and every stage of life. But certain species may be controlled by applying for a General Licence from Scottish Natural Heritage. This is very rarely required and non-lethal methods are preferred.

These include:

chimney guards;
spikes for roof edges, and
netting.’

Additional information

Should it be of wider interest, please find below links to a selected number of online articles on the issue of nuisance gulls in Fife, and action taken to counter the problem.

2018 – Blog on the British Bird Control website on ‘Fife Council’s education drive to tackle dive-bombing seagulls’:

‘No Feeding The Gulls!’ – Fife Council’s education drive to tackle dive-bombing seagulls – British Bird Control

2018 – Online article headlined – ‘New campaign to tackle Fife’s gull menace’:

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/environment/new-campaign-tackle-fifes-gull-menace-1042547

2019 – Online article headlined – ‘The potential cost of programmes such as nest and egg removal, dummy eggs, culling and gull proofing roofs has been deemed “excessive” in the current financial climate and are less effective than educating people on how to deter the birds, according to Fife Council’: