‘He was hitting me ... it was like a horror movie’: Seagulls posing problems in Drogheda

From the fourth floor of her home in the centre of Drogheda, Joy McKeon can see and hear a lot of what is happening on the ground and in the sky.

She has a bird’s-eye view of the Co Louth town and some of the seagulls that have recently brought national media attention to it via reports about an “invasion” of hungry and aggressive birds.

“As I walked home earlier a seagull was picking at chips on the ground, so whose fault is it? Is it the seagull who wants to eat? Or the person who left the food on the ground?” McKeon asks.

“Are we as a species becoming more dirty [and] they are just picking up our rubbish? Is it a reflection on us more than on them?”

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There are long spikes on McKeon’s roof, aimed at keeping away pests, but these do not stop gulls nesting there. She also keeps an owl statue on her windowsill.

“I’ve watched seagulls grow up next door to me,” McKeon says, adding that she believes the birds favour abandoned buildings.

This view is shared by the former mayor of Drogheda, Frank Godfrey. An unsuccessful candidate in the 2019 local elections, he chaired an “awareness” meeting earlier this week about “the plight and scourge of seagulls” in and around Drogheda and “the damage they are causing”.

“They can become very dangerous. People are frightened,” Godfrey says. “They are nesting in council and private estates, and it is a nightmare.”

Godfrey does not want there to be a cull, but says consideration should be given to removing eggs from nests before they hatch or to using a contraceptive that could, for example, be put in food to try to slow their breeding.

The birds are protected by European and national wildlife directives and legislation, though derogations can be granted. Balbriggan in north Co Dublin is, according to the Department of Housing, the only place in Ireland where gull nests or eggs can be removed.

[ BirdWatch Ireland condemns Minister-approved destruction of seagull eggs in north Dublin ]

The department said it does not have figures on the numbers of nests or eggs removed in Balbriggan, but that “anecdotal evidence suggests that very few individuals carried out this activity”.

“There are no current plans to expand the current declaration to include other areas outside of Balbriggan,” it added.

A recent post on the Drogheda Dolls group Facebook page asking about gulls was commented on more than 100 times. Some respondents said they like (and feed) the birds, while others set out opposing views and experiences.

“They are amazing creatures who mate for life,” wrote one woman. “They ensure their chicks are fed first and are very protective about their babies. A lot of aggression shown is when people or dogs come anywhere near (their) chicks... I think they get more aggressive and louder when they’re hungry.”

It is humans who have to live alongside nature and you know it is not something humans like to do, I think we prefer nature that complies to us

Ana Perković has had two close encounters with seagulls in Drogheda. While walking from a McDonald’s outlet eating her French fries last summer, one swooped in her direction. “He just attacked me from the back, from behind, landed on my head, broke my glasses and he was hitting me with his wing. He was after the fries. It was like a horror movie,” Perković recalls.

More recently, Perković's dog was in her garden chewing on a treat when, all of a sudden, “one of them attacked him”.

“I ran outside to defend the dog and just grabbed him and ran into the house,” she says.

The Drogheda Chamber of Commerce says “the seagull issue” arises annually, but that “the situation does seem to have gotten a lot worse in recent years”.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, with many offices and other buildings closed or under used, the birds found new nesting places which they have been returning to, it said.

“The only way to really tackle it is to lessen the chance of an ‘easy meal’ and we’d advise retailers to always make sure to use bins and not plastic bags when their refuse is out for collection. The birds make a real mess and that impacts on the look of the town.”

Cllr Kevin Callan is asking Louth County Council to come up with solutions to reduce Drogheda’s gull population “in conjunction with its efforts to reduce illegal dumping and littering in the town”.

Cllr Callan wants there to be a discussion about using falconry services to thin the numbers, or for some class of repellent to be put on roofs to prevent birds from nesting.

Cllr Michelle Hall says her parents have had gulls nesting on their roof for years and that baby gulls “can fall out of the nest” at times.

“Their parents become extremely protective and will dive and my father has often been attacked by the gulls. They just live with it,” Cllr Hall says.

“In Brisbane cyclists wear helmets with spikes on [them] because they will be dive bombed [by different bird species].

“It is humans who have to live alongside nature and you know it is not something humans like to do, I think we prefer nature that complies to us.”

Niall Hatch, head of communications with BirdWatch Ireland, says the numbers nesting on rooftops in Drogheda, Balbriggan and elsewhere in recent times is a response from “a species in crisis”.

I actually hate the boy racers more than the seagulls, because the seagulls were technically here first

“We know that population numbers of the herring gull in particular fell by a colossal and staggering 90 per cent over the course of just three decades,” Hatch says.

“So, far from being a species that’s increasing (in numbers) and losing the run of itself, as some people would have it, it’s a species that is actually under serious threat.

“It’s on the list of species of conservation concern in Ireland. So we are talking about a threatened species.”

BirdWatch Ireland’s view is that the gulls themselves are not the problem, but that they are “the symptom” of much bigger problem. They are finding it harder to find food where once they traditionally did, which increasingly draws them towards people and the mess they leave behind.

Their natural nesting habitats have also been disturbed by human activity, which leads some birds to seek accommodation where they feel more protected.

This, Hatch says, often means the birds select tall buildings in urban and suburban areas, “which to them have all the benefits of an island: they’re nice and isolated, they’re high, they’re away from predators”.

Hatch says it is important that people do not feed the gulls to ensure they do not associate humans with being a food source as, in a normal natural setting, a gull would avoid people entirely.

Asked about the issues in Drogheda, Louth County Council said “all gulls and active nests” are protected via European and national measures under which it has no statutory powers or responsibilities.

“Birds are attracted to food waste and will stay in areas where discarded food is easily sourced,” the council said.

[ Hilary Fannin: Seagulls are getting alarmingly strategic. The hungry day-trippers don’t stand a chance ]

“Louth County Council wishes to encourage the people of Drogheda to leave no trace, this will assist [in moving] the gulls back to their natural feeding source of coastal waters. A ‘Don’t feed the Gulls’ message will be promoted by Louth County Council.”

With the sounds of a busy town coming in through her open window, Joy McKeon says she loves living in Drogheda.

“The two negative things are the seagulls and the boy racers going in loops [around the town],” McKeon says.

“I actually hate the boy racers more than the seagulls, because the seagulls were technically here first.”