Conservation body NatureScot has said it is happy to discuss what gull management measures can be taken after reports of children being attacked.
This news follows a series of attacks on children by out of control birds that had left some with ‘blood running down their faces’.
Scottish Borders Council (SBC) heard last year that seven children were attacked by herring gulls in the space of a month and left with gashes to their scalps.
In addition to children gulls are known to be decimating endangered ground nesting birds, including curlews and lapwings, across the uplands as well as tern colonies.
There are thought to be about a million gulls . All are predatory and all will be not just feeding themselves but also foraging as the year goes on for 2-4 growing offspring.
It was not always like this. These gulls used to be much less dominant. In 1953 the total winter population of lesser black backed gulls was said to be under 200. What happened? How can the numbers of a relatively uncommon predator simply explode? Explode they did.
The wintering population of lesser black backed gulls went from 165 in 1953 to 125,113 in 2003/4. There were several factors. One was the decline in the practice of collecting their eggs to use as human food, thanks to their breeding sites being increasingly protected.
Another was the growth of landfill sites where they could find vast amounts of waste food. The third was the practice of throwing dead fish and offal from fishing boats which, again, provided vast amounts of easy food.
Interestingly, the exponential growth in population was not the result of the ending of the local control of gull numbers to protect ground nesting birds.
Throughout the period of growth these gulls were on the General Licence and could be culled for conservation purposes and often were, by farmers, gamekeepers and, to a larger than usual extent, by the conservation industry.
But then Mark Avery, Ruth Tingay and Chris Packham’s Wild Justice campaigned to have gulls removed from the General licence. This change made it effectively impossible to cull large numbers of gulls for conservation purposes in the countryside.
The result of this is now clear to see with endangered ground nesting birds being wiped out and little children having their heads cut open.
Yet, on a recent visit to Conwy, Chris Packham boasted of ripping down warning posters to not feed the gulls there, as it makes them aggressive.
The parents of the children whose heads have been cut open should direct their anger at Wild Justice and Ruth Tingay, Mark Avery and Chris Packham should hang their heads in shame.