The mayor of Keswick has put out a desperate SOS to rid the town of an invasion of noisy and aggressive seagulls.
Alan Dunn is one of a number of residents in the Station Street area who have been plagued by a sudden influx of the birds this year.
He says he is at the end of his tether after weeks of sleepless nights – but neighbours say they are frightened to leave their houses after being attacked and one even says her mental health is suffering.
“We can see one pair nesting above the H&H Estate Agents and there are other nests around the back streets,” Mr Dunn told The Keswick Reminder.
“It’s become a nightmare. The shrieking begins at 2am every night from the rooftops, and once it wakes you up you just can’t get back to sleep again. Meanwhile people have been attacked on the street in broad daylight, which is absolutely terrifying.
“To add insult to injury there’s the problem of droppings. You come down in the morning to find your car absolutely covered in the stuff.
“But what can we do? You can’t shoot them, because they’re a protected species, and putting spikes on the roof would be prohibitively expensive. I’m just hoping there’s someone out there who can help, because we really are getting desperate.”
Sue Forte, who runs a B&B in Eskin Street, says she has now been attacked twice by seagulls.
“Last Monday I was making my way home and I saw two gull chicks walking along the road next to the taxi office,” she said. “The next thing I knew, the mother came swooping down and nearly took my head off.
“And a few days later I was attacked again while walking the dog. The dog was terrified and just lay there spreadeagled on the pavement. A friend of mine down the road says she’s so scared she won’t dare take her dog out of the back door.”
Sue, who usually sleeps in a top floor room of her B&B, says she has been forced to move into one of the guest bedrooms to escape the noise.
“Once they start, the noise is deafening and you just can’t sleep. I can honestly say it’s starting to affect my mental health, because I spend the day walking round in a daze and I just can’t concentrate.”
Now in desperation, the mayor is appealing for help from anyone who has experience of dealing with the problem legally and ethically. He says the problem will only become worse if nothing is done.
Although Keswick is more than 30 miles from the sea, according to the RSPB gulls are attracted by abundant inland sources of food and safe, predator-free nesting sites on rooftops.
And while there have been no reports of attacks in the town centre, the gulls have been seen raiding bins in Hope Park.
A spokesman said: “The 1956 Clean Air Act prevented rubbish tip operators burning waste, so gulls took advantage of the huge amount of organic material increasingly generated by our ‘throw-away’ society and sent to landfill.
“Many urban streets are also frequently replete with discarded food and accessible rubbish and some people feed gulls.
“Government licences allow the killing of urban gulls only as a last resort, where a significant risk to public health or safety has been identified.”
Sarah Dalrymple, of the Walney Island Nature Reserve near Barrow, said the only solution might be to remove food sources.
“People are often surprised when they see gulls inland, but they go where the food is. If there’s nothing for them to eat, they’ll go somewhere else.”
