Latest news with #seagulls
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Stop feeding seagull 'muggers', East Yorkshire beachgoers told
New signs warning people not to feed seagulls have been put up in towns on the East Yorkshire than 30 have been put up in car parks, bus stations and around sea fronts in Bridlington, Hornsea and Riding of Yorkshire Council said feeding the birds turned them into pests and there were "many reports of gulls 'mugging' people for their food".Councillor Barbara Jefferson, the cabinet member for the coast, said: "We want to make our seaside towns much more pleasant places and encourage people not to turn these wonderful birds into a nuisance." Posters will be handed out in takeaways asking people to dispose of food properly in council wants to encourage seagulls to return to their natural habitat and diet. A study in 2020 found that seagulls favour human food, which could partly explain why they have been successful in colonising urban council said giving the gulls food encouraged scavenging and aggressive droppings could also be harmful to human health, the authority added. The warning comes after a study found seabird droppings to be the "main contributor" to pollution on Bridlington South Beach. Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Seagulls baited with food and run over across north Wales
Seagulls are being deliberately enticed into roads with food and then injured or killed by cars, according to a Foundation for Feathered Friends, (FFF) said the practice had increased over the past couple of years, with both adults and children spotted baiting the founder Denise Theophilus, 71, said the charity had received reports of food being deliberately thrown into roads in locations along the north Wales coast, including Prestatyn, Abergele and are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, like all wild birds, meaning it is illegal to intentionally kill or injure them. Ms Theophilus, 71, started the group to "balance the hatred" she had seen for gulls when she moved to north Wales. They are also considered a conservation concern with the six main gull species found in the UK, particularly herring gulls, in decline."I don't want gulls thinking all humans are like this," she added. Ms Theophilus said gulls were starving at this time of year and trying to feed their chicks, so would look for food wherever they can find it."I have lost track of all the messages that come in," she said."I was told about kids throwing food for gulls in Rhyl and watching as the cars nearly hit them."Children grow up thinking gulls are winged rats and it's OK to do whatever to them." She added that a volunteer had picked up a bird in Prestatyn on Sunday after a man had thrown food out of his vehicle and it was hit by a car when it flew down to get it. Five of the charity's volunteers have small pens and aviaries at their homes where injured and sick birds can be cared for, but Ms Theophilus said some birds could not recover enough to be released back into the wild. She added that nothing was being done to enforce the law on the issue and the police were "not interested"."It's really discouraging that no-one does anything," she Wales Police has been asked to comment.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Bird lovers horrified by maimed seagull 'trend' as remains scattered across roads in North Wales
Bird lovers have been left horrified by a brutal new 'trend'. Campaigners claim they have mounting evidence people are deliberately throwing food onto roads and watching on as hungry seagulls swoop down, only to get hit by vehicles. Volunteers working for the Caernarfon-based Foundation for Feathered Friends (FFF) are reporting a rising number of apparent incidents on the North Wales coast. While some are said to involve youths, the charity claimed adults have also been seen enticing gulls onto busy roads, North Wales Live reports. FFF founder Denise Theophilus said the charity was often left to pick up the pieces. 'We totally support the feeding of wild birds, especially gulls,' she said. 'Often they are emaciated when they arrive in coastal communities. But this is not the right way to do it. READ MORE: Benefit cheat mum must repay £22k after being caught out by innocuous Facebook post READ MORE: Lidl pulls popular product from shelves following urgent 'do not eat' warning 'Who in their right mind would deliberately put these birds in danger by making them swoop onto roads to be hit by oncoming cars? We are aware that children will get up to all kinds of mischief – but adults doing this must have some kind of psychiatric issue. 'It's definitely a trend, we're seeing more and more instances of it happening. And it's us that have to pick up the poor gulls wounded by monsters like these.' According to Denise, volunteers have reported examples from Abergele, Prestatyn, Rhyl and Llandudno. Given the number of casualties being treated by North Wales Wild Bird Care, FFF's sister group, she believes it is probably happening elsewhere. In one instance, Denise claimed food had been carefully laid out on a street in Rhyl. She said three car-hit gulls were found lying dead 'equidistantly' near the food. A fourth was still alive but later died. 'One of our volunteers was driving through Llandudno when she saw a group of youths throwing food onto a road,' she said. 'They were laughing as they watched cars come towards the gulls. She wanted to go back and disperse the kids but her husband didn't want to get involved.' Wind-blown litter is another reason why gulls dice with death on busy roads – social media videos have highlighted the dangers of carelessly discarded food cartons. However there's little online evidence of gratuitous clips showing gulls being deliberately enticed onto roads. Denise claimed the practice has been witnessed outside schools and in retail car parks. When images were shared online, bird lovers were left 'sickened' by the claims. One person called the practice 'shameful and inhuman', another said it was 'utterly disgraceful'. A man claimed some motorists deliberately target gulls. He said: 'I've seen a few birds, mainly gulls, laying in the road that have been run over on purpose." Herring gulls are a protected species and are on the Red List for Conservation. The RSPCA said people need to be careful when disposing of edible litter. A spokesperson said: 'Gulls can get a bad rap especially in seaside towns, and sadly are thought of by some as a pest. 'However, they are simply wild animals trying to survive in their surroundings, and deserve our kindness and respect. It's important for people to remember that they are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and it is illegal to intentionally harm any wild bird, except under licence.' The RSPCA gives the following advice on living in harmony with gulls: In some seaside towns where people have fed gulls, they have learned to snatch food. Try to keep food to yourself but don't blame them if they can't tell the difference between scraps willingly offered and your bag of chips. Dispose of edible litter carefully – put it in gull-proof litter bins. Plastic bags left in the street are an open invitation for gulls to investigate. Gulls that swoop suddenly on people or pets are usually trying to protect chicks that have got out of the nest. If you see a gull chick leave it alone – its parents can look after it better than you. Gulls make the most noise between May and July when they are breeding. If gulls on your roof disturb you, or you are worried they may block a gas flue, you can prevent them from nesting there in future. Your local environmental health department or pest control company should be able to tell you about the devices available. It's illegal to disturb wild birds' nests and eggs, except under licence.
New York Times
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
What to Read this Summer
Readers, get ready: Summer books are here. These are the novels destined to grow plump with pool water. They're the memoirs, biographies, histories and mysteries to lose yourself in while slathered with sunscreen or sitting strategically downwind of an air conditioning vent. They'll whisk you away if you can't escape and ground you when you're far from home. They're best served with Popsicles, peaches, soft-serve, ice water and lemonade. Cold beer, too. For some of us at the Book Review, summer reading is our Super Bowl and Oscars Night. We search for new and clever ways to wax rhapsodic about the joy of turning pages in the sun — or during a July thunderstorm or in a hammock or by the light of a campfire. (To be honest, hammocks make me queasy, and I've only slept in a tent once.) Beach reads are my bailiwick, and I've written about them so many times I now have to cross-reference previous dispatches to find out if I've already opined about my favorite chair (Adirondack), sunglasses (cat eye) and soundtrack (seagulls). But when Memorial Day weekend rolls around, I'm grateful all over again to toil in the realm of Slip 'n Slides rather than stadiums or red carpets. There's that stillness and lull, that sweaty, sandy, chlorinated, blueberry-scented sense of a break, even for those of us who are long out of school. Life's requirements loosen, the box fan gets lugged down from the attic, books beckon. The Book Review has lists of 31 new novels and 21 nonfiction books to carry you through the summer. Here are a few I'm excited about: Romance and thrills On the fiction front, I predict that Taylor Jenkins Reid's 'Atmosphere' will catch a big wave this summer, with its clandestine love story set in a 1980s space mission. Amy Bloom's novel, 'I'll Be Right Here' is as comfortingly titled as her debut story collection, 'Come to Me,' and follows a group of friends over decades and generations, beginning in postwar Paris. (Speaking of interesting jobs, one character works as a masseuse to the writer Colette.) Finally, I have my eye on 'Our Last Resort' by Clémence Michallon, whose last thriller, 'The Quiet Tenant,' stoked my insomnia at a lakeside rental with a shed not unlike the one where her protagonist was chained to a radiator. This time Michallon follows two cult escapees to a luxury hotel in the Utah desert. What can go wrong in a place with high thread-count sheets? A lot, apparently. Moms and classic rock On the nonfiction side, 'How to Lose Your Mother' by Molly Jong-Fast, is funnier than it sounds, and a tender, honest account of caring for an aging parent who happens to be famous. (Jong-Fast's mother is Erica Jong, author of 'Fear of Flying,' among other trailblazing and autobiographical works.) I'm also looking forward to Sophie Elmhirst's 'A Marriage at Sea,' about a married couple who, in the 1970s, were stranded on a tiny rubber raft in the ocean for 117 days, and Peter Ames Carlin's 'Tonight in Jungleland,' about the making of Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run' album. And because it too has a Jersey Shore angle, I'm curious about 'Baddest Man' by Mark Kriegel, which follows Mike Tyson's complicated, often troubling journey from Brooklyn to Atlantic City and beyond. It sounds like an intriguing accompaniment for my 'Rocky'-style workout, a leisurely stroll on the beach with occasional lunges for pretty shells. For more: Looking for a new book to read? Let us help you find one. Tariffs Foreign Policy Immigration Middle East More International News Other Big Stories Peter Orszag, a budget director under President Obama, argues it's time to worry about the national debt. We need to stop being weird about people eating alone at a restaurant, Callie Hitchcock writes. Here are columns by Michelle Goldberg on a new movie from the creator of 'Succession' and Nicholas Kristof on how to counter Trump. American men are getting worse at friendship. Only 26 percent of men reported having six or more close friends, a 2024 survey found. Polling for a similar question in 1990 put the figure at 55 percent. 'Your dad has no friends,' John Mulaney said during an opening monologue on 'Saturday Night Live.' 'If you think your dad has friends, you're wrong. Your mom has friends, and they have husbands. Those are not your dad's friends.' A writer feels this in his own life. He once had a rich world of male friendship, but he now has a more isolated adulthood. He uses his personal experience to explore a broader phenomenon. Read the story here. Your pick: Staffing cuts could make national parks a mess this summer. The most clicked article in The Morning yesterday lists five state parks to visit instead. One writing class: 35 years, 113 deals and 95 books. Ask Vanessa: How can I help my children make dress appropriately? Parenting: The Cut asks, 'Should we give our kids fewer choices?' Trending: People are talking about the season finale of HBO's 'The Last of Us.' For those unafraid of spoilers, here's a recap. Metropolitan Diary: A whiff of glamour at LaGuardia. Lives Lived: Nino Benvenuti was an Italian boxer who was named the outstanding fighter of the 1960 Rome Olympics. He died at 87. N.B.A.: The New York Knicks overcame a 20-point deficit to take Game 3 and narrow the Indiana Pacers' series lead to 2-1. Indy 500: Alex Palou won the race for the first time, beating Marcus Ericsson. Hockey: The U.S. won its first men's World Championship since 1933 in dramatic fashion, beating Switzerland 1-0 in overtime. Sixty years ago, when Muhammad Ali caught Sonny Liston with a sharp right 1 minute and 44 seconds into their title bout on May 25, 1965, a few things happened in quick succession. Liston hit the mat. Ali hovered over him, shouting, 'Get up and fight, sucker!' And, Neil Leifer, a 22-year-old freelance photographer, tripped the shutter of his camera. Read about what many say is the best sports photo ever taken. More on culture Mix Prosecco, Aperol and sparkling water to make an Aperol spritz. Shop the best Memorial Day sales. Protect yourself from ticks. Stop being so judgy. Take our news quiz. Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangrams were beanpole and openable. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. 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The Independent
25-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
How to tell if a seagull is going to steal your food
A seagull eyeing your lunch or ice cream is unlikely to try to steal it if not part of a flock, scientists have found. Due to an instinct known as neophobia, which means a fear of the unknown, scientists have discovered that herring gulls are mostly reluctant to attack when on their own. But, according to researchers at Ghent University, this fear diminishes when seagulls are part of a flock – potentially putting your food at greater risk. In a study published in the Royal Society Open Science journal, scientists carried out experiments involving a group of 54 seagulls they had reared from hatching. In order to gauge how quickly the gulls would take to approach their food if faced with an unfamiliar object nearby, the scientists placed a range of items – a multicoloured ball, a bucket, brush, folder and jerrycan – next to the gulls' food supply. Some of these objects were familiar to the birds and others were new to them. They found that, when alone, the gulls took an average of 9.81 seconds to approach their food bowl when faced with an unfamiliar object – compared with just 3.52 seconds when in a group. Notably, 24 of the gulls did not eat at all when alone and faced with an unfamiliar object. The scientists also found that the birds were willing to spend more time near their food when in a group than those on their own. Lone gulls spent an average of just 38.8 seconds near their food, compared with 111.8 seconds when in a group – while 16 birds did not approach their food at all. The study states: 'Individuals tested in groups were quicker to eat and spent more time near a novel object than individuals tested alone. 'The results of our study suggest that the presence of group members reduces perceived individual risk, allowing individuals to behave less cautiously.' Noting that 'each bird likely perceives the risk to be shared by the group', the authors said their findings were consistent with previous studies showing that social animals often rely on the presence of the group to make quicker decisions and engage in potentially risky situations. An accompanying release from the Royal Society added: 'When confronted by a gull after your chips it might be best to catch them one-on-one.' While there may be some comfort in the findings that a lone seagull could pose less of a threat of theft, a previous study has suggested that gulls actually prefer food that they have seen being handled by humans, as opposed to food left lying unattended. Although in a further possible line of defence, an earlier study suggested that staring at a seagull could help to deter it from trying to take your food. Scientists at the University of Exeter found that gulls took an average of 21 seconds longer to approach a bag of chips if they could see they were being watched, with just 27 out of 74 birds observed being too cautious to take a chip when a human was nearby.
