In inland areas, especially outside the breeding season, gulls often roost in many thousands on large bodies of water such as reservoirs or flooded gravel pits. When inland, are largely dependent on domestic refuse for food. Herring gulls and lesser black-backed gulls are becoming increasingly important pests as they have changed their behaviour over the last two decades, to nest more and more on buildings rather than on natural coastal areas.

Their aggressive behaviour is now widely publicised, and their nesting and breeding habits can cause large problems on buildings for all sectors of the community, creating noise, especially during courtship and chick rearing.

Heavy fouling can sometimes be a problem on buildings used by gulls, their nests can block gutters and drainage channels on roofs and their aggressive behaviour during the breeding season can result in attacks on members of the public.

Many studies have shown that gulls pick up disease organisms which cause food poisoning in humans and spread/distribute them about the environment. These include Salmonella spp, listeria spp, vibrio cholerae spp to name but a few.

Treatment & Prevention

Unlike many other 'problem species' Gulls present the professional pest control companies with two main problems. Firstly, gulls are not confined to a single centre of activity as they move widely around in search for food. Secondly, they are considerably more intelligent than most pest birds and despite the best efforts of some professionals to deter or remove them, colonies have continued to expand.

Being based near the south coast, Standby Pest Control has experience in systems that work, including population control and predatory birds of prey, speaker systems playing distress calls.

Bird Droppings: Health Hazards

Psittacosis (Ornithosis)

An infectious disease usually transmitted through inhalation of dust or airborne particles contaminated by bird faeces or nasal discharge or from contaminated feathers. The organism can survive many months in dry dust. The symptoms of human infection range from a flu-like illness with fever, joint and muscle pains of a few days (in about 25% of cases) to pneumonia (in about 60% of cases) and possible endocarditis (inflammation of the Heart) and hepatitis (inflammation of the Liver).

Bird Lung (Extrinsic Allergic Alveolitis)

This is an allergic disease. Inhalation of bird droppings may cause acute disease with symptoms of fever and chest tightness with cough. The disease may also manifest itself in chronic form with shortness of breath on exertion. Such is the importance and danger now associated with the disposal of nesting and guano the HSE have issued guidance for removal and, states the following precautions are recommended:

• Personal protective equipment in the form of a disposable one-piece boiler suit with close fitting hood should be worn.
• Respiratory protective equipment in the form of a ventilated helmet with RPE to asbestos standards is advised.
• Good personal hygiene measures are essential and should include adequate washing facilities and separate eating facilities.
• The offending material should be removed in such a way as to minimise the amount of dust generated.
• The bulk of the material should be placed in plastic sacks and disposal by incineration arranged.
• The contaminated surfaces should be treated to eradicate bacteria.

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