Exclusive By Phil Coleman

Last updated at 12:13, Tuesday, 04 May 2010

Angry seagulls are regularly attacking workers on a Carlisle industrial estate, leaving some so afraid that they will no longer risk walking between buildings.

Businesses are being plagued by seagulls

The huge birds are flocking to the Kingstown estate in growing numbers so they can nest on roofs.

But workers in the area are living in fear of the birds, which regularly “dive-bomb” them, probably because they consider them a threat.

Many say the attacks resemble scenes from the classic Alfred Hitchcock horror movie The Birds.

Some companies have now resorted to hiring a bird of prey expert, who has flown a hawk in the area to scare off the seagulls while other have used anti seagull sirens.

With the nesting season about to get underway, employees on the estate are bracing themselves for a surge in attacks as the seagulls battle to protect their chicks.

Truck and car companies are also being frustrated by the amount of seagull muck.

Ian Wheatcroft, branch manager at Ciceley Commercials, the Mercedes-Benz commercial truck and van dealership in Petersfield Road, said: “I’ve been dive-bombed on numerous occasions.

“The seagulls are protecting their young after making nests on the roofs round here.

“Some of these birds are a fair old size, with a wing span of about three feet. It can be quite frightening when they come swooping down at you.”

He said his research suggested that seagulls often return to the place where they were reared, steadily adding to the bird numbers.

The firm’s workshop controller Mark Walters said he had noticed a definite increase in seagull numbers, and he recently saw around 50 of the birds circling above the building where he is based.

“It’s definitely getting worse,” he said. “It never used to be a major problem here.”

One of the key problems for the companies affected is the seagull mess – which has to be washed of vehicles quickly because it is acidic and would otherwise stain paint-work.

The firm hopes the use of a hawk or eagle of some kind may keep seagull numbers down.

At the nearby Graham (Commercials), on Kingstown Broadway, director Stuart Graham said: “The seagulls are a major problem. Basically, people don’t feel safe walking from one depot to another because once the chicks are born the birds become very protective, swooping down on people. It’s a problem across the estate.

“You can’t walk round the corner without being dive-bombed. It’s scary – you have to watch your back all the time. Even though it’s just 100 yards from our office to our depot round the corner, some people won’t risk it – they drive round in the van.”

Across the road, at the Bendalls Hinds paint and body car workshop, general manager Darren Wildey said: “It’s a big problem for us too.

“Because the seagull muck is so corrosive, it spoils paint-work, and we’ve had to redo vehicles because of it.

“The firm over the road used a siren, with a recording of a seagull in distress, but that just scared them on to other buildings.”

Several of the firms said they were advised by environmental health officials that they would have to come up with methods of dealing with the seagull problem themselves. But the law prevents any person from interfering with a bird which is caring for chicks in a nest.

Gary Swainson, 39, who has been a falconer for 30 years, uses his birds to help McVities keep seagulls off their premises in Carlisle, said: “The problem is definitely getting worse.

“Many seagulls are just not going out to sea and many have permanently become inland birds.

“It's probably a lot to do with there being more fast food outlets, and that means they can make good living.”

First published at 11:30, Tuesday, 04 May 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk