Let's talk about Britain's seagull problem

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Transcript

00:00There's a public menace in British society that we need to talk about.

00:03It's loud, opportunistic, an invasive species, and it's scared everyone from small children to grown men.

00:10It's been caught on camera snatching ice cream cones from unsuspecting tourists,

00:14raiding bins with the precision of a very seasoned thief, and in some unfortunate situations,

00:21launching full-on aerial assaults that have left its victims cut, bruised, and traumatized.

00:28The culprit? This guy. Don't be fooled by his cuteness. He will wake you up at 4am,

00:34screeching his head off. He'll steal your chips if you so much as glance away,

00:39and he has no problem staring you down while he does it. He doesn't feel guilt. He has no shame.

00:45He is a seagull. But here's the thing. Seagulls aren't just seaside birds anymore. In recent

00:51decades, they've been moving inland, setting up permanent residence in towns and cities across

00:56the UK. There's nothing quite as disorienting as walking through central London and hearing

01:01their unmistakable cries, and you wonder momentarily whether you're in Margate or

01:06Marble Arch. But how did they get there, and more importantly, why? What started the great

01:12gull migration in the UK, and what do they do for food when there's no fish and chips around?

01:17To understand how we've become so acquainted with these bold birds, we have to go back to

01:21the late 1800s. Before then, spotting a gull in London was an event. It was something so rare that

01:28it made the papers. In fact, one man was so surprised to see seagulls near London Bridge

01:33that he actually wrote a letter to the Evening Standard about it. Imagine being so shocked by a

01:38bird's presence that you felt compelled to contact the press. That's how rare they were.

01:43The numbers grew slowly in the 1880s and 90s, but a major turning point came during the harsh

01:48winters of the 1890s. With coastal conditions becoming icy, large numbers of gulls were driven

01:54inland in search of food. The black-headed gull was one of the first to make itself at home,

01:58and Londoners, seeing them as a fun novelty, began feeding them scraps from their lunch boxes.

02:05Big mistake. With an easy food source and safe nesting spots, the colonies grew rapidly. By 1901,

02:12gulls were spotted all over Wimbledon, and by the 1940s, they were all over most of London. By the

02:171970s, they'd spread to cities like Bristol, Gloucester, and Cardiff. Today, Natural England

02:24estimates that around 75% of gulls live permanently in urban areas. They're not just visitors anymore.

02:30They live here. Now, a few other key factors really cemented their inland migration. One of

02:35the biggest was the 1956 Clean Air Act, and what this did was it banned landfill operators from

02:42burning rubbish. Instead, they had to cover it with soil. The result was a delicious buffet for

02:48scavenging birds. Landfills became an all-you-can-eat bonanza, allowing gulls to feed their

02:53young with ease and rapidly expand their families. At the same time, industrialized fishing practices

02:59began depleting their coastal nesting sites, so you have a dwindling natural habitat and an

03:04abundant food supply inland. The choice was honestly obvious. Cities provided warmth,

03:10protection from predators, and plenty of food, and as anyone who's ever tried to eat a sandwich

03:16outdoors in Brighton knows, gulls are not one to pass up a free meal. Now, how smart are gulls?

03:22The answer is annoyingly smart. Gulls have large brains relative to their body size, making them

03:27incredibly adaptable. They've been observed doing all kinds of things, like dropping shellfish onto

03:33hard surfaces to crack them open, fishing by using bread as bait, and even memorizing human schedules

03:40in order to maximize their own feeding times. For example, in Bristol, researchers found that gulls

03:46had learned the school break times to make sure that they were around when the kids would drop

03:51food. Even more impressively, they figured out where compost collection points were and returned at

03:57specific times to scavenge the best scraps. These birds are not just out to survive, they are here

04:03to strategize. And let's not forget their physical capabilities. The largest gull species has a

04:09wingspan of over 1.5 meters, making them formidable in flight. They also live for decades, which

04:15ensures they pass down knowledge generation through generation. So if one gull figures out how to

04:21snatch your sandwich without getting caught, you can bet his children will be mastering the same

04:25technique. But despite their intelligence, in the UK, gulls are not exactly beloved neighbors.

04:32They're territorial, they're aggressive, and they're very good at dive bombing humans. Some

04:38Brits have tried to protect themselves with things like carrying umbrellas as a shield,

04:44deploying hawks and falcons to try and scare them off, sometimes even installing fake flying eagles

04:51on wires. And entire city councils have dedicated gull control budgets, but so far they remain

04:58mostly undeterred. Social media is also filled with seagull horror stories and some quite funny

05:03anecdotes, including things like, I've been mugged by one in Brighton before, and it was frightening

05:09and pretty irritating that I lost half a donut. While the gulls in Brighton are tough, the ones

05:13in Bournemouth will take on your dog, your best mate, and your family at the same time, and still

05:18win without breaking a sweat. Someone else says, I lost the croissant that was supposed to cure my

05:22mental breakdown to a Sussex uni seagull. Basically, they're always up for a fight with anything,

05:28anyone, anywhere, and they don't really care how bad your day has already been. But here's the

05:33surprising truth. Gulls are actually in trouble. Despite their growing urban presence in the UK,

05:40overall seagull populations are actually declining. I know it doesn't seem like it, but they are.

05:45All seven species that breed in the UK are now on the birds of conservation concern list. Numbers

05:51have dropped around 60 percent in the last 25 years. As mentioned, seagulls are struggling in

05:57their natural coastal habitats due to culling, food shortages, and climate change. And yet,

06:02because most of us see them in urban environments where they are thriving, we assume they're doing

06:07fine. But the reality is much more complicated. Many experts suggest that instead of treating

06:12gulls as enemies, we should find ways to support them in returning to coastal areas. This means

06:17protecting their seaside nesting sites, ensuring sustainable fishing practices, and reducing food

06:23waste in cities so they're less reliant on human garbage. And yes, they can be a total menace, but

06:29they're also just trying to survive. And now I want to hear from you. Have you ever had a seagull

06:35steal your food? Tell us your best or worst gull encounter in the comments below. As always,

06:40thanks very much for watching, and I'll see you next time.

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