An elderly couple found themselves at the receiving end of a pair of overprotective seagulls whose chicks happened to nest in the canopy above the front door of the couple’s home.
Roy and Brenda Pickard found themselves trapped for nearly a week since every time they tried to pass through the front door, the birds would be waiting to attack. The 77-year-old Roy even had to seek treatment at a hospital when one bird had hit him so hard at the back of the head that it bled.
Roy, from Knott End, Lancashire, said: “The whole thing has been terrible.
“I’ve not been able to go out of the front door. If I try to get out of the door, the two adult birds are right there, and I’ve got no chance. It’s genuinely frightening.”
He added: “My wife isn’t well or very mobile at the moment so we’re relying on me to get out.
“Thankfully, we have an integrated garage and I can get into it from the kitchen, open the garage door and drive out to get our shopping, but I have to leave the garage door open, which isn’t ideal.”
Still, he’s thankful that he wasn’t attacked head-on.
“If that bird had hit me in the face instead of the back of the head, I dread to think how seriously injured I would have been,” Roy said.
“I had to go to Royal Lancaster Infirmary to get treatment but thankfully I could get in the car.”
A call to the Wyre Council wasn’t any help as they informed him that the birds were Herring Gulls and hence protected while nesting.
Roy contacted the RSPB, RSPCA, and even his local radio station out of desperation.
BBC Radio Lancashire eventually helped them set up a gazebo in front of the house to protect them from the overly aggressive birds.
But Roy is still cross with the animal welfare organizations who were no help at all.
He said: “The RSPCA and RSPB have been no help whatsoever, they seem to put the rights of these birds above those of people, which is ridiculous.
“The public pays donations to keep these organizations going and this is what you get.
“Wyre Council sent a man down and he took a photo, and then they seemed to tell me they would bring someone else around with an umbrella to protect us.
“But they don’t seem to be able to do anything about the birds.
“Why are seagulls protected? They are not an endangered species, they’re a flaming nuisance.”
A spokesman for the Wyre Council said: “We sympathize with Mr. Pickard’s situation, seagulls can be troublesome, particularly when nesting. We have visited Mr. Pickard to assess the situation and have given advice on how he can deal with the gulls.
“For now, a solution is in place which will enable Mr. Pickard to take his wife to her private appointment. The gulls in question are Herring Gulls and they are protected once nesting and so there are limited solutions available.
“We advise residents who have a problem with seagulls to bird proof their properties prior to the breeding season.”
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