Description
Pairing for life, gulls are productive breeders with two birds raising up to 30 chicks over a ten year period. Mating generally begins with the birds identifying nesting sites in February each year, with the actual breeding season running from March to the end of July with a typical clutch of three eggs laid in April/early May. The shooting or poisoning of gulls is against the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Although proofing and scaring methods are highly effective at protecting individual structures, none of these methods offer a long term solution for controlling the population numbers of gulls in urban environments.
A recent scientific study has proved that using imitation eggs was a ‘viable and effective method of control’ and ‘noise and nuisance levels in treated areas were clearly reduced’. The research proved that urban gulls will accept plastic imitation eggs in place of their own in the nest with the gulls “incubating them for twice the normal incubation time (56-60 days) and when the eggs were finally rejected, the nests were abandoned without replacement eggs or nests occurring”. Whilst incubating the imitation eggs, the gulls are quiet and less aggressive, reducing annoyance and attacks. As well as keeping breeding gulls calm, repeated replacement of real eggs with non-viable imitations in each breeding season reduces the number of hatchlings and future recruits within treated areas.
