What if I told you, you were living in a wildlife sanctuary?
Imogen makes the case to protect our gulls from urban persecution
If you work in an office, sit in meetings, or chat with neighbours, chances are you've heard people complain about gulls. "They're a nuisance." "They're too noisy/messy." "They divebomb me for my lunch." Gulls have somehow become villains of the urban wildlife world, seen more as pests than as part of our fragile ecosystem.
But what if we’ve got this all wrong? What if we realised we are actually living alongside one of the most threatened seabirds in the world?
What if I told you - you were living in a wildlife sanctuary?
It might surprise people in Highland to learn that gulls are not exactly thriving, when they are all around us. In fact, their numbers are plummeting globally.
Three of the five main gull species found in Scotland are now Red Listed - meaning they are of the highest conservation concern. The common gull, despite its name, is anything but common, having declined by over 53% and was added to the red list in 2024 alongside the great black backed gull. Herring gulls, often the ones people complain about most, with their big brash manner - have seen their population fall by 60% since the 1980s and have been a protected species for a while longer.
And here's the kicker: Scotland holds 89% of the entire British and Irish population of Common Gulls. That means we’re not just putting up with gulls - we’re actually responsible for their survival.
Let that sink in….
This isn’t just about noisy birds on rooftops, it’s about protecting a species that may disappear if we don’t act, so we really need to try to proactively find a way to accomodate these birds and not simply persecute them to extinction.
So, Why Have Gulls Moved Into Towns?
The answer is simple: humans forced them to.
Gulls traditionally nested on coastal cliffs, moorlands, and islands, but human activity has reshaped their world. Overfishing by humans has devastated their food supply, coastal land reclamation has built over their traditional nesting areas, and landfill sites - once an easy food source - have been cleaned up (with other benefits of course!). With fewer and fewer places to go, they have turned to our towns and cities, nesting on rooftops, foraging in parks, and yes, sometimes eyeing up our lunch.
And who can blame them? They are simply adapting to survive in a world that has changed around them.
Why Do Gulls Swoop?
One of the biggest gripes people have about gulls is their defensive behaviour. They swoop, they call loudly, they might even seem to target you with a well-aimed dropping. But this isn’t aggression, it’s parenting.
Like any good mum or dad, gulls will defend their young. If you get too close to a nest or a fledgling, they will try to warn you off. They don’t want to attack you, they want to protect their chicks.
The easiest way to avoid a confrontation? Give them space. If you must walk through an area with nesting gulls, and in many Scottish cities- this is sometimes unavoidable, wearing a hat, carrying an umbrella, or simply being aware of your surroundings to give nests a wide berth, can help.
So, how do we live alongside a globally threatened species?
The good news is that there are ways to minimise conflict while supporting gulls at the same time.
One approach is proactive nest management. By providing nest baskets in quieter locations, we can encourage gulls to settle in areas where they won’t come into frequent conflict with people. Think the gull equivalent of a nesting box. These baskets can mimic natural nesting sites and offer a safer alternative to rooftops in busy areas and other problematic locations. Encouraging birds to nest in more suitable areas is a practical and humane solution to many of the issues people raise about urban gulls. This requires a bit of care and investment.
In some cases, licensing for relocation may be necessary. With the proper permissions from Nature.Scot, problem nests can be carefully moved to a more suitable location, rather than being illegally destroyed. This ensures both legal compliance and a more sustainable way of managing human-wildlife interactions.
Another simple but effective strategy is community education. Many of the frustrations people feel towards gulls stem from a lack of understanding about their behaviour and their rarity. Putting up informative signage in key areas can help people appreciate why gulls behave the way they do, reducing the likelihood of unnecessary conflict or complaints. Closed gull proof bins, and less street litter - will slowly stop gulls from associating humans with discarded food - and of course not deliberatly feeding gulls human food.
A little knowledge can go a long way in establishing better relationships between people and wildlife, and rangers are key components in facilitating these conversations.
It’s Time to Rethink
At the end of the day, gulls are not really the problem, we are. We’ve taken away their habitats, changed their food supply, caused the climate to change and now we complain when they try to survive alongside us. It’s time to shift our perspective. If gulls were a rare rainforest mammel, we'd be doing everything we could to protect them.
They’re bold and adaptable, but we call them a pest. I would love it, if we could see them for what they really are: Survivors; Parents; and as vital a part of Scotland’s wildlife as the much loved (and similarly red listed) puffin.
Maybe it’s time to stop seeing them as the enemy and start recognising them as the globally important species they are. Because if we don’t, we might just wake up one day and realise that the noise of gulls crying- the sound of the seaside- is gone forever. And that would be a much bigger loss than a stolen chip.
Remember all wild birds in Great Britain are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 . This includes even common species.
Imogen Furlong, the High Life Highland Countryside Ranger Manager, is known for her enthusiasm, organisation, and drive. Her deep passion for the Scottish Highlands' wildlife and extensive experience in outdoor education and recreation management have been central to this role. Imogen is a practical and collaborative project manager, empowering her teams to work effectively in communities and contribute to local conservation efforts.
This is a fabulous article, Imogen. There are two herring gulls which regularly pop into my garden on the outskirts of Inverness and I love watching their behaviour. I really wish that folk could see that it's human behaviour that has brought the gulls to us whether in urban environments or in the mountains: humans leave our waste everywhere and gulls come to see what they can eat.
Superb article Imogen. It would be great if the plight of our gulls was more widely appreciated