Bath’s urban gull population comes in for criticism this sunny weekend. Eddy Priest writes:
“Hi Richard. Any chance you could do an article on the filthy mess in our city caused by the pesky sea gulls?
I took the photo of two cars in Wood St. this morning. I felt so sorry for the owners as this material etches its way through the paint lacquer.
I believe this is totally unacceptable in our beautiful city. God knows what the tourists think of us.
The Harrington Hotel in Queens St. has to scrub their pavements every morning so their customers don’t foul their shoes and suitcases whilst exiting the premises.”
B&NES has had a gull programme running for a couple of years now in an attempt to reduce the gull population. They have been removing nests and trying to encourage people not to drop food on the pavement.
Except of course these two cars have been parked in that street for days and days. Dumped. You’ll note none of the other cars have the same issue. The real problem is the cars polluting our public realm. 😉
I think some owners of buildings try a few measures to discourage the gulls. I seem to recall the Argos building on the Upper Bristol has some sort of anti-bird ‘hairnet’ over the roof and I think there are another couple of buildings employing similar measures around. There is some poor soul who parks regularly in Queens Parade, who has to have a loose cover over their car because of the trees there, and hence birds…
Bob Draper
Speaking as a tourist, I think that birds go to the bathroom and sometimes if a place is crowded with cars, they too will receive the largesse. I have had the same experience in Berlin, and here near Woodstock NY, and simply accepted that yes, birds do that, and sometimes it is on me.