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How water pistols are battling food snatching seagulls at north-east restaurants

Grant MacNicol at his fish and chip truck at Dornoch Castle. He has had offers to expand the Angry Seagull brand into merchandising.
Grant MacNicol at his fish and chip truck at Dornoch Castle. He has had offers to expand the Angry Seagull brand into merchandising.

When a seagull snatched Grant MacNicol’s battered haddock in a brazen divebomb attack, his first reaction was to be very annoyed.

“It was gone in seconds, I couldn’t believe it,” says Grant, who was out for a walk on Anstruther beach in Fife when the seagull swooped on his supper.

“The bird literally landed on top of my fish and chips and took the whole fish.”

But after the anger came the germ of an idea. One day, Grant told himself, he would open a fish and chip shop that recognises the all-too common problem of aggressive seabirds.

Grant MacNicol is the head chef at Dornoch Castle Hotel

That idea finally bore fruit last month when Grant opened the Angry Seagull fish and chip truck at Dornoch Castle in the Highlands.

“I’m absolutely delighted with how it’s turned out,” says Grant, who as well as looking after the truck is the head chef at Dornoch Castle Hotel.

“People love the branding.”

Seagulls and the human touch

While Grant’s beach bombardment had a happy ending, seagulls are a major headache for restaurant and café owners across the north and north-east.

There is even scientific evidence that gulls prefer food that has been handled by humans.

A study published two years ago in the Royal Society journal Open Science found that four out of five seagulls go for handled food over untouched food. The study suggests gulls use humans as a cue to help locate their next meal.

Seagulls are attracted to food handled by humans, one study showed. Picture credit: Shutterstock

Meanwhile, though herring gull numbers have dropped by half in the past 40 years, populations in cities and towns have increased. This has led to an abundance of sorry tales of stolen food.

“I just had to laugh it off,” says 25-year-old Markka Kitacheva, who had an ice-cream taken straight from her hand by a gull on her first day in Aberdeen seven years ago.

Markka’s second day in the city wasn’t much better. On the green at Aberdeen University, the CrossFit coach lost half a chicken teriyaki sandwich to another gull.

Markka Kitacheva lost an ice-cream and half a sandwich in a seagull attack.

“I was lucky the sandwich was cut in half,” says Markka, who is more used to smaller birds in her native Finland.

“If it wasn’t, the seagull would have taken the whole thing.”

Water pistols on the beach

In response, some restaurants have adopted unusual methods to keep seagulls away from their customers.

“The water guns help, yes they do,” says Susan Knowles, who last year decided to arm customers and staff at her Waterfront Café in Stonehaven with water pistols to offer some harmless respite from lurking birds.

Susan started using the pistols last year when her bird problem become so acute that guests were unable to leave food unattended. This was despite Susan employing all the usual tricks.

“I tried dangling CDs,” she says. “I’ve had a kite up on the roof and I also tried ornamental owls. They just sat beside them and laughed. It was a waste of time.”

Even when restaurants like the Waterfront are scrupulous about food waste, birds can continue to be a problem. Susan has her staff clear plates away immediately, but the gulls still linger.

At the Angry Seagull, Grant puts up notices to remind customers not to leave leftovers. He admits people don’t always comply.

“Customers will be customers,” he says.

A seagull pesters a group of people eating food on Aberdeen beach.

What can restaurants do to stop seagulls taking food?

But beyond tidying food areas and squirting the odd gull with water, what can be done to combat seagulls?

“We need protecting from them,” says Michelle Wilson, the owner of the recently-opened Beach Tree Cafe on Aberdeen’s Beach Boulevard.

Despite only being in business a few weeks, Michelle has already witnessed a number of incidents involving seagulls outside the restaurant.

Michelle Wilson at the Beach Tree Cafe.

“They can be very aggressive,” she says. “They are big birds, they’re not sparrows.”

Michelle suggests using birds of prey to scare away the gulls. She points out that Aberdeen Football Club use a hawk at nearby Pittodrie stadium.

For the time being, however, Michelle intends to contact the council to discuss her options.

“I’ve got my thinking cap on to see what we can do to make the outside safe,” she says.


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