A cat almost lost an eye in a swoop attack, people are kept prisoner in their own homes, Royal Mail is struggling to deliver post and children are afraid to play outdoors.
Inverallochy is a village living in fear.
And a visit to the spot outside Fraserburgh proves just how right people are to be scared.
Seagulls have made life a misery for many, the threat of serious injury is always just one dive away.
Some locals tell the Press and Journal how they have to hold aloft brooms to walk from door to door.
That’s if they leave the house at all.
One woman tells us she hasn’t been able to get out the front door for three days.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
In our exclusive look at the problem, we hear from:
- Cat owner Graham McLean on how pet Rosie almost had an eye torn from her skull
- Mums who say their children are too frightened to go outside
- A pensioner scared to walk down her own street after being knocked to the ground
- And Royal Mail tell us that posties have been left with no choice but to give some addresses a wide berth
Emergency trip to the vet for wounded cat
Graham McLean describes the moment Rosie came screeching into their Inverallochy home, yelping in agony and with blood dripping down her face.
There are birds nesting on either side of his house at the junction of Rathen Road and Summerfield Terrace, and Graham is used to ducking for cover whenever he ventures outdoors.
Especially protective of their young at this time of year, the seagulls are known to menace anyone walking by.
‘Rosie came flying through the window…’
But they had never before targeted Rosie.
“There are two or three babies on either side of our house, and the birds swoop at everybody,” Graham said.
“Attacking the cat was out of the blue though.
“Their beaks are that sharp, and Rosie came flying in through the window after it happened.”
Graham rushed the mutilated animal to the vet, paying £430 for urgent treatment.
There, he was told the cat was “very very lucky” not to have lost an eye – though she is now “permanently disfigured”.
The 34-year-old director of McLean Seafoods worries about what could happen to people unfortunate enough to be targeted.
Trip to Inverallochy highlights seagulls blight
Villagers say their streets must be among the most blighted in the entire UK…
When we visited, we were greeted by community council member Benny Noble and Fraserburgh councillor Doreen Mair.
Benny is showing us around some of the worst-affected parts of the village, and it isn’t long before he needs to arm himself.
Turning on to Westhaven Crescent, the squawks intensify and the birds descend.
Benny quickly collects a discarded plank of wood from a garden, waving it over his head in self-defence.
As gulls zone in on him – and our photographer – a neighbour anxiously pops her head out the door.
Woman too ‘terrified’ of Inverallochy seagulls to leave house
She tells us she hasn’t been able to leave her home for three days.
The woman adds: “There are two babies in the garden, I’ve not even been able to hang out my washing before I am chased back in.
“I went out to sit in the sun yesterday and had to go back in. I’m terrified.
“I have lived here all my life, and it’s getting worse.”
Children are scared to play outdoors
Mum Debbie Duthie found herself venturing from her Church Street home with a broom over her head recently.
Four-year-old Isla and Anya, seven, are scared to tread any further than the garden gate alone.
Debbie tells us: “The bairns are frightened to go out and play, they can’t enjoy their summer.
“My kids can’t even walk up the street, my daughter was too scared to visit her friend so I had to take her with my broom about my head.”
She is one of several locals who now plot a maze to get about the village, using back-streets and overgrown lanes to avoid known hotspots.
Our map shows the “danger zones” locals know to avoid:
Debbie adds: “It feels like something is going to have to happen, and my worry is for the bairns.
“They could be seriously hurt.”
Ice cream treat turns into nightmare
In Inverallochy, even a simple trip to buy an ice cream can turn into something from an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
Lois Sutherland, a young mum of Lexi, four, and two-year-old Carter, told us how their visit to the village’s Peters Ices went awry…
The Charles Street resident said: “The ice cream was in a bag and they still came swooping at us.
“And it’s worse elsewhere, people on Summerfield Crescent are coming out of their houses with their umbrellas.”
We head on to Beacon Cottages – where things take a turn for the worse.
Deliveries in jeopardy after postie attacked
This is the street where Royal Mail have warned folk that swooping gulls may well make it impossible for their post to be delivered.
It comes after, we are told, one local postie suffered a cut to his head in an aerial attack.
Royal Mail told us: “Deliveries to residents of Beacon Cottages are being affected by seagulls swooping to protect their young.
“We are attempting deliveries six days a week when there is mail to be delivered, but there could be days on which this is not possible.”
The spokesman said their “top priority” was ensuring their staff remained safe.
The letter Royal Mail sent to the properties:
Firsthand glimpse of protective Inverallochy seagulls
We tread slowly along the street, casting fraught glances skywards with the plank held high.
One woman, who lives next to a nest, spots us and ushers us in to discuss her family’s ordeal.
This time, I am forced to run indoors waving the stick about my head as the sound of screeching and flapping wings draws scarily close.
“They’re insane,” she sighs once we are both safely indoors.
‘We saw someone being knocked off their bike’
The mum adds: “They just come down… They were literally inches from my partner’s head yesterday.
“We can hear when someone is being attacked.
“We’ve seen it all, even someone being knocked off their bike the other day.”
She continues: “My daughter is four and she is terrified, she just cries and cries, especially when they swoop.
“But it’s not just her, everybody is terrified of them.
“They are vicious this year, there has been nothing like this before.”
As I scurry from the house, the replacement postie is walking past brandishing a parcel above his head to ward off would-be assailants.
Pensioner injured in swoop attack
Further down the road, I meet Margaret Morris – who is still recovering from an attack a fortnight ago.
The pensioner says: “I was walking along with the dog and they came down, I was petrified.
“I tried bending down and turning my back to avoid it, but it just swooped lower.
“And when it swooped again I lost my balance and fell on the road… I scraped my elbow and bruised my side.”
She adds: “I just ran home, and left the dog!
“And I have never walked that way again since.”
Inverallochy seagulls are ‘getting worse’
As for Graham, he tells us Rosie is on the mend and being “fed a lot of fish” to keep her spirits up.
But he adds: “I am from Inverallochy and it’s definitely got worse over the years, but this has been the worst yet.”
It’s a sentiment expressed by everyone we meet.
‘Those beaks are like razors’
Doreen believes the only answer left is to “control” the local seagull population.
She says: “I worry that someone will get seriously hurt, they become really really aggressive protecting their young.
“And there are so many nests around that nowhere is safe.
“They are massive and they are vicious, those beaks are like razors.
“What could it do to a child or older person?”
Doreen concludes: “There is a point where we have to cull them, and it is here now.”
So what should happen?
Seeing how seagulls have impacted on village life, you might think residents are desperate for an end to the problem – by whatever means necessary.
But most people still feel some compassion for the birds; Debbie can empathise with the “mother’s instinct” to protect their young.
But what is clear is that living side-by-side simply isn’t possible, especially with the levels of aggression escalating.
Aberdeenshire Council appears to be taking it seriously, ploughing funds into research and investigating nest removal schemes.
But all evidence suggests these violent gulls, especially when looking after their young, can’t share the same streets as families.
And it’s a situation residents shouldn’t have to endure.
The answers will never be easy to find, but by next year’s nesting season there must be some.
Conversation