Sir, – Friday August 12, or “the Glorious 12th” as it has become known, saw the beginning of the season when the landed gentry and their well-heeled entourage took up their guns again to blast our famous grouse from the skies, this practice deemed necessary by those involved which remains a contentious issue.
In the urban areas of towns and cities we are plagued by a different species of bird, the common gull – now widely known for its chaotic and disturbing behaviour and referred to by many as “ rats with wings” – scavenging in bins, defecating on buildings, pavements, streets, cars, on your head if you should be so unlucky, the week’s washing hung out on clotheslines, swooping down above the heads of children to nick their ice cream, chips or the discreet obtrusive sandwich-grab from the hand of an unsuspecting pedestrian. Their menacing tactics have no bounds.
Yet above it all is the infernal racket they make, an angry menacing cacophony of screeches, screams and cries, and should you get within too-close ratios of their well-calculated nests, especially when they have chicks, then you are in danger of being attacked, as has happened to myself several times, and to many others I know.
This protective behaviour is only natural to them, they are protecting their territory and, most importantly, their young. What is unnatural in all of this is that inner towns and cities are not the original common habitat of this species which belong to the coastline and the sea. Changes in fishing laws, of course, have had an impact on their ability to fish beneficially, so what we are witnessing now is becoming the norm, with all the aforementioned consequences.
What adds to the problem is human behaviour – discarding takeaway foods on the street or food being crammed in bins to overflowing, all providing easy pickings for the scavenging gull.
So what you may ask is the solution for the tormented residents who have to endure this every breeding season, without the capacity to protect our properties or our sanity as, unlike the privileged elite with their guns on the moors and hills, we are unable to touch them as they are a protected species? Ironically, a council official I spoke to recently about this told me about how bad it also was in her area, commenting “ if only I had a gun”.
Well if only it was that simple, then there would be no problem.
So what, you may ask, do the council do about it? Well apart from a yearly nest and egg removal programme which they have in place, the tenants here at Oakwood Court, in the Midmills-Crown area of Inverness, have been repeatedly told over the last three years that there is no solution other than the one they have in place. At a Bid team meeting with residents this year we were dismayed to be told this again, which is so disheartening to hear, especially when people’s health and well-being are affected by this recurrence each gull-breeding season and, as was suggested at that meeting, there is always a solution if you are prepared to find one.
On June 21 2021, an article by journalist David MacKay, which appeared on the front page of The P&J with pictures, reported on the resounding success of the specialist team Vermin Control on behalf of Moray Council and their effective methods of dealing with the problematic gulls. This scheme was met with overwhelming praise and relief from the tenants of the allocated area, who cheered on staff as they dispatched the gulls on their travels. So if this can be achieved in Elgin on behalf of Moray Council, then why not here in the Highland capital?
To conclude, on September 14 2021 councillor Willie Scobie of Dumfries and Galloway spoke on the John Beattie programme on BBC Radio Scotland about the menace of gulls in his area, describing it realistically as “an epidemic” and asking that councillors, MPs and MSPs in every area should speak out on this very contentious problem.
And while the council and Bid team here have been continuously reminded of the problems we face in this one area, and other suggestions also being offered to act as deterrents, for six months of the year the tenants at Oakwood Court remain subjected to the annual tyranny of these “rats with wings”.
To paraphrase that council official I mentioned earlier – “ if only I had a gun”.
John McLeod, Oakwood Court, Inverness.
Accommodation for rent in short supply
Sir, – Aviemore’s recent lack of late-night dining (August 20) is a consequence of local demand for long-term rented accommodation far exceeding the supply.
The Cairngorms National Park Authority and others have promoted the Aviemore area as being a nice place to holiday, recreate, live, retire to and commute from, while the Scottish Government has introduced legislation that has discouraged landlords from renting domestic accommodation long-term, thereby reducing the supply.
A younger mobile workforce willing to move where their skills are in demand requires long-term accommodation to rent, not to buy.
To resolve this issue requires a change in legislation to attract private-sector landlords back into the market to provide long-term domestic accommodation to rent. A tenant-landlord agreement should benefit both landlord and tenant.
This is no longer the situation in the Aviemore area under current legislation.
Jamie Williamson, Alvie Estate Office, Kincraig, Kingussie.
Cold response to kitchen closure
Sir, – I read with interest the news feature on the lack of places to eat in the Aviemore area.
I would like to point out that, while the hotel brochure in our room stated that meals were served until 9.30pm, we were turned away at 8.55pm, when the receptionist advised that the kitchen had closed for the evening.
A simple reminder, or heads-up on this at check-in, would have meant we could have made alternative plans for the evening. Instead, we found ourselves snacking on something cold from the local petrol station shop.
We concur with your reporter and thoroughly enjoyed our Indian meal and experience the following evening of our visit in March.
Karen Steven, Hollybank Place, Aberdeen.
Let’s broker peace chance in Ukraine
Sir, – In 1982 Alexander Haig famously shuttled back and forth between the relevant capitals to try to broker peace and prevent a war over the Falklands. Unfortunately, I’ve seen little or no effort by prominent politicians or the UN to try to bring peace to Ukraine. All Western politicians do is send even more arms and encouragement to the Ukraine leadership, which is like fighting fire by pouring petrol on it. These are the same politicians who say we are on track to catastrophic climate change by 2030. If nuclear war breaks out over Ukraine it certainly won’t do the climate much good.
Can someone please give peace a chance? Who knows, it also might bring energy bills down.
Geoff Moore, Braeface Park, Alness.
Salmond approach may have prevailed
Sir, – The unfortunate recent anti-Conservative Perth demonstrations serve to highlight the difference between current SNP attitudes and those that prevailed under the leadership of Alex Salmond, who had gained credibility with business and had an altogether more constructive and non-confrontational approach.
He had certainly not antagonised Westminster, as the present SNP representative in that House has done with his pointless rants.
Indeed, his reasoned approach might by now have resulted in the outcome that the present leadership pursues in the style of a vendetta.
Malcolm Parkin, Kinnesswood, Kinross.
Cyclists gearing up for number plates
Sir, – Those with a vested interest such as Charity Cycling UK and transport groups, all paid for by the taxpayers, say that plans to have cyclists display number plates and have insurance are “impractical” and “strange”.
There are 39.2 million vehicles in the UK all handled efficiently by the DVLA. There are more than 750,000 private e-scooters in the UK, most of them being used at present illegally on roads and pavements.
Unfortunately, e-scooters are about to be made legal on roads south of the border and the DVLA will assume responsibility. There are four million cyclists who regularly cycle so they can be registered by the DVLA.
Those buying a new bike would have their registration number supplied by the retailer as happens with cars. Insurance would have to be produced before the sale.
The registration numbers need not be on plates but could be on hi-viz jackets.
As with motorists, those breaking the law can be traced and punished.
Clark Cross, Springfield Road, Linlithgow.
We must all act to help the worst off
Sir, – One can appreciate why Britain’s workers are striking for better incomes – soaring energy costs and ever-increasing food prices accompanied by less choice on supermarket shelves.
Extreme weather, Ukraine and increased taxation add to the gloom.
But UK electors must not overlook the support provided by central government during the pandemic.
Whether draconian lockdowns were really necessary is debatable, but business failures, billions lost in fraud and money being printed like confetti were real enough.
The result – borrowing, ginormous debt, labour shortages and rampant inflation.
We must all be prepared to be poorer as a result but the taxpayer must support those whose very existence is threatened by increased expenditure, supported by a windfall tax imposed on those companies making obscene profits from serendipity and whose shareholders benefit at our expense.
Earnings that match or surpass inflation will simply prolong the agony and fuel stagflation.
Politically-motivated strikes will cripple UK plc still further and ruin and discontent will continue into 2024 at which time the government of whatever hue will struggle to clear up the mess.
The weather may be fine but the outlook looks abysmal.
Bill Maxwell, Mar Place, Keith.
Hike low pay to ease strikes
Sir, – The only sensible way forward to give genuine help to those on low pay is to raise the national minimum wage to something like £14 per hour which will take low earners into average wage levels.
This will allow families on lower wages to cope better with inflation running at 10% and the prospect of energy bills rising by 54% in October.
By taking this radical action the trade unions will have to accept smaller settlements in their wage demands.
Dennis Forbes Grattan, Bucksburn.
NHS adminflow not too healthy
Sir, – In response to Walter Service’s critique of my letter about NHS privatisation may I add that the private enterprise of consultants, GPs and dentists was a compromise with the professional bodies at the formulation of the organisation.
Without this compromise, the NHS wouldn’t have come into being. The lack of bureaucracy and administrative structure can only lead to directors of the operation not having adequate information on which to formulate viable policies, and we wouldn’t be informed of what was actually happening.
Having studied failures in systems for some time one factor keeps coming up time and again in the causes for these failures and that is inadequate information flows.
David Bashforth.
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