Herring Gulls taking over...any advice?

Arequipa

Hi!
I hope you are well.
I live on the Northside of Dublin, near the coast.
For approx x2 years a pair of herring gulls nested beside the chimney on the roof of my terrace of houses.
Initially they are extremely loud... waking you up at 4, 5 and 6am as they screech on the rooftops.
Then when they build the nest and the female incubates the eggs.. they quieten down a bit.
Then the chicks hatch... normally 2 or 3... they grow rapidly and the parents feed them regurgitated food on the roof.
This attracts lots of crows and magpies...
I found lots of material was falling off the roof into the garden.
Any time I ate in the back garden, I had to take care as the gulls would swoop down and grab food off the plate.
Another issue was their territorial nature.. they swooped down aggressively when I was in the back garden or at my front door...
One night, we think a chick fell off the roof and there was an incredible commmotion... we think a fox took the chick..

I would consider myself a nature lover ... but seagulls, on my roof are a step too far..
So this year, in advance of them nesting...we put up spikes around the nesting sites and chimneys.
This has stopped them.. it seems from nesting... but they have come back on numerous occasions... screeching on the roof... walking endlessly back and forth... also very early in the morning..
I feel slightly guilty about blocking the nests... but I am relieved too, that they are not nesting this summer..

My question for you is...

Do any of you have similar issues with gulls?
What is the best way to permanently stop them nesting here?

I am aware that they are reacting to people feeding them chips in Howth, to our overfishing of the seas... leaving them with less food and nesting sites..
So they seem to be adapting to our activity and lifestyles..

Thank you..

A

Del.Monte

You've answered your own question in your last sentence. Human pressure, rats on breeding islands, closure of rubbish landfills etc. Very little can be done but at least it seems you have dealt with the nesting issue.

Arequipa

Thanks for the reply..
Yes, it seems to have stopped them.. but they are not giving up yet and are extremely active and noisy.... .

Our roof faces East/ Sth East & they seemed to really like the shelter it gave them..
I am not sure how long the nesting season lasts for.. but i think, under normal circumstances chicks would have hatched at this stage...

Alun

If they're walking along the ridge of the roof you can also get spikes that attach to the ridge tiles.

whodafunk

I heard a radio phone in show on this very topic recently. One caller had the spikes erected only for the seagulls to then place plastic material over them and then nest on top of that so be careful.

Another caller had the very same issue gulls swooping she said the fix was to install one of those artificial eagles/birds of prey that dangle in the air. The other solution was some sort of mirror/reflection device that she placed in her garden trees (maybe Google this) and she said this has successfully moved the gulls on. Good luck. I’ve heard them out my way at times from 4/5am recently:(

Arequipa

Morning!
Yea, they are very determined and obviously quite smart birds..
Also when the breeding season comes along, they have a massive drive to breed and nest...
The mirror, hawk kite, all sound like options...
The only thing is.. i love watching most other birds visiting the garden.. but it would be a shame to scare them away too...
In my area, i do think some people are feeding the gulls.. which is hard to stop...

Thank yiu for the feedback.

Scotty #

Your thread title is "Herring Gulls taking over....." but the gulls were in Howth long before the humans.

As you said yourself, they have a massive instinct to nest and will eventually adapt and compromise until they have a spot. Unfortunately with people like yourself continuously blocking off and destroying these new spots the gulls keep having to diversify and come up with new and ever more inventive spots. I work in the industrial estate in Ashbourne, Co. Meath. Last year we had a Herring Gull nest on the roof. This year about 10 of our neighbours have Herring Gulls nesting on their roofs. Ashbourne is 15km inland.

Storm 10

The one thing about Gulls moving inland is because man has completely overfished their normal food supply so now they are forced into our towns and Cities to find food and of course they will nest in the locations near the food source, many years ago they would nest off shore and rarely come into towns.