Town invaded by 3,000 seagulls and locals have no idea what to do about it
Residents in a landlocked town say they have been left furious after their town has been ‘invaded’ by 3,000 seagulls.
People living in Hyndburn, Lancashire, say they feel like they’re living in a horror film by Alfred Hitchcock as thousands of gulls sweep through their town each day.
While the gulls typically are found in seaside towns, the locals they are flocking to a nearby landfill site, and even nesting there.
As you would expect, many residents are also being pooed on by the pesky birds, who feel like they can’t escape from the animals.
The poo covers people, garages, houses and gardens and people feel like it is now devaluing their homes.
Gary Hough, 62, is somebody who lives in the town and he is very concerned.
He said: ‘There must have been 3,000 seagulls above my house on Wednesday this week. I’ve never seen anything like it.
‘The gulls are here about 7am and head towards the tip and they come in dribs and drabs but start to congregate.
‘Then from 8am onwards, that’s when the majority of them come and it’s just constant until around 9.30pm.’
Operator of the landfill site Suez has implemented mitigation measures, such as setting off loud noises to scare the birds.
But this is no match for the seagulls who just scatter off and come back in greater numbers because they are breeding.
‘It started to become such a concern and people were saying they were getting sick of it,’ Gary added.
‘The birds that have come have now nested so they’re here to stay. They’re breeding very quickly and from April, we’ve seen them multiplying.
‘I’ve never seen anything like it, all these new birds that are breeding, it’s not like they’re coming from elsewhere.’
Cheryl Gouldstone, 59, is Gary’s wife and said: ‘It’s like an Alfred Hitchcock film. There’s visual pollution, noise pollution and people can’t believe this is going on.
‘You can’t sit in the garden as it’s covered in bird poo. They’re dropping food in the gardens.
‘I drive home on the motorway and I know when I’m home because I see a swarm of seagulls above the road.’
A local Facebook group has been set up to address the issue and a public meeting with Suez and local councillors has been planned for next month.
It comes after Gary experienced a near miss with another motorist recently because of the birds.
Greengates Builders Merchants backs on to the site and sees stock and staff cars bombarded with bird muck dropped from the seagulls.
Boss Steve Pickup, 60, said: ‘There’s thousands of them. It’s horrendous. Our staff can’t even go out at lunchtime and enjoy the nice weather.
‘It’s a health hazard as much as anything, there’s that much bird muck and the smell from the tip is quite pungent as well.
‘There’s a quarry next to the existing landfill site, which is much closer to the houses, and they’ve started filling that.
‘They fly above with whatever food they find and it gets dropped on our yard. We had a driver once find a fish head on the back of wagon.
“It’s such an astonishing site for a lot of our customers, they can’t believe what they’re seeing and how many there is.
‘A lot of our stock is covered in bird muck and we can clean most of it off, but some stuff we do have to throw away. Thankfully we have a big turnover of stock.’
According to borough councillor Vanessa Alexander, 140 reports have been made to Lancashire County Council and the Environment Agency this month.
She said: ‘As a borough council, our hands are tied in terms of having any powers, but we are putting pressure on the Environment Agency.
‘We’ve written to the Environment Agency many times.
‘There are things they can do, I think a fire break might be a good idea, where they close the tip and cover it for a bit to force the birds go elsewhere.’
Richard Phillips, landfill operations manager at Suez, said the firm was ‘actively working to deter’ the seagulls and ‘minimise their impact on the local area’.
He added: ‘We are currently deploying every measure within our plan to mitigate the number of seagulls in the area, which has increased following the migration of birds inland during the COVID 19 pandemic.
‘And are working with the Environment Agency as well as independent specialist contractors to explore what further steps we may be able to take to address local concerns.’
The Environment Agency said it was carrying out regular visits to the site and checks on the impacts of odour and pests in the surrounding communities.
John Neville, of the Environment Agency, said: ‘We’re taking action to address issues at Whinney Hill landfill site and recognise the distress the odour and gulls are causing to members of the community.
‘We have made it clear to the operator, Suez, that they must take steps to minimise the impact.
‘We do have officers regularly within the community carrying out odour assessment.
‘We’ll continue to carry out regulatory inspections of the site and will consider any appropriate enforcement steps to ensure the site is compliant with its environmental permit.’
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