Great Western Coffee Shop

I did wonder whether I should post this topic under 'the lighter side' or 'Plymouth & Cornwall'.  :-\

It's an only very vaguely related railway issue but, from this BBC news item (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gevqv3zxlo), it does seem to focus on Cornwall:


The article continues - but I have one comment, and one question:

Does anyone else think that it's absolutely brilliant that one of the BBC journalists working on this news item is Andrew Segal?

Looking at the first picture in their item: where is that?  The seagull has rather effectively got in the way of the wider view: I initially thought it might be Polperro, but I then discounted that.  I'll bet it's somewhere in Cornwall, though.

CfN.  :D

In decline…really?????

Come to Bath or most other towns and cities and you’ll find the ******s are thriving. In the part of Bath where I work the gulls have had a very successful breeding season…again! The council have given up and do nothing. What makes it worse is that people actually feed them!!! Trust me, they are more than capable of feeding themselves.

If I had my way I’d class them as vermin. Wretched birds.

Totally with you Timmer

Same for Reading. Maybe they mean they have just decreased at the seaside, whereas they have increased inland. Apparently there is also a "shortage" of pigeons, pull the other one. Again people insist on feeding them, just rats with wings, or rats with PR (take your pick).

No, it's absolutely correct.

It follows a substantial increase in the 20th century,  attributed to two factors, the increase in the discarding of fish and fish waste by the fishing industry and the growth of open landfill sites. Both these went into reverse later in the century as fish stocks declined and fishing regulations changed, and as open landfill sites were closed with the growth of recycling.

The problems in coastal areas, and possibly persecution in coastal areas, combined with the species in question discovering that modern flat-roofed buildings provide excellent safe nesting sites, saw them spread across inland Britain in the latter part of the century and early part of this.

There are a number of species of gull. The commonest involved with problems at seaside resorts and urban sites is Herring Gull (the one usually referred to as "seagull"). The similarly sized Lesser Black-backed Gull has shown similar trends, but with an material change in its behaviour in winter.  Most wintered in the Atlantic off North Africa in the early 20th century, but gradually switched to wintering in the British Isles,  and often inland.  They are now the commonest of the larger gulls in our (Thames Valley) part of the world.

For completeness, the other common gull is the much smaller Black-headed Gull, a much less aggressive bird, and as much an upland and wetland species as a seabird.  It has also undergone an expansion, change and decline in numbers for similar reasons.

So please show some understanding for the plight of the "seagull ", it's a much less destructive lifeform than homo sapiens!

Broadgage recipe for cooking seagull.

"Remove feathers and use these to stuff a pillow for someone that you don't much like. Remove guts and feed to other seagulls. Place carcass in a large pot and weight with a stone. Boil until stone is tender, throw gull away."

More seriously, my Ukrainian neighbours observed the size and stupidity of seagulls and remarked that there must be loads of meat on such birds. Having killed and cooked one, they now know why we don't eat them !
Even in the last war, when food was short seagulls were almost never eaten. A few people killed them to feed cats and dogs.

They're all here.  Thriving in Worcestershire

Significant problem in Worcester city centre, and I don't suppose Worcester is unique

In the case of the common types of gull that infest Minehead and many other places, then I agree entirely. Wretched birds.
I think that some types of gull might actually be in serious decline.

The herring gull has, like many other species, learnt how to exploit the dominance of the planet by ourselves, and has become very good at living with humans and essentially getting everything they need from us.

Here in Bath I was recently harassed by a herring gull, and it was an extremely unpleasant experience. I was walking down a residential street in a new development area, where I know there have been issues raised about the presence of gulls, and suddenly heard one just behind me. It was very loud and flew up immediately in front of me, turned round about 20 feet up, and dived down flying just over my head. It looked very large and looked like it could easily hit me and do some damage, but just missed me. All in all it did this pattern at least 6 times, while I continued walking along, but becoming increasingly concerned. All the time it was making a hell of a din, and making it very clear that it did not want me around. Presumably it was nesting nearby, but if that was a rooftop, it was quite a distance from me. Eventually, when I had nearly reached the end of the road, it flew off.

I still remember sitting on Dartmouth seafront quite a few years ago, and eating a sandwich. Just as I was taking my first bite, a gull flew past and whipped the whole sandwich literally from out of my mouth. I was astounded, as was everyone else sitting there.

I am told that in days gone by Alka Seltzer used to be a great method of dealing with unwanted gull attention.....

Or calcium carbide ! both are rather cruel though and should not be encouraged. Simply shoot the pests, which should minimise suffering.

Mid  2010s I had my ice  cream pecked out  of it's cone by a gull as I walked by the harbour side.  I would have replaced it but it was in Salcombe and there wasn't a mortgage advisor handy!

No, that's definitely not Salcombe.  ;D

A seagull of that size could probably kill and eat a cat or dog, or even a small child. Shoot on sight. And would probably need something more lethal than a shotgun, an anti-tank rocket perhaps.

50 Cal should suffice...

That's a bit harsh (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.50_BMG) - poor seagull!  :o

I'm still quite interested to find out where that seagull actually was - when he was potentially sniped.

My research of images online still suggest possible locations in Cornwall, but I have no more detail than that.

Can anyone here help, please: where is seagull? :-\

I think that I've identified it as Quay Road in Looe.

Thanks, johnneyw - that's exactly where the seagull is (or was): that quite distinctive grey granite frontage of the chapel, or church, confirms it.  ;)

... or, given how small it is relative to the seagull, it's model of Looe.

In Sydney, Australia, anti-seagull dogs patrol the sea front and are trained to chase away the wretched birds.

My neighbours report that a particularly aggressive seagull was attacking pet cats and trying to kill kittens.
They went to fetch a gun but meanwhile, the largest cats had killed the gull. It is very rare for domestic cats to kill a gull, but not unknown.
The cats showed no interest in eating the dead gull, so it was given to some anglers who used the guts as bait.

It was fortunate for your neighbours that the cats saved them from breaking the law.

Doesn’t surprise me. They are getting ever more brazen to go for larger prey. Foul foul creatures.

AFAIK, shooting gulls is permitted in an emergency, which would include attacking pets, wildlife or livestock.

You really don't like seagulls, do you, Timmer?

Chris from Nailseagull.  ;D

Washed down  with a bottle of Château Broadgage Port!

 As far as I can remember the French don't make a port
So maybe a tipple from Maison Broadgauge by all means .

Real port comes only from a designated region of Portugal.
In years gone by "British port" was available. It is now outlawed unless renamed with no mention of the word port on the bottle. The usual description is "British rich red fortified wine" The only merit of the product is an attractive price, suitable for cooking, or as an ingredient in punch or mulled wine.

I am indebted to you for that invaluable clarification.

Continuing on the subject of rich red wines, I remember that my father's home-made elderberry wine was British, rich and red, and kept very well.  Alas all now finished.

As for seagulls, I can happily live without them - and living well inland I seldom see them.  What I have seen increase in recent years is magpies and grey squirrels.

Grey squirrels were the bane of my life in our previous house - they nearly cost us the sale last year, due to the damage they'd done in the loft and up on the roof, chewing everything - particularly the lead flashing around the chimney.  ::)

Red Squirrels, however, are to be welcomed.  ;D

But are grey squirrels worse than seagulls ? In my view, they are troublesome pests, but seagulls are worse.
Grey squirrels are allegedly edible unlike gulls.

As I mentioned in the "squirrels"  thread a couple of hours ago: seagull caught winging it on-london-bound train/ (https://sussex.news/east-sussex/video-seagull-caught-wing-ing-it-on-london-bound-train/24638/)

You can't take a shotgun out against a seagull (sorry, Timmer, but that's the law ::) ) but I'd be happy to take out a grey squirrel with one.

Red Squirrels excepted, obviously.  ;D

Yup, I believe they were made a protected species back in 1981. Mad, utterly mad.