Hi Try this site

http://www.rspb.org.uk/c...life/f/3070/t/29130.aspx


regards Dave

Briefly; Herring gull nests can be removed if they are a public nuisance and all other reasonable methods of abating the nuisance have been tried. Other gull nests can't be disturbed, so when you say seagulls the first thing is to sort out which type of gull you have. Add to this that delaying work on a site isn't a public nuisance, so you may just have to put up with it. FS101 is quite right about the way that gulls can behave, so some training and zoning would be in order.

We have pigeons in one of our warehouses, which is used to store hygienic medical kit. Problem is we can't have guns of any sort in any of our workplaces (international law I'm afraid). We've tied trapping but the pigeons were too clever....

John

Whoa David! That's an urban myth; it is in fact perfectly illegal to do so. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1980 says:

Subject to the provisions of this Part, if any person intentionally— .

(a)kills, injures or takes any wild bird; .

[F1(aa)takes, damages or destroys the nest of a wild bird included in Schedule ZA1;] .

(b)takes, damages or destroys the nest of any wild bird while that nest is in use or being built; or .

(c)takes or destroys an egg of any wild bird, .

he shall be guilty of an offence.

Pricking a bird's egg, unless it's one of the few 'pest' species is illegal, as per the paragraph above. Even if it's a pest there are still quite a few provisos on what you can and cannot do to birds' nests. As I and others have stated, Herring Gull nests can be removed if they are a public nuisance, but not otherwise,

John

My company obtained a licence for the removal of a common gull's nest last year but was then told no more licenses unless we could demonstrate that we were employing active deterrent measures going forward (e.g. bringing in hawks, placing fake eggs etc...too expensive for our bean counters).

Now we have had four low level common gull nests on site already this year and I am warning our staff to be highly vigilant for any more being made on any pending shipment boxes (imagine a half million pound equipment order being held up by a gull with a good lawyer making a home on it!). We must utilise the small time window available to scare a bird away before the nest is finished and the eggs are placed.
Note that weekends are dangerous times- if no staff on site the gulls can quickly be settled in by a Monday morning!

The current nests we have just cordoned off and parked other equipment nearby etc to keep humans and gulls apart as much as possible.

All we can then do is circulate warnings to staff to be wary of birds, waving your arms is often enough to deter.

Watch out for Oystercatchers, they are nasty little busteds!

Always pays to put a little owl or even a long eared owl decoy on the top of your scaffolding keeps them away prior to nesting

Hi
Don't forget the COSHH implications from birds, droppings and nests. They are a know allergen.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/co...nisms/other-diseases.htm

Ian

Well that is no fun is it?

Consider putting a few cats on an IRATA level 3 course, ACME run some excellent courses, run by a Mr Richard Dastardly.

A good shot can humanely kill a pigeon with a very low energy pellet, 10 joules or less. A slingshot (catapult) can easily deliver 50 joules in the right hands with frangible projectiles that won't damage infrastructure too much (marbles, wax, fired clay).

All a waste of time if there is food available that draws them in, doors left open, multiple openings in the brickwork etc, dead ones get replaced.