An elderly woman is too scared to return home after a nesting seagull attacked her.

Grace Amos, 86, has been told she can legally cull the bird at her bungalow, after it left her needing stitches.

The bird swooped on visitors including her son-in-law and gardener before it attacked her.

But Lewes District Council and private pest control firms have all refused to shoot it because it is nesting with chicks.

Mrs Amos, from Seaford, only wants the bird removed but has been warned it will attack anyone trying to catch it.

She has been having nightmares about the attack ever since it took place last Friday and is staying with relatives.

She said: "I was going to get my pension when I was attacked by the seagull. It nearly knocked me over and I had to hang on to the gate to keep my balance. It felt as if someone had thrown a brick at me it was so painful."

Mrs Amos stumbled for help to her neighbour Beryl Barrett who mopped her head with towels and called for a doctor.

Mrs Amos said: "The towels all turned red and when I went to the doctor's they had to wash my hair before they could put the stitches in.

"The wound was really deep. The whole of the seagull's beak seemed to have gone in my head."

Mrs Amos has been staying with her daughter and son-in-law Penny and Richard Coomber who live nearby ever since the attack.

Mr Coomber said the police and council had denied responsibility.

Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, seagulls' nests are strictly protected, but birds can be culled if they cause a danger to public health or safety, preferably by shooting.

But Mr Coomber said: "I have contacted various pest control agencies but as soon as I mention there are chicks involved they will have nothing to do with it."

Mrs Barrett is concerned the seagulls are attracted by people feeding them.

She said: "I went to the door and Grace was crouched there bleeding profusely. I did not recognise her. There was blood all over the place. I thought she had been mugged.

"Grace has had a hip replacement and she could have fallen over and injured herself . And seagulls are scavengers, so she could have picked up a disease.

"I just wish people would stop feeding the seagulls. We are a mile and three quarters from the sea and in the 41 years I have lived in this house they have been getting more and more aggressive."

A council spokesman said: "We do not have a legal obligation to kill this seagull.

"This is unfortunate for the family because they do not know where to go to."

A spokesman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which is responsible for imposing the law, said: "The seagull can be done away with because it has become a threat to public health by attacking this lady.

"She needs to employ a qualified marksman to shoot it or her local authority might be able to do it for her.

The best thing will be to destroy the bird by shooting it."

An RSPB spokesman said the seagull had become a danger to public health and ought to be shot.

Linsey Wynton linsey.wynton @theargus.co.uk