Bleary-eyed residents who feel plagued by hundreds of noisy herring gulls are staging a public meeting in a bid to get some sleep.

They may even hire an acoustics expert, who plays tapes that mimic bird alarm calls, to scare off the feathered pests.

On Tuesday, the Church Farm Gardens Residents' Association staged a trial sounding in Rustington to see how the gulls would react.

The Rev Patrice Sessions, chairwoman of the association, said: "The noise from the gulls is terrible. They screech and dive-bomb a bit like war planes used to."

The association has 210 households on its membership list, covering Arundale Garden, Ash Lane, Ashwood Drive, Bramber Square, Chichester Court, Donnington Place, Eastergate Green and Fittleworth Gardens.

The properties were built in the Sixties and have flat roofs, which are ideal nesting sites for the herring gulls.

The Rev Sessions said: "The blessed beasts think they are living on cliffs.

"We are being disturbed by constant noise. They wake up at three in the morning and it goes on for weeks at a time.

"Herring gulls are nationally increasing by seven per cent a year and for the past three years it has been getting steadily worse.

"When the fledglings are out, the adults dive-bomb people because they are very protective of their young.

"We even hear little feet overhead, scampering about all the time."

She said window cleaners and postmen were regular targets for the gulls, which also ripped open black rubbish sacks for food.

A public meeting is being held at the Woodlands Centre, Woodlands Avenue, Rustington, on Tuesday, at 2.30pm.

It will be addressed by Guy Merchant, an expert in the art of combating nuisance birds without culling them.

An environment health officer from Arun District Council is also expected to attend.

Ms Sessions said: "We want to discourage the gulls rather than cull them.

"One way is to stop people putting out black plastic sacks of rubbish and encouraging them to buy dustbins instead."