Sussex seagull rescues soar in bad weather

12:40pm Wednesday 1st August 2012 in News By Neil Vowles

UNDER HIS WING: Roger Musselle with some of the seagull chicks UNDER HIS WING: Roger Musselle with some of the seagull chicks

Young gulls are getting residents in a flap as they attempt to find their wings.

Animal groups say they are being swamped with calls from concerned residents about seagulls stuck in their gardens and on the roads.

Roger Musselle from Roger’s Wildlife Rescue in Downs Valley Road, Woodingdean, said he and his wife Fleur currently deal with 80 calls a day from residents about gulls in their gardens.

The number of calls has jumped significantly in 2012 with an increase of around a third on previous years.

A loss of the gulls’ natural habitat and food supplies had forced more and more birds to find homes on rooftops while the unseasonably wet and windy spring and summer had wrecked havoc with nests.

In the last eight weeks, Mr Musselle’s animal service has taken in 300 gulls including 211 juveniles.

Mr Musselle and his wife are currently working from 7am to 11pm just to keep on top of all the animals that they receive.

Herring gull numbers have halved in the last 40 years.

Comments(17)

paul76 says...
1:14pm Wed 1 Aug 12

If numbers have halved in 40 years, hopefully with this weather not suiting them, numbers will half again in one year. That would be a result for everyone, including herrings (I don't actually know if they eat herrings, just putting two and two together and guessing).

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downbythesea says...
1:42pm Wed 1 Aug 12

Seagulls are very nice in the wild, not so nice when they sit Squawking at high volume on your roof and the roofs around ALL night long, double glazing doesn't even help! It's not even seasonal, they are there all year round!

If they were human the noise control people would prosecute them!

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Mel Shock says...
2:02pm Wed 1 Aug 12

I like the gulls........reminds me I live on the coast.....no problem sleeping, even tho we are surrounded by them.

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Valerie Paynter says...
2:08pm Wed 1 Aug 12

If we were not over-lighting our night skies, the seagulls would SLEEP! Unlike us, they don't have curtains to shut out the spotlights, street lights, car lights, etc.

Roger Musselle and his wife are heroes and I wish the article had provided a donations link for people to use if they wish to help defray their considerable costs.

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Metro Reader says...
3:22pm Wed 1 Aug 12

Roger Musselle and his wife are heroes - what tosh, they are interfering Numbskulls. The birds are vermin and should be SHOT, as should Pigeons.

Other rodents are controlled but no birds, why? too many do-gooders!

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Mel Shock says...
3:44pm Wed 1 Aug 12

The birds only feed on our waste as the natural habitat has once again been destroyed by man....if everyone placed their wase in a bin or placed it out on bin day there would be nowhere near as much waste or mess.
I can tell your an animal lover Metro reader.........

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Fairfax Sakes says...
4:47pm Wed 1 Aug 12

Seagulls are the true scourge of Brighton, they need hunted down and driven out like the scum they are
Send them back to France where they belong!

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Mel Shock says...
4:59pm Wed 1 Aug 12

lol..really.....

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Sticky-mess says...
5:16pm Wed 1 Aug 12

Metro Reader wrote:
Roger Musselle and his wife are heroes - what tosh, they are interfering Numbskulls. The birds are vermin and should be SHOT, as should Pigeons.

Other rodents are controlled but no birds, why? too many do-gooders!
I agree strongly!

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kopite_rob says...
6:27pm Wed 1 Aug 12

Are gulls getting unnaturally aggressive? Ive been swooped and harassed a few times by gulls recently and noticed they seem to attack other birds locally. Perhaps letting nature run it's course would allow some of our smaller birds flourish.

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Mel Shock says...
9:27pm Wed 1 Aug 12

Its the time of year when all the young start flying and the parents get very protective, hence the swooping......we get it for one day a year.....they are only protecting they're young from what they perceive to be an attack

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leobrighton says...
10:28pm Wed 1 Aug 12

How about culling the moaners

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John Steed says...
9:08am Thu 2 Aug 12

leave them where they are the parents are always around, hopefully cats ,dogs cars and foxes will sort the problem. quickly

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Fairfax Sakes says...
9:23am Thu 2 Aug 12

Mel Shock wrote:
I like the gulls........reminds me I live on the coast.....no problem sleeping, even tho we are surrounded by them.
"reminds me I live on the coast?" No wonder you have no problem sleeping-what with all that Lorazepam and anti-depressants the nurses inject you with before lights out...

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getThisCoalitionOut says...
12:22pm Thu 2 Aug 12

I love seagulls too - if anyone doesn't like them then move away and shut up - the birds have more rights to live here than you!

If you find sleeping a problem - wear ear plugs, problem solved.

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Gullexpert says...
1:12pm Sat 4 Aug 12

There is not a single local authority in the UK reporting a decrease in the gull population. On the contrary, we have an epidemic and even te RSPB have finally admitted a dramtic turnaround in gull numbers in recent years. Bristol, Cardiff, Aberdeen, London (77 birds counted in 2002--40,000 today), Gloucester are all reporting increases in the hundreds of percent since the last Bird Survey in 2000-02. A qick google will demoinstrarte that these birds are depleting Salmon stocks in California, killing whales off Argentina and reaching plague proportions in Portugal and Spain. They are stealing food from other seabirds on our offshore Islands and attacks against humans are rising as they no longer fish but scavenge even as far inland as Birmingham. Local goverment are powerless due to DEFRA protection orders and their rfeliance on ancient reports and long before the "dramatic turnaround" noted by the RSPB in their 2011 report on behalf of DEFRA. This rescue attempt is seriously misguided and only adds to a serious threat to the balance of nature, human health and safety and to our sanity!

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Gullexpert says...
1:52pm Sat 4 Aug 12

getThisCoalitionOut wrote:
I love seagulls too - if anyone doesn't like them then move away and shut up - the birds have more rights to live here than you!

If you find sleeping a problem - wear ear plugs, problem solved.
The problem is that you can no longer "move away" as these gulls have spread inland over the last decade or so. They have adapted well and are breeding in huge numbers with London having risen from 77 in 2002 to 40,000 today (see 2000 Bird Survey commissioned by DEFRA). We have an epidemic of Hitchcock proportions and it is not just humans that are suffering. The lower numbers this year is a welcome natural cull but it is going to be necessary to take emergency steps very soon.

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