This seagull was caught red-handed tucking into a particularly spicy meal.
The incident, which culminated with the peckish bird crashing into a wall, took place in Selbourne Road, Hove, at the end of last week.
It was recorded after Conlett White set up a candid camera to film housemate Richard Hammond eating a special dinner he had made for him.
Unbeknown to Mr Hammond, Mr White had spiked the meal – including meat, salad and chips – with mounds of black pepper.
Mr White, 30, was hoping Mr Hammond would get a shock when he ate it.
Instead, the seagull, nicknamed Stevie by housemates, sneaked in and gobbled it down.
The meal ended up in the bin and Mr Hammond, who admitted he was surprised Stevie loved pepper somuch, got a takeaway pizza.
In the video Stevie sits on the windowsill for about two minutes eyeing the meal.
He eventually makes his move, swooping on the food.
He then eats the meat and moves onto chips, before flying off with one still in his beak.
But en route to the window he gets in a flap and smashes into a wall.
Mr Hammond, who works for Google, said: “Stevie seems to really love it.
“He is just munching away.
“Conlett cooked me some dinner for a change – but, thinking he was funny, put a load of pepper in it and left a camera hidden away to catch my reaction.
“But what he ended up with was not quite what he was expecting.
“We now can’t even have our windows open in this hot weather without Stevie coming in and munching all the food.
“I have lived in Selbourne Road for five years – five summers – but this year they [seagulls] seem to be a lot more daring.
“I’m thinking of getting a pretend eagle to put out on the windowsill to keep them away.”
He said since the video was taken Stevie had been back and was now a regular visitor.
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