A WILDLIFE charity has said there is no evidence seagull poo affects seawater - after Southern Water introduced hawks to scare off gulls.

The Argus revealed last week that Southern Water had been reported to the police for trying to use birds of prey to deter herring girls for contaminating Worthing beach with their droppings.

Now, bird protection charity the RSPB has said they are “not aware of any science to suggest that gull droppings have a significant negative impact on the water quality of our seas and coastline.”

The charity completely rebuffed Southern Water’s claims that scaring the birds off would improve water quality, and thanked witnesses who reported seeing the birds being scared off to the police as a possible wildlife crime.

A spokeswoman for the charity added: “Even if such evidence were available, the UK coastline is the traditional habitat for gull species, many of which are already threatened and often deterred from using our urban environments. We cannot keep squeezing nature into smaller and smaller spaces or forcing it to fit in with our plans. The method of using hawks, particularly during breeding season where gulls can be very territorial, also raises serious welfare questions for both the gulls and the hawks involved.

“We would urge Southern Water to look at ways of improving water quality without putting additional pressure on our wildlife and environment.”

Last week Southern Water said they had “demonstrable evidence that bird pollution can affect the quality of bathing water".