Hansard

I congratulate David Mundell on raising the issue, because it is serious. Like him, I have noticed that our esteemed press corps has regarded the matter as a bit of a funny subject, but it is no laughing matter for many of the constituents who have contacted me to tell me about the difficulties that they have encountered.

Many people are terrified by the presence of large colonies of gulls—or gows, as we call them in our area. People do not regard them as feathered friends; they see them as a threatening menace. Anyone who has been up close to a gull will know how threatening they can appear. The problem must be particularly difficult for elderly people.

Those of us who have lived in coastal communities for years have seen the problem developing for a considerable time. I have heard a wide range of complaints from constituents who have been dive-bombed—and of course my husband was the subject of a dive-bombing while he was out doing his running training between Lossiemouth and Roseisle on a Sunday. Other people have been dive-bombed while following their normal pursuits of walking, golfing or running, all of which are important aspects of community life in Moray.

David Mundell rightly raised the issue of disturbed sleep. Our bedroom in Lossiemouth has a flat roof. During the summer months, we are regularly awakened at 4 am by the seagulls on our roof. At times, it seems as if they are practising for parts in "Riverdance", because they sound as if they are wearing tackety boots. The noise that they make is quite incredible.

That is a serious point. Hoteliers and owners of bed-and-breakfast establishments in the area have told me that tourists have said that they will not come to the area again. They love Moray, its facilities and its beauty, but they will not come back because of the noise of the seagulls and the menace that they feel is over their heads.

As I said, we have been aware of the problem developing for some time. There are two reasons for the problem. The first relates to the depleted fish stocks. The gows used to follow the boats and they ate what was discarded from the boats. Now that there are fewer and fewer boats ploughing their way through our seas, the birds are moving further inland.

The second reason relates to the arrival of wheelie bins, which deny seagulls access to human rubbish. Seagulls even go for rubbish that has been disposed of sensibly in black bags. Having chased seagulls away from my black bags at half-past 7 one rainy morning, I can tell members that it was not a pleasant experience. My constituents probably thought that I should have been certified.

Seagulls have become urban scavengers, moving further inland all the time. What can we do? David Mundell has made several recommendations with which I agree. People must clean up their litter habits. There should be greater use of the facilities that already exist to fine people for destroying our environment by the careless discarding of rubbish, particularly foodstuffs. We should fine the litter louts a lot more than we do. Facilities exist and I think that they should be strengthened and better enforced.

Councils already have the powers to cull. However, I believe that we all want that to be done humanely. It should also be done by appropriate qualified pest control organisations. After all, if a person has a hive of wasps in their garage or house, they phone the environmental health department and it sends out someone who is qualified to deal with the problem. Why cannot we do the same with gulls?

Other suggestions have included the bird-proofing of buildings or the introduction of scaring measures. As David Mundell pointed out, there is no proof that those measures have worked.

I believe that the Scottish Executive should address the matter seriously. People are reaching the end of their tether. Individuals are not allowed to shoot gulls, but they are being driven to take such measures. Decent, law-abiding citizens feel that they have reached the stage where they must break the law. We must give better guidance to local authorities to ensure that our citizens are not placed in that position.