ARBROATH West and Letham councillor David Fairweather picked up some useful tips when he attended a conference on urban gulls at the Crichton Campus, Dumfries, last Tuesday.
The organisers had gathered together some of the country's leading gull experts and key decision makers at both national and local levels.
The object of the event was to gain a deeper understanding of the issues and challenges relating to gulls, t
o hear from a range of experts and question representatives from key organisations and to hear about gull problems in other local authority areas.
The company was welcomed by the Provost of Dumfries and Galloway Council, Councillor Jack Groom, and the speakers included Michael Russell MSP, minister for the environment; Dr Andrew Douse, of Scottish National Heritage; Dr Kirsty park, of the University of Stirling; and Scottish government representative, Dr Ian Bainbridge.
All aspects of the problems caused by urban gulls were looked at, including the legal aspects of control, methods of control and gulls management.
Councillor Fairweather said: "Although attending the summit meant a very early start, it was most informative and worthwhile.
"The speakers stressed that urban gulls constitute an ongoing problem which requires integrated thinking and they came up with various ideas, some of which we have considered and some which were new.
"Ways of tackling the problem include nest and egg or chick removal, termed 'early intervention', educating the public not to feed the gulls, and even the use of falcons, hawks and eagles.
"However, the cost of some of these ideas is perhaps out of our reach but the conference made everyone think about solutions which, in itself, must be a good thing."
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