THE police car in Bridport with a gull nest on it will need a complete re-spray once the gulls vacate as their droppings will eat into the paintwork. 

The cost to police funds? At least £1,000 per gull chick raised. 

If herring gulls were really rare birds, that might be justifiable. But they’re not. 

The decision to Red List the herring gull has been heavily criticised.

It was made in 2009, on the basis of how far numbers had fallen between 1970 and 2000.

(In 1970, numbers were at an all-time high, having been inflated during the 1960s by wasteful fishery discards and food available at open rubbish tips.) 

A census conducted in 2018-2020 showed that, due to astronomic rates of increase in urban areas, there are now more herring gulls in England than in 1970. 

However, the gulls remain on the Red List, for reasons never explained. 

Linda Gamlin
Address supplied