Seagulls are an oddly controversial topic for us Brits. If you mention them you’ll often hear horror stories about long-lost fish and chips or ice creams, crying children and flustered parents.

Though some say that the noise they make brings about that beachy seaside nostalgia we all know and love and reminds them of happy sunny days. We went to Torquay to see what locals and tourists thought about the often mischievous birds and found many lovers of them – and even more haters.

Seagulls, like all wild birds and their nests in the UK, are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which seems to be controversial to some people in and of itself.

Suzanne Collins is one of these people. She had a lot to say about the birds which she said cause havoc on her street.

Read more: Torquay locals terrorised by noisy ‘boy racers’ blasting music

She said: “I don’t like them. They rip rubbish open and they attack people. They’re just vermin basically. The rats are probably kinder than the seagulls are.”

She said that the birds ripping rubbish open is a big problem for her and the lane that she lives on. She said: “It was like a rubbish tip on Tuesday morning in my lane. One of the seagulls was actually dragging this rubbish bag across the road. They’re strong.”

Her friend who was with her Emma Kerby took a bit of a kinder stance on the birds but she did recognise that they could cause problems too. She said: “I like them to look at and the sound of them but they do attack you.

She added: “To be honest though, when I moved away for five years I missed the sound of them. I had aeroplanes instead.”

Suzanne was not as forgiving as Emma however and questioned why winged scavengers were protected at all. She said: “They’re protected and I just can’t see why. They kill badgers and every single year they breed and breed and there’s just thousands more born every year.

“They cause people a lot of trouble. If you don’t watch your food they just pinch it out your hand. They’re just horrible. They fight each other as well.”

Suzanne told a story about a seagull which had cut her daughter Sophie’s hand when she had given her a pasty when she was little. She also said a friend who had done rewiring on a roof had been attacked and ended up with his head cut open after he had happened upon a nest in the roof.

Both of them said that they had either been pooed on by the coastal birds or sat in their poo too, which further fueled the fire against the birds.

Emma too did have some complaints about the contentious creatures. She said: “They’re not fair on other birds either. When I took my son to the duck pond we were feeding the ducks and the seagulls come and nick the food!”

She also recounted a memory she had about a seagull being stuck on a roof in the harbour, which was rescued by no less than two fire engines. Both Emma and Suzanne agreed it was a waste of public money to be using the resources.

Despite this seagull bashing, Suzanne and Emma do not think this about other animals and say they love other creatures. Suzanne said: “We’re animal lovers but we just can’t abide them in summer. You can’t sit at the harbour and eat fish and chips. No chance, it would be gone.”

Though it was not all negative opinions about seagulls. Billy Dickens, who was spending the afternoon peacefully crabbing in the harbour, had a completely different point of view on the maritime birds.

“I like seagulls, I’m happy with seagulls,” Billy said. “I can see why people don’t like them but I don’t think you’d have a seaside without seagulls would you? Like the sound of seagulls – that’s what the seaside’s all about, isn’t it?”

The sound of the gulls has a recurring theme throughout people’s opinions. The distinctive seaside sound splits people up between those who love it like Emma and Billy and those who find it intrusive.

Billy was quick to mention food grabbing which is common by seagulls at the coast. He said: “If they steal my chips I wouldn’t be happy.”

Though thankfully for him, he said that he has never had one attack him but he has seen it happen.

Pauline Harvey on the other hand is not as tolerant as Billy. She runs All Sorts Creamery ice cream shop right on the harbour front. The shop has outside seating for customers which regularly gets raided by the shoreline scavengers.

“We get a lot and they’re a nuisance, to be honest,” she said, “There’s nothing we can do, sometimes I put the blind out but there’s nothing you can do.”

She added: “I don’t like them. I don’t think there are many people who do like them because they should be out at sea but people are feeding them. As long as people are going and feeding the seagulls they’re going to come.”

Pauline does not think that the birds should be protected either because there were too many of them. She said: “I don’t want to harm them but there’s nothing I can do, you’ve just got to accept it. But they’re getting so bad that they’re biting people and snatching things out their hands.”

Sian Rees who recently moved to the area has mixed feelings about them. When she moved in there was a seagull nest with eggs in it on a chimney opposite her patio and so she has watched the little chicks grow up.

To Sian, while they seem sweet when they are little when they get bigger they are less attractive, so her feelings about them are conflicted. She said: “I’ve not long moved in there and when I moved in the mother seagull was sitting on the eggs and I’ve seen them hatch out.

“They were these cute fluffy things but now they’re getting a bit bigger and ugly. So they’re verging into the other side of the conflicting opinion of being flying rats.”

Despite the poor reputation of fully grown seagulls, Sian recognised that the coast is their home. She said: “They’ve lived by the sea probably longer than we’ve been around here. It’s their natural habitat, they’ve just adapted to the towns.”

Sian has never been attacked by a seagull either though her son was not so lucky. She said: “I tend to be quite good at shooing them away – I didn’t grow up here but I did grow up by the sea. But yeah, I think my son was he was little had an ice cream stolen and some people find them quite scary.”

Margaret Baron and Bill Adarr were mostly positive about the coastal cruisers too. They were out in Torquay visiting from Derbyshire so do not see them so often.

Bill said: “We like seagulls. But if they pinch my chips then I don’t like them.”

Thankfully, Bill and Margaret’s chips have never been pinched, however. Margaret said: “They’ve been eying us up a few times and I’ve seen them pinch other peoples’ chips but not ours.”

Bill had a similar school of though to Sian about how they exist in the world. He said: “They’re a bit like pigeons aren’t they, they’re a bit of a pest but they’ve got a place on the planet. They should go foraging for their own stuff, it’s too easy to take it off the locals.”

“They have the same right to be on the planet as anything else,” Margaret agreed, though she did mention that the gulls were more prevalent in Brixham than Torquay.

When asked whether it was a good thing they were protected Bill said: “Yeah I do. I don’t see any reason at all to kill a bird, even though they might be a nuisance.”

Paige Humphreys and Matt Nichols were sitting out together eating some fish and chips below the sun on the harbour side, while a seagull lurked behind them. Despite the uninvited feathered guest, the threat of an attack did not really seem to bother them.

Matt said: “If you go to the seaside you expect it don’t you.”

The pair said they have never been attacked by gulls either, but Matt commented in a similar vain to Margaret saying that the birds were not so busy in Torquay. He said: “I love the sea but I don’t think they’re in Torquay so much, it’s more on the beaches.”

Seagulls are an oddly controversial topic for us Brits. If you mention them you’ll often hear horror stories about long-lost fish and chips or ice creams, crying children and flustered parents.

Though some say that the noise they make brings about that beachy seaside nostalgia we all know and love and reminds them of happy sunny days. We went to Torquay to see what locals and tourists thought about the often mischievous birds and found many lovers of them – and even more haters.

Seagulls, like all wild birds and their nests in the UK, are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which seems to be controversial to some people in and of itself.

Suzanne Collins is one of these people. She had a lot to say about the birds which she said cause havoc on her street.

Read more: Torquay locals terrorised by noisy ‘boy racers’ blasting music

She said: “I don’t like them. They rip rubbish open and they attack people. They’re just vermin basically. The rats are probably kinder than the seagulls are.”

She said that the birds ripping rubbish open is a big problem for her and the lane that she lives on. She said: “It was like a rubbish tip on Tuesday morning in my lane. One of the seagulls was actually dragging this rubbish bag across the road. They’re strong.”

Her friend who was with her Emma Kerby took a bit of a kinder stance on the birds but she did recognise that they could cause problems too. She said: “I like them to look at and the sound of them but they do attack you.

She added: “To be honest though, when I moved away for five years I missed the sound of them. I had aeroplanes instead.”

Suzanne was not as forgiving as Emma however and questioned why winged scavengers were protected at all. She said: “They’re protected and I just can’t see why. They kill badgers and every single year they breed and breed and there’s just thousands more born every year.

“They cause people a lot of trouble. If you don’t watch your food they just pinch it out your hand. They’re just horrible. They fight each other as well.”

Suzanne told a story about a seagull which had cut her daughter Sophie’s hand when she had given her a pasty when she was little. She also said a friend who had done rewiring on a roof had been attacked and ended up with his head cut open after he had happened upon a nest in the roof.

Both of them said that they had either been pooed on by the coastal birds or sat in their poo too, which further fueled the fire against the birds.

Emma too did have some complaints about the contentious creatures. She said: “They’re not fair on other birds either. When I took my son to the duck pond we were feeding the ducks and the seagulls come and nick the food!”

She also recounted a memory she had about a seagull being stuck on a roof in the harbour, which was rescued by no less than two fire engines. Both Emma and Suzanne agreed it was a waste of public money to be using the resources.

Despite this seagull bashing, Suzanne and Emma do not think this about other animals and say they love other creatures. Suzanne said: “We’re animal lovers but we just can’t abide them in summer. You can’t sit at the harbour and eat fish and chips. No chance, it would be gone.”

Though it was not all negative opinions about seagulls. Billy Dickens, who was spending the afternoon peacefully crabbing in the harbour, had a completely different point of view on the maritime birds.

“I like seagulls, I’m happy with seagulls,” Billy said. “I can see why people don’t like them but I don’t think you’d have a seaside without seagulls would you? Like the sound of seagulls – that’s what the seaside’s all about, isn’t it?”

The sound of the gulls has a recurring theme throughout people’s opinions. The distinctive seaside sound splits people up between those who love it like Emma and Billy and those who find it intrusive.

Billy was quick to mention food grabbing which is common by seagulls at the coast. He said: “If they steal my chips I wouldn’t be happy.”

Though thankfully for him, he said that he has never had one attack him but he has seen it happen.

Pauline Harvey on the other hand is not as tolerant as Billy. She runs All Sorts Creamery ice cream shop right on the harbour front. The shop has outside seating for customers which regularly gets raided by the shoreline scavengers.

“We get a lot and they’re a nuisance, to be honest,” she said, “There’s nothing we can do, sometimes I put the blind out but there’s nothing you can do.”

She added: “I don’t like them. I don’t think there are many people who do like them because they should be out at sea but people are feeding them. As long as people are going and feeding the seagulls they’re going to come.”

Pauline does not think that the birds should be protected either because there were too many of them. She said: “I don’t want to harm them but there’s nothing I can do, you’ve just got to accept it. But they’re getting so bad that they’re biting people and snatching things out their hands.”

Sian Rees who recently moved to the area has mixed feelings about them. When she moved in there was a seagull nest with eggs in it on a chimney opposite her patio and so she has watched the little chicks grow up.

To Sian, while they seem sweet when they are little when they get bigger they are less attractive, so her feelings about them are conflicted. She said: “I’ve not long moved in there and when I moved in the mother seagull was sitting on the eggs and I’ve seen them hatch out.

“They were these cute fluffy things but now they’re getting a bit bigger and ugly. So they’re verging into the other side of the conflicting opinion of being flying rats.”

Despite the poor reputation of fully grown seagulls, Sian recognised that the coast is their home. She said: “They’ve lived by the sea probably longer than we’ve been around here. It’s their natural habitat, they’ve just adapted to the towns.”

Sian has never been attacked by a seagull either though her son was not so lucky. She said: “I tend to be quite good at shooing them away – I didn’t grow up here but I did grow up by the sea. But yeah, I think my son was he was little had an ice cream stolen and some people find them quite scary.”

Margaret Baron and Bill Adarr were mostly positive about the coastal cruisers too. They were out in Torquay visiting from Derbyshire so do not see them so often.

Bill said: “We like seagulls. But if they pinch my chips then I don’t like them.”

Thankfully, Bill and Margaret’s chips have never been pinched, however. Margaret said: “They’ve been eying us up a few times and I’ve seen them pinch other peoples’ chips but not ours.”

Bill had a similar school of though to Sian about how they exist in the world. He said: “They’re a bit like pigeons aren’t they, they’re a bit of a pest but they’ve got a place on the planet. They should go foraging for their own stuff, it’s too easy to take it off the locals.”

“They have the same right to be on the planet as anything else,” Margaret agreed, though she did mention that the gulls were more prevalent in Brixham than Torquay.

When asked whether it was a good thing they were protected Bill said: “Yeah I do. I don’t see any reason at all to kill a bird, even though they might be a nuisance.”

Paige Humphreys and Matt Nichols were sitting out together eating some fish and chips below the sun on the harbour side, while a seagull lurked behind them. Despite the uninvited feathered guest, the threat of an attack did not really seem to bother them.

Matt said: “If you go to the seaside you expect it don’t you.”

The pair said they have never been attacked by gulls either, but Matt commented in a similar vain to Margaret saying that the birds were not so busy in Torquay. He said: “I love the sea but I don’t think they’re in Torquay so much, it’s more on the beaches.”