Up to seven pairs of Lesser Black-backed Gulls nest on the roof of the SECC, there are usually only a few problems with people being intimidated by the birds swooping down at them. A real conflict of interest arose when the re-roofing of the main halls was planned to go ahead when the gulls were breeding.

I approached the management and very much to their credit they allowed me to intervene on the gulls behalf when re-roofing was carried out during 2006/07. This allowed the roofing work to go ahead as planned and allowed me access to monitor the birds and get involved with any conflicts between the two.

As it happened everything went pretty much as planned other than 3 young from a nest I didn't know about. They had to be moved for their own safety so I decided to take them to Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Trust where they fledged successfully. A successful outcome for the gulls and the SECC, unfortunately gulls get a lot of bad press and regarded by some as vermin. They are a victim of their own success; as they are so adaptable they have moved in to cities where food is abundant (due to our untidiness).

They can be aggressive during the breeding season, they swoop down on people but very rarely do they ever make contact (despite some of the press talking about birds "attacking" people), I have demonstrated this to several people who were surprised that the birds did not make contact with me despite standing still while they made repeated dive bombing runs at me.
They are (to me) very elegant birds that deserve more respect and to be left alone for the few weeks they need to rear their young, not to much to ask, is it?