{"id":249222,"date":"2026-01-24T07:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T07:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/249222\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T07:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T07:57:11","slug":"is-a-by-law-to-ban-feeding-eyemouth-gulls-the-best-way-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/249222\/","title":{"rendered":"Is a by-law to ban feeding Eyemouth gulls the best way forward?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Giancarlo RinaldiSouth Scotland reporter<\/p>\n

\"SusanSusan Thorkildsen<\/p>\n

Susan Thorkildsen said you had to expect gulls in a seaside town<\/p>\n

A bid is being made to introduce Scotland’s first council by-law banning the feeding of gulls in the Borders.<\/p>\n

It comes after reports of children being injured<\/a> in Eyemouth by swooping birds.<\/p>\n

Local councillor James Anderson, said a by-law could give the local authority “the tools it needs to address a long-standing problem”. <\/p>\n

Ahead of a council meeting to discuss the issue on Thursday, people have shared their opinions with BBC Your Voice<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"KarenKaren McKone<\/p>\n

Karen McKone said she had dealt with many injured gulls<\/p>\n

Karen McKone lives in nearby Ayton but grew up in Eyemouth.<\/p>\n

She told BBC Scotland News she had “never, ever had any incidents with gulls”.<\/p>\n

“If you’re walking, and their young are nearby, they might come and swoop on you, but I could never use the word attack because I don’t believe it’s an attack,” McKone added.<\/p>\n

“They don’t come down to attack you, they just swoop on you and sometimes they misjudge and they catch you.”<\/p>\n

McKone said she understood people had strong feelings about the birds but said that making it illegal to feed them was a step too far.<\/p>\n

\"KarenKaren McKone<\/p>\n

Karen said the birds were often targeted by drivers<\/p>\n

She said other steps like putting up signs and making sure rubbish was secure could make a bigger difference and also called for stronger action to be taken against people mistreating the birds.<\/p>\n

“I’ve picked up so many gulls, so many baby gulls hit by cars and I’ve seen it happen,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I’ve seen people deliberately not even try and avoid a bird in the road, you know.<\/p>\n

“I’ve picked up numerous gulls with injuries that are down to human beings.”<\/p>\n

Karen said that included birds being kicked, poisoned and even shot at.<\/p>\n

“They are a protected species, but you wouldn’t think it around here,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I don’t believe that the bad press that they get is warranted.”<\/p>\n

Susan Thorkildsen, who lives just over the border in Cornhill-on-Tweed, said she did not think a feeding ban was the way to go in dealing with the gulls.<\/p>\n

“They were here many, many, many years ago, long before people were here,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I actually feed them in Berwick and I feel like I am doing some good because, with me feeding them, it takes away the pressure from them looking for other scraps or pieces or whatever they can get off of other people.<\/p>\n

“When people move to a seaside town, you’ve got to expect to have seagulls.<\/p>\n

“That’s part of life, you know, you can’t say – hey, look, I’m here now, I don’t want you here, we’re going to get rid of you.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Scottish Borders Council erected signs around Eyemouth in an effort to discourage people from feeding seagulls<\/p>\n

Ros Docherty, from Glasgow, said laws against littering needed to be stronger.<\/p>\n

“Fast food outlets need to contribute financially to the control of the litter they create,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Waste bins need to be better designed and emptied more often.<\/p>\n

“People should be free to feed them if they want.<\/p>\n

“Perhaps there could be designated areas or places to do that – gulls are clever, they would soon learn to use them.”<\/p>\n

\"CraigCraig Mitchell<\/p>\n

Craig Mitchell said other parts of the country could do with a by-law as well<\/p>\n

Some, though, did favour the by-law.<\/p>\n

Charles Brunton, from Dundee, described the gulls as “rats with wings” who dirtied washing, windows and cars.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Craig Mitchell, from Perth, suggested that other parts of Scotland should consider the move.<\/p>\n

“It is a problem around the whole country,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I have been hit in the head just walking from my front door into the car park.<\/p>\n

“My neighbour is too scared to walk her dog in this area and we now are getting quotes to change our roof valley where the gulls nest.”<\/p>\n

Stories you may have missed<\/p>\n

Scottish Borders Council has said any plan to introduce a by-law would need “significant consideration and consultation, including with relevant partners and the community”.<\/p>\n

NatureScot said it had organised a number of meetings around the country – including in Eyemouth – to discuss the issue, with another planned in Dumfries on 29 January.<\/p>\n

It said the latest census showed gull numbers across Scotland were still declining.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said it recognised the need to balance conservation efforts while tackling “genuine concerns where gulls come into conflict with people, particularly in urban areas”.<\/p>\n

They added that NatureScot hoped to work with communities to find “sustainable solutions that reduce gull-related issues while protecting these declining species”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Giancarlo RinaldiSouth Scotland reporter Susan Thorkildsen Susan Thorkildsen said you had to expect gulls in a seaside town…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-249222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}