A chick which was rescued from the Techno Trading Estate Picture Ref: 78690-22SEAGULLS are likely to become a serious problem in Swindon unless action is taken now.

That's the view of a wildlife consultant who has been helping deal with the problem in Cardiff, the second most affected city in the country.

Once seagulls have established a territory they can attack people.

Wildlife consultant Ade Williams, who has worked in Cardiff, says that once people start to notice the number of seagulls in an urban area, it is already too late.

Mr Williams, from Llantrisant, said: "When the gulls are establishing territories that is the time to do something.

"If possible I would advocate eradicating the whole lot of them."

John Warwick, of the Swindon and District Animal Haven, was recently called out by the police to rescue a gull chick near Tyco Electronics at Techno Trading Estate.

He said: "People there told us what a pest they are. They attack people and mess on them, and muck up the air conditioning vents."

"It will be a major problem unless something is done about it once the gulls get a hold here."

A spokesman for another company on the trading estate, which asked not to be named, said: "We have a problem with seagulls here.

"They keep fouling the side of the building and the front door. As soon as we clean it up, the same thing happens again.

"The mess doesn't look very professional for our customers.

"The gulls are all around this area sometimes there are about 50 of them."

One of the towns most badly affected is Gloucester. For the third year running the council there is offering a free egg-oiling service, which prevents eggs from hatching.

The town is estimated to have 2,300 pairs of gulls, and each year 1,000 eggs are oiled.

A Gloucester City Council spokesman said: "We have a major problem here, one of the biggest colonies in the country.

"Gulls breed at 20 per cent per year. The extrapolation is quite scary.

"They have virtually no predators."

Peter Rock, of Bristol University, is the leading authority on urban gulls in the UK.

He has conducted surveys on the number of gulls in Swindon.

He says that in 2004 there were 87 pairs, which was an increase of 24 per cent on the previous year.

He said: "All the colonies in Wiltshire are really rather small, but they will certainly grow, and the average annual rate of increase is 24.7 per cent.

"Any trouble in the town will certainly increase, and there will be incidents."

He said that incidents are predominantly noise, mess and aggression.

But in one area gulls have had a very unfair press. They have been said to spread botulism and salmonella, but Mr Rock said that botulism cannot be passed between gulls and humans, and in the case of salmonella he said: "They don't give it to us, we give it to them."

Mike Poole, senior environmental health officer for Swindon Council, said: "I can't say that we've experienced any problems, or that problems have been brought to our attention.

"No more so than the problems caused by pigeons, which are sedentary, so you get a build-up of droppings below.

"Herring gulls are quite powerful and can be aggressive but I haven't heard of any incidents of gulls attacking people in Swindon."

Dave Andrew