Stare at seagulls to protect your chips (1 Viewer)

The secret to protecting your seaside chips from scavenging seagulls is to stare at them, scientists have said.

The birds are more likely to steal food when they can avoid the gaze of their victims, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Exeter put a bag of chips on the ground and timed how long herring gulls took to approach when they were being watched.
They compared this to how long it took for the gulls to strike when the person looked away.

The gulls took 21 seconds longer on average when they were being looked at.

The scientists tried to test 74 gulls, but most would not participate.

The last sentence made me chuckle!

Full article here

Its the ones you don't see!

More ‘urban Gull experts’ - academia ad nauseum but hopefully at least they are paying for their studies:t:

This follows on from the recent UGE and his advice to Chihuahua owners:-O

I have been birding and looking at Gulls for 45+ years so i suppose i must be a UGE - better put it on my CV but it’s a tad late for any would-be employer.

Common sense and a pair of MK1 eyeballs are all you need imo:t:

Good birding -

Laurie -

Maybe Greta Thunberg could add ‘Gull Staring Expert’ to her CV along with ‘15yo Global Warming Guru’ - if looks could kill

Laurie -