Learning to live with gulls
Ahead of the Gull Summit in Inverness, discover why we need to learn to live with urban gulls.
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Last updated: 01 Oct 2025
The Scottish Government hosted a “Gull Summit” in Inverness in September to address growing concern about “nuisance gulls”.
The Summit focused on the five species of gull which can be found breeding in our towns and cities, the Great Black-backed gull, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull, with a particular focus on the latter two species as they now regularly breed in urban areas.
The Summit was called in response to the apparent growing conflict between gulls and people in urban areas particularly during the breeding season from May to July where gulls calling loudly, defending chicks and raiding bins is seen by some as a growing nuisance and has resulted in increased demand for widespread lethal control.
Learning to live with gulls
Gulls, like all breeding birds in Scotland, are protected by law and any activities such as nest removal, egg destruction or killing of adults and/or chicks is illegal without a licence. This is important because all of Scotland’s gull species are declining with Herring Gull and Great Black-backed Gull currently red listed on the Birds of Conservation Concern. In Scotland, the number of Herring Gulls has declined by almost half (48%) since 1986. It is therefore vital that any management of gulls does not cause further declines in their populations.
In Scotland licences can only be issued for legitimate purposes such as air safety or public health and safety. In cases where there is a genuine need, such as nesting birds at an airport compromising air safety, the RSPB is not against lethal control providing non-lethal measures have been tried first. However, many licence applications are made each year across the country for "nuisance" behaviour, such as raiding bins or fouling people’s cars/windows. In these cases, licences cannot legally be issued.
This level of protection is important as our gulls are under serious pressure. They face threats in their marine environment from development and in their breeding grounds from non-native predators and climate change is negatively impacting their food supplies. By contrast our urban areas are a gull paradise: with dwindling fish stocks hungry Herring Gulls will readily eat from discarded litter and raise their chicks on the safety of roofs in our towns and cities.
So, what’s the answer?
Put simply we need to learn to live with gulls as their move to urban areas is a result of our actions. We need to reduce food opportunities by never deliberately feeding gulls, by being less wasteful and by making bins gull-proof. Crucially we need to provide gulls with safe breeding sites away from urban areas either by restoring traditional natural sites or providing other safe breeding areas outside of areas that will cause conflict.
RSPB Scotland will be attending the Summit in Inverness in support of our amazing urban gulls. Wide-scale lethal control of gulls is not the answer, gulls are here to stay, and nature is not a nuisance. If you feel strongly about this issue then we would encourage you to write to your local councillors, council and MSPs explaining that gulls are part of our urban wildlife and that you want to see positive solutions for both gulls and people in your area.
Scotland's gull summit
After the gull summit, James Silvey, Senior Species and Habitats Officer, RSPB Scotland has reflected on what was discussed and on the future of gulls in Scotland’s urban areas.
It was a generally positive meeting with a range of representation in attendance, although we acknowledge some felt audiences were not represented. Most attendees were looking for a balance between healthy gull numbers and people feeling safe in town centres and residential areas. This was good to hear, as was some of the positive non-lethal steps that councils are putting in place themselves to mitigate gull impacts.
The pressures gulls are under both in the marine and urban environment are many, but it was particularly concerning to see the impact licenced control may be having on our threatened gull populations. It is vital that NatureScot manage a robust gull licensing system that does not itself lead to the decline in these already struggling seabird populations.
Finally, it was great to share enthusiasm for providing safe areas, away from residential areas, for gulls to breed in urban environments (such as brownfield sites) as well as restoring natural coastal and island sites for birds. Restoration of natural breeding sites is vital for the recovery of our wider seabird populations and a key part of the Scottish Government’s recently launched Scottish Seabird Conservation Action Plan.
We look forward to continuing these discussions with the audiences present and working towards an urban environment where both gulls and people can live together with minimal conflict.