By Simon Johnson

Copyright yahoo

Coastal communities plagued by seagulls should scare them off by drawing eyes on takeaway boxes, an SNP-backed nature agency told MSPs.

Douglas Ross, the former Scottish Tory leader, said NatureScot had suggested the “practical solutions”, including telling people to wave their hands in the air when walking down the street, during a summit on tackling seagull attacks at the agency’s Inverness headquarters.

Mr Ross ridiculed the suggestions the agency made as “utter nonsense” and accused the SNP of having a “chaotic and comical approach” to the issue.

Jim Fairlie, the SNP’s agriculture minister, admitted that some of NatureScot’s proposals were “ludicrous” and said he had ordered the quango to provide “practical solutions.”

SNP organising ‘closed door talking shop’

The Scottish Government arranged the summit following concerns about the impact urban gulls were having on communities across Scotland.

Complaints have included excessive noise, mess and gulls swooping on people while they are eating food outdoors.

However, Mr Ross accused the SNP of organising a “closed door talking shop” that excluded many local groups who had raised complaints, the media and opposition politicians.

Responding to a ministerial statement by Mr Fairlie at Holyrood, he said: “I have to say that the feedback that I have had from those who did attend was that it was a frustrating waste of time.

“In his statement, the minister mentioned practical solutions that were discussed. He did not give all the details about it. Let me account to the chamber for some of those practical solutions that were genuinely made at that summit.

“To deter the gulls, when people are walking down a high street, they should walk around waving their arms, because that will stop the gulls swooping on them. That is, literally, what they were told.

“The minister mentioned takeaway boxes and what can be done to stop the gulls going for them. He did not say that the solution was to draw on eyes – because gulls are scared of being stared at and, therefore, they will not swoop down for a takeaway box if someone has drawn eyes on it. It would be funny if it was not so serious.”

Mr Fairlie accused the Tory MSP of “grandstanding” and insisted the “people who need to be in the room” were present at the summit.

However, he added: “On my response to NatureScot, he is correct: some of the responses that came back from NatureScot were ludicrous.

“I have now spoken to NatureScot and said that we need to find practical solutions. Yes, when some of the scientific evidence was brought forward at the summit, it talked about googly eyes on takeaway boxes.

“Yes, it talked about people waving their arms in order to distract birds, and, yes, it talked about staring at seagulls because seagulls do not like eye contact.”

This prompted Tory MSPs to burst out laughing, prompting the minister to upbraid them.

He said: “If they want to have a serious discussion, let us have a serious discussion. Clearly, not one of them understands the complexity of a bird’s brain, which is what we are talking about.”

Concerns over risk to public health

During his statement, Mr Fairlie said there are concerns about persistent noise, aggressive defending behaviour, damage to property and risks to public health.

He said: “These concerns are real, and I want to assure the chamber that they are being taken seriously and this government will take targeted action where necessary.”

Mr Fairlie added: “We also heard at the summit about the ways in which we can deter gulls from swooping, from creative but effective methods of putting them off takeaway boxes to building confidence in the public when out and about, we’ll be working with local communities to raise awareness of this too.”

He unveiled a series of “regional roundtable events”, making buildings less attractive to gulls, and planning conditions for food outlets to require effective waste management.

Christine Grahame, an SNP backbencher, said: “Given that there are folk who will not be able to afford food or heating this winter, will this be the last time that we use our valuable parliamentary time talking about gulls? It is making a mockery of this place.”

NatureScot was approached for comment.