Staring at a seagull will stop it stealing your food, scientists claim

STARING at pesky gulls stops them nicking your food, research suggests.

Scientists put a bag of chips on the ground to see how long before the birds swooped.

The herring gulls took 21 seconds longer to pounce with people watching than when they weren’t.

Some snatched chips in seconds if they thought they weren’t spotted.

By keeping an eye on them people could save their lunch

Lead author Madeleine Goumas, of Exeter University, said: “Gulls are often seen as aggressive and willing to take food from humans. By keeping an eye on them people could save their lunch, while reducing negative encounters.”

Her team tried to test 74 birds on the Cornish coast. Most flew away, with just 27 approaching the food.

The study, published in the Royal Society’s Biology Letters, focused on the 19 that completed both the “looking at” and “looking away” tests. They also found some gulls were braver than others — possibly due to having different characters.

Madeleine said: “Some wouldn’t touch the food. Others didn’t seem to notice that a human was staring at them.

REPUTATION RUINED

“Some gulls might have had positive experiences of being fed in the past. But it seems a couple of very bold ones might ruin the reputation of the rest.”

She said controlling the gull population with birds of prey is expensive and ineffective and ignores specific behaviour.

Senior author Dr Neeltje Boogert added: “Gulls learn quickly, so if they get food from humans once, they might look for more.”

The species is declining rapidly in the UK — down 60 per cent between 1969 and 2015, with plastic pollution blamed. But numbers are up in urban areas.

Their natural diet is fish and invertebrates.

Researchers will now investigate how human foods affects gulls and chicks in the long term.

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