'Horrified' residents invaded by an ‘apocalyptic’ swarm of seagulls - it’s like an Alfred Hitchcock film

Shocking video shows the huge numbers of seagulls flocking overhead with local houses, cars and gardens now being bombarded by bird poo. The scavenging winged terrors have flocked to a landfill site where locals likened the scenes to those in Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 horror movie The Birds.

Fed-up residents say they arrive first thing in the morning and stay until late at night - with some even fearing their presence is devaluing the value of properties in the area.

Gary Hough, 62, said: “There must have been 3,000 seagulls above my house on Wednesday this week. I’ve never seen anything like it. The gulls are here about 7am and head towards the tip and they come in dribs and drabs but start to congregate. Then from 8am onwards, that’s when the majority of them come and it’s just constant until around 9.30pm.”

‘Plague’ of birds

Gary and partner Cheryl Gouldstone, 59, have lived in their £200,000 home for eight years, but fear the plague of birds might devalue properties in the area. They say birds have always been attracted to the site, but since last October it has gotten steadily worse and the issue has been turbo-charged since April.

Suez have implemented mitigation measures, such as setting off loud noises to scare the birds. But Gary says all that does is scatter the birds overhead and cause them to drop their mess on cars, washing and driveways.

‘Breeding very quickly’

He added: “It started to become such a concern and people were saying they were getting sick of it. The birds that have come have now nested so they’re here to stay. They’re breeding very quickly and from April, we’ve seen them multiplying.

He set up a Facebook page where locals can discuss their concerns and has organised a public meeting with landfill operators Suez and local councillors next month.

‘Pungent’ smell

Greengates Builders Merchants backs on to the site and sees stock and staff cars bombarded with bird muck dropped from the seagulls. Boss Steve Pickup, 60, said: “There's thousands of them. It's horrendous. It's a health hazard as much as anything, there's that much bird muck and the smell from the tip is quite pungent as well.

“A lot of our stock is covered in bird muck and we can clean most of it off, but some stuff we do have to throw away. Thankfully we have a big turnover of stock.”

Richard Phillips, landfill operations manager at SUEZ, said the firm was “actively working to deter” the seagulls and “minimise their impact on the local area”. He added: “We are currently deploying every measure within our plan to mitigate the number of seagulls in the area, which has increased following the migration of birds inland during the COVID 19 pandemic.

“And are working with the Environment Agency as well as independent specialist contractors to explore what further steps we may be able to take to address local concerns.”