ATTEMPTS will again be made to reduce the numbers of nuisance gulls in Worcester by dipping their eggs in paraffin oil or replacing the eggs with dummy eggs this spring.

But although the process helps to keep down the numbers of gulls, the problem could be dramatically improved if customers and fast food restaurant staff discarded takeaway food more responsibly, according to the city's environmental health manager.

Martin Gillies also warned wheelie bins may have to be introduced in the city centre's shops in a bid to control the problem.

It is estimated there are about 2,500 gulls in Worcester, including 430 breeding pairs, even though the first breeding pair were only spotted near the roof of the Worcester Museum, Fore-gate Street, in 1981.

The explosion in numbers is because the city offers an ideal home for the birds, with plenty of food, warmth and light.

Mr Gillies said: "If you go on any of the roofs around Worcester you will find them littered with chicken bones and that's the remnants of takeaways which have been irresponsibly disgarded. Educating people to dispose of litter and food waste more effectively is going to be the major factor in limiting numbers."

He added: "I know that wheelie bins have had a bad press and, to a certain extent an unfair press, but wheelie bins are going to be a hell of a lot more effective to deny food to gulls than plastic bags.

"The problem we have in the city centre is we haven't moved the wheelie bin scheme into commercial properties and it's something we might have to consider in the future."

This year, a contractor has again been employed to dip the eggs in oil, a process which makes them infertile, in preparation for the start of the breeding season in May. Following a successful trial last year, the city council will also put dummy eggs in the place of real ones which will then be destroyed.

As well as limiting numbers, the treatment reduces complaints about dive-bombing gulls, as they tend to be more aggressive when eggs are hatching.

Mr Gillies refused to reveal how much the treatment cost but said, if left untreated, the gulls could cause considerable damage to buildings by nesting in gutterings and causing flooding, or by pecking at building materials.

The Guildhall, High Street, the Odeon cinema and the Gala Bingo hall, both in Foregate Street, are all popular with gulls.

Mr Gillies said: "If you think about all the Victorian properties particularly around Worcester city centre, they inadvertently provide protection from the elements for the gulls so they are ideal nesting spots. They must appear to gulls to be the equivalent of cliff faces."

The majority of gulls in Worcester are the lesser black backed variety while a small number are herring gulls. The gulls will leave the city in September and fly to Spain or Portugal but nearly always return after winter to the place of their birth.