The Birds

And if the birds are allowed to continue breeding at the same rate, the number of gulls looks set to increase by between 15 and 20 per cent year-on-year.

But the city council is hatching a plan to tackle the birds which are creating mess and have even been known to attack innocent people who stray too close to their nests.

Principal environmental health officer Martin Gillies has been out on the city's rooftops with gull consultant, Peter Rock, to assess the size of Worcester's seagull problem.

In 1994 the West Midland Bird Club recorded nine breeding pairs.

Early estimates in the latest survey look set to reveal that the city is now home to around 300 breeding pairs.

"Numbers have steadily increased year upon year," Mr Gillies said.

"But it is only in recent years that the population has grown to such a size that the damage and defacement to buildings and the scale of nuisance created by these birds has become readily apparent."

Takeaway food

He puts the sudden increase down to a number of factors, including a ready available food supply, particularly from revellers discarding takeaway food in the streets after a night out, a lack of natural predators and a plentiful supply of secluded rooftop nesting and roosting sites.

The city council is planning a programme of "egg oiling" where gull eggs are dipped in liquid paraffin to de-fertilise them.

Fewer birds are born, so over a period of time this will reduce the population.

Plans to tackle the problem also include a public education campaign, to try and stop people feeding the birds, a review of litter and refuse collection in the city and an information leaflet to property owners on ways to proof their building to stop the gulls nesting and roosting there.