Angry birds attack Rosyth!

That’s the claim of Kirsty Mortimer, of McGrigor Road, who was left bleeding after one aerial attack and said three other neighbours have also been viciously confronted by the angry birds.

“There are loads of seagulls nesting, not only me but loads of the neighbours are scared to leave their homes due to the birds attacking and being very violent,” she said.

“Quite frankly I’m sick of them being able to gang up on us but we would be committing a crime if we hurt them. The council will have nothing to do with it or help us. Nobody will listen.

“It is health and safety, not only are they attacking us, we can’t get out to empty our bins or put the bins out on bin day, which will only be making matters worse, as they eat out of the full bins.

“Something needs to be done before someone is seriously hurt.”

Kirsty said children in her street haven’t been able to play out in the sunshine and nobody had even attempted to sit out in their garden for fear of what might happen.

She added that they’ve resorted to leaving the house with umbrellas and have even witnessed a rat being attacked by a seagull.

Other readers have shared their concerns with one man in Inverkeithing left cut, bruised and with a torn jacket after a gull encounter. Last year Fife Council ruled out measures to tackle the flying menace as too costly. The nesting season for gulls, when they are perceived as a nuisance to the public, is between April and August.

A spokesperson for RSPB Scotland said: “Gulls are fiercely protective parents and as we are much larger than them our presence or actions can be seen as threatening.

“The chicks leave the nest before they can fly and the parent gulls try to defend their chicks by swooping at any threat to scare it away.

“It can be very frightening to be confronted by an upset gull but the best things to do are not get too close to young gulls on the ground and if you have to, walk calmly while holding a bag or umbrella above your head so the gulls swoop at that instead. I also always try to remember that they are just trying to protect their young, it only lasts a few weeks and that gulls really do need our help or at least our tolerance.

“That’s because many gulls are in real trouble. Non-urban populations of herring gulls have declined by more than 50% since 1970 and are continuing to do badly along with other seabirds due to changes in natural food supplies.”

The council’s Dawn Jamieson said: “At this time of year seagulls are protecting their young as they leave the nest. Unfortunately they perceive residents as a threat and will swoop down on them. This can be very frightening.During the summer months we receive several complaints about the problems caused by seagulls. To lessen the problem we encourage everyone to play their part by not feeding the gulls – deliberately or by dropping litter. While Fife Council have no legal obligation to deal with seagulls, we have useful gull-proofing information on the Fife Direct website.”