A council-funded study into gull nesting in Scarborough has recommended the use of artificial nesting towers to ‘help manage guano in the town’.
The £13,000 study focused on the Grand Hotel “as it is the most significant Kittiwake nesting location in the town”, and concluded that the erection of gull nesting towers could minimise the birds’ impact on urban areas.
After discussions with the RSPB and the University of Exeter, a freelance ornithologist was appointed to provide a feasibility study and worked closely with a working group consisting of North Yorkshire Council officers and the Urban Gull Working Group.
The objectives “centred on the use of nesting towers to mitigate the loss of nesting sites and whether this could lead to a more sustainable management of guano within the town,” a report to councillors states.
The study recommends “a suitable location for an artificial nesting structure to be erected, which would solve some of the current issues around guano and nesting.”
However, according to the research which will be fully published later this year, nesting structures can take several years to be effective.
The project was allocated £14,000 by the Scarborough and Whitby area committee and so far £12,900 has been spent on it.
The committee is made up of councillors from Scarborough and Whitby and has an annual budget of £50,000.
The funds from this year and the previous year were combined, with £89,700 having been spent to date.
Earlier this year, NYC published its ‘urban gull strategy’ following an increasing number of complaints in coastal towns from residents, tourists, and politicians.
The authority said that the gull masterplan sought to address noise and mess while enabling “healthy populations of gulls to co-exist” with humans.
The strategy highlights “a perceived increase in the urban gull population” in Scarborough, Whitby, and Filey amid concern about “gulls snatching food from people, causing distress and sometimes injury”.
The largest kittiwake colony in Scarborough can be found during the spring and summer months on the Grand Hotel, according to Kittiwakes.org, and local bird watcher Nick Addey recorded “556 occupied nests present during the summer of 2023”.
The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) states that the kittiwake is on the UK Red List for conservation.
Speaking at a meeting last year, Coun Keane Duncan, NYC’s executive member for highways and transport, said the authority was “fighting back and working hard” to address issues around guano and ‘gull muggings’ in coastal towns.
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