The bird that the media loves to hate - but will RSPB speak up in defence of the much-maligned herring gull?

                                                       

ANOTHER national newspaper columnist has let fly at Britain's most maligned species - the herring gull.

The latest to sign up to the 'herd opinion' of her media colleagues is Judith Woods, longstanding correspondent of The Daily Telegraph.

In a comment piece in  today's edition of the newspaper, she writes: "Gulls are becoming a bona fide hazard to humans.

"In 2022, one Edinburgh resident who complained to the council of pram-pushing mothers being dive-bombed, pets attacked and windscreens being smashed was told to 'hire a hawk'."

Continues Ms Woods: "A one-kilogram herring gull has a razor-sharp two-inch beak, a 1.4-metre wingspan and travels at more than 30mph."

What prompted the condemnation of the esteemed columnist?

Apparently, it was an earlier news report in the same paper claiming that Royal Mail deliveries had been delayed to some households in Liskeard because gulls had been swooping at 'posties'.

Whether organisations such as RSPB and Natural England will spring to the defence of gulls remains to be seen.

In the past, they have stayed silent - surely an abrogation of responsibility given that one of their main purposes is to speak up for Nature.