Conservation groups have spoken out in defence of seagulls after reports of "XL" gulls terrorising towns, bombarding beach-goers and even attacking cats.
Experts say seagulls are "in serious trouble" and insist that humans are to blame for the rising numbers of birds in towns and cities.
No one is safe from the "beachfront bandits" that are "terrorising" Britain's seaside towns, said the Daily Mail. "Gangs of shrieking seagulls" are apparently "prowling the skies and dive-bombing helpless victims across the UK", like "a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock movie".
But scientists say seagulls are being forced into our towns by the loss of natural spaces. The birds have been "excluded from their natural habitats by human activities", said the BBC, so they "have little choice but to move into urban areas to pick through our waste".
Seagulls are facing "multiple pressures" – from "avian flu to depleted fish stocks" – and we "need to learn to live alongside them", experts told the BBC. "When we see behaviours we think of as mischievous or criminal almost", said Professor Paul Graham of the University of Sussex, we're actually "seeing a really clever bird implementing very intelligent behaviour".
So we could regard them as "entrepreneurs rather than scroungers, refugees rather than aliens", Tim Dee, author of "Landfill: Notes on Gull Watching and Trash Picking in the Anthropocene", told The Telegraph.
Despite the scare stories, gulls aren't generally violent. "Not unless they’re defending their chicks," said The Guardian. And although "there are occasionally reports of minor injuries when they swoop to steal food", it's "definitely chips" they want, "not blood". | 
