There are many reasons why residents love living in Bath and why tourists in their millions enjoy visiting us – but the gulls aren't one of them for either group.

Many people say Bath's gulls appear to be getting bigger, bolder and more aggressive as they go about their business of seeking out food and building lives in their adopted city.

At the

Chronicle

we have noticed an increase in complaints about the behaviour of the gulls from both local people and the tourists who write following visits. And as you can see in our story on page two today even the city's guest house association has noticed an increase in customer moans about our feathered friends.

The reason why we are fast falling out of love with these non-paying visitors is the way these hungry birds attack any available foodstuff.

We can all see how active these flying machines become when the black bags are put out in the mornings but the reality is that unless Bath adopts the radical (and many would say totally unwanted) idea of introducing wheelie bins then the miserable sight of the bird-pecked bag will continue.

However, there does seem to be some light at the end of this particular tunnel with plans for small food waste bins in the city next year – and that could certainly help stop the gulls and their morning raids if we use them properly.

Beyond that, we need to make sure that we avoid giving the birds easy pickings by dropping litter on our streets. We have been campaigning for many months now to improve the look of Bath's environment with our Don't Mess With Bath campaign and stopping the gulls from dive-bombing on to discarded foodstuff is just another reason why this is so crucial.

It is important to stress that worrying about the impact of the gulls is not 'anti animal'. It is lovely to see wildlife in an urban setting but the truth is the beauty and the benefit of the gulls is now really outweighed by the nuisance value. And it is time a solution was found.