Britons told to wave arms and 'draw googly eyes on takeaway boxes' to deter seagulls

Former Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross ridiculed the supposed solutions put forward by the SNP-back agency, branding them "utter nonsense" and accusing the SNP of taking a "chaotic and comical approach" to the issue.

While the SNP's Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie did admit that some of the proposals were "ludicrous", he added that the quango had since been ordered to provide "practical solutions".

The agency held a summit at its Inverness headquarters which centred on how to tackle seagull attacks following growing concerns about the impact of the birds on Scottish communities.

Excessive noise, mess and gulls diving at people eating have been among the complaints.

Responding to a ministerial statement from Mr Fairlie, Mr Ross said the meeting was called a "frustrating waste of time" by those who attended.

He added: "In his statement, the minister mentioned practical solutions that were discussed. He did not give all the details about it.

"Let me account to the chamber some of those practical solutions that were genuinely made at that summit.

"To deter the gulls, when people are walking down a high street, they should walk around waving their arms, because that will stop the gulls swooping on them. That is, literally, what they were told."

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He added that the solution for keeping the birds away from takeaway boxes was "to draw on eyes" because "gulls are scared of being stared at and, therefore, they will not swoop down for a takeaway box if someone has drawn eyes on it".

Mr Ross concluded by saying: "It would be funny if it was not so serious."

While Mr Fairlie accepted some of the proposals seemed silly, he accused the Tory MSPs of not giving the situation adequate respect as they laughed about it in Holyrood.

He said: "If they want to have a serious discussion, let us have a serious discussion.

"Clearly, not one of them understands the complexity of a bird's brain, which is what we are talking about."

Eyemouth, Dumfries and Aberdeen have been particularly vocal about the disruption the gulls cause.

Mr Fairlie continued: "These concerns are real, and I want to assure the chamber that they are being taken seriously and this government will take targeted action where necessary."

"We also heard at the summit about the ways in which we can deter gulls from swooping, from creative but effective methods of putting them off takeaway boxes to building confidence in the public when out and about.

"We'll be working with local communities to raise awareness of this too."

SNP backbencher Christine Grahame said: "Given that there are folk who will not be able to afford food or heating this winter, will this be the last time that we use our valuable parliamentary time talking about gulls? It is making a mockery of this place."

A NatureScot spokesman said: "We understand the problems and frustrations that gulls can cause for people living in towns and cities.

"The summit was a very useful forum for constructive discussion, with valuable insights from communities, businesses and bird specialists.

"There is clearly much more work to be done but we feel real progress was made in bringing people together to look at immediate issues and also setting out a long-term, constructive way forward.

"We will continue to listen and learn from feedback as the actions from the summit are collectively taken forward."