Duck - it's a seagull

DOWN South the big problem in urban areas is foxes. Here it's baby seagulls.

A visiting seagull

You might think something as tiny and vulnerable as a baby seagull could not possibly cause any problems for the residents of Whitehaven. But it's the over-protective parents who are the Yobs of the Parish. This time of year baby seagulls are hatching out of the eggs laid in nests on rooftops - and a good percentage are then falling off the roof into gardens and onto driveways. At that point they are remarkably resilient and tend to bounce back up with not much ill effect. A distressed mum or dad is unable to get the young one back on the roof so spends its time trying its best to protect the young one from danger. That means dive-bombing any passers-by and for the next four or five weeks the good folk of Whitehaven must remember not to go out their back door and find ever-complex routes to work. Sadly, the baby seagull is at the mercy of cats, dogs and the crueller sub-species of man and most won't make it.