THEY are a winged menace, often operating in gangs, swooping on innocent bystanders, stealing food from the hands of children and breeding at an alarming rate.

The seagull has made the rooftops of Birmingham city centre its home and complaints of ‘mobbing’ by the aggressive birds are growing.

Now Birmingham City Council pest controllers have vowed to fight back against the bird blight.

They considered shooting or drugging them, using distressing sounds, birds of prey, scarecrows, removing nests and even lasers to deter the gulls.

But, after ruling these methods out, they will replace the eggs with artificial ones to fool the birds to remain in their nests and out of harm’s way.

A six-month trial begins in the Jewellery Quarter next month – the area from where most complaints have been received.

Head of environmental health Mark Croxford believes Birmingham is the first inland local authority to look at tackling the urban gull menace.

He said: “We are used to dealing with rats and mice, but there has been a sharp increase in complaints about gulls and we had no way of dealing with them.