THEY are the seagulls who DON’T like to be beside the seaside.

For, while Birmingham battles its infestation of gulls, all is quiet at the coastal resort dubbed Brum-on-sea.

Weston-super-Mare seafront manager Darren Fairchild said the birds on his patch caused very few problems. There has been a trend in the last few years where seagulls move away from seaside areas into towns,” said Darren. “I think that’s because of the food source.

“We’ve probably only had a couple of complaints in the last five years about seagulls. We don’t see it as a problem at the moment.

“I just don’t feel it’s necessary to put signs up about not feeding them.

“From a seafront management point of view I don’t want to plaster the seafront with lots of signs saying ‘don’t do this,’ ‘don’t feed the seagulls,’ ‘don’t enjoy yourselves’. We don’t want to make it a ‘don’t do’ environment.

“They’re part of the seafront ambience, seagulls.”

Birmingham City Council pest controllers have vowed to fight back against the winged menace, who stand accused of stealing food from the hands of children and swooping on innocent bystanders.

They plan to replace their eggs with artificial ones to fool the birds to stay in their nests.