Seagulls lay siege

DISTRESSING flocks of up to 3,000 seagulls have invaded a town almost 30 miles from the coast to scavenge food waste at a landfill site.

- Ashley Pemberton

Residents have likened the sight of thousands of gulls wheeling overhead to Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 horror film The Birds.

They say the noise is horrendous, and they avoid going outside due to the steady bombardment of poo that covers houses, gardens and cars.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Gary Hough, 62, who has lived in Accrington, Lancashire, where the landfill site is located, for eight years.

The gulls start gathering every morning around 7am and their numbers build constantly throughout the day until they leave around 9.30pm.

Mr Hough and his partner Cheryl Gouldstone, 59, fear the invasion might devalue properties.