Decoy gull eggs scheme expanded

A trial by the Gloucester (UK) council to cut the number of gulls across the city is placing plastic eggs in nest to fool the birds. The council found the birds stayed quiet for weeks sitting on the dummy eggs and did not lay more.

Previously real eggs were oiled which stopped them from hatching and kept the birds sitting on the nests for longer. But the plastic eggs proved more successful than the oiled real ones because they do not decay over time.

Councillor Andrew Lewis said: "We are leading the country in our efforts to find ways to deal with this issue and now these plastic eggs are proving to be a very useful addition to the armoury."