Hawk on patrol in Plymouth City Centre

A hawk will be flying above the buildings in Plymouth City Centre as part of the Council’s crackdown on badly behaved gulls.

Harvey Binniger from NBC Bird and Pest Solutions patrolled the streets yesterday (Tuesday) with a harris hawk to scare the gulls away from the main shopping centre.

Called Izzy, the hawk has been trained to fly but not attack gulls. His presence is enough to scare off the herring gulls and have second thoughts about swooping down on people eating or on food left on the floor.

Last week Plymouth City Council and the Plymouth City Centre Company launched a campaign asking people not to feed the gulls as it encourages them to swoop on people. Even at the launch, the media witnessed a man having crisps taken out of his hands by a bold bird.

The hawk patrol will be in the city centre every Tuesday from now until the end of September. Hawks have been used in other parts of the city to scare off aggressive birds. Locations have included Chelson Meadow, schools, the university campus, but this is the first time it has been deployed in the city centre.

Councillor Brian Vincent, Cabinet member for the Environment said: “This technique uses nature to tackle habits that the gulls arguably have got from us.

“Why go out to sea when they can scavenge right here in the city centre? By removing the food source, we are making it harder for them and with a hawk dropping in; they will get the message that they are not welcome.

Stefan Krause, City Centre Manager added: “There are no quick fixes and there is no single solution, but using a range of measures, we hope that the gulls will begin to change their behaviour.”

The company will also have other representatives in the city centre to explain to shoppers and visitors what they are doing.

Harris hawks are ideal for this particular job as they are intelligent and responsive to their handlers. They tend to fly only short distances.