flippers or talons? Gulls-feet

[sahona]

This forum has gone quiet - where are you all?
It's my kilo-post - and I simply must use it NOW.
My boat seems to be a preferred roost for shy-talks.
I pose the question - what can gulls balance on with those webbed feet?
Outboards, dinghies - anything flattish - I've actually had one land on our hot barbecue and not realise it was hurting itself - but my spreaders, as a roost, do they sleep there?
They are round section tapered from about 1-3/4" to 3/4" which I would have thought difficult for a gull to feel secure on, however, analysis with the binoculars reveals keech on the lowers, and mainsail luff-stack, and none above that, or on the spreaders themselves.
Other boats in the vicinity have similar evidence, but oddly, not the ones with aerodynamic foil shaped spreaders, which I thought would be more webfeet friendly.
The logic escapes me - but the next action will be to add string in the upper rigging triangle.
Another option is to sleep on the pontoon and spy on them then revise all plans.
It really has become a major problem, as our boat gathers a far greater amount of mess than all the rest put together.
If they were rats at home , I could ask the council to de-infest.
Is there marine equivalent? (OK - I know they're protected - is that still valid?)
rant over - for today.

[Silkie]

Congratulations on your kilopost Admiral. I did think you'd been slightly more active than usual recently.

Perhaps gulls are happy both on flat surfaces and on ones they can grip, and the aerodynamic spreaders are both too large to be gripped and too small to feel secure as a flat perch? (Note that this is posted in almost total ignorance of the real facts of the matter.)

There doesn't seem to be a problem with gulls at Dunstaffnage (perhaps they're all crapping on motor-sailers elsewhere in the marina) although we did have a serious wagtail problem in Balvicar Bay a couple of years ago.

[Aja]

For my 354th post ... 100% sure it is gulls? I have seen crows having a great view from spreaders, and it would suit their feet to have round bars, with flat spreaders suiting gulls, no?

Donald

[sahona]

Analysis of the keech leads me to believe it's gulls, as I say the next ploy is string.
We're having a new v.expensive conservatory in dark blue fitted and I don't want anything nasty near it!

[Aja]

Bill

Forget string. Get hold of an old C60 or C90 cassette tape. When this is stretched slightly tight it hums in the wind. The gulls really do not like either the noise or maybe the flapping. The tension does not need to be much, experiment yourself. It really is effective.

We saw it first at Portavadie when they had many empty berths and stretched tape across from finger end to main walkway - the gulls would sit for only a few minutes until the wind changed and a hum started and they just flew off. We now stretch some from mast to boom end on Aja to ensure a clean sail cover at Kames.

A C60 has lasted us a couple of seasons use so far...

Regards
Donald

[sahona]

Good thought Donald, we used 1/2" computer tape in the garden years ago and I had forgotten how well it worked.
New problem - which will I choose, Elvis or Lonnie?

[Aja]

Cumberland Gap was #1 on my birthdate.....

I'd go for Elvis
Donald

[sahona]

You're just a lad donald!
Apparently Jimmy Dorsey sang Besame Mucho to welcome me into the world, couldn't hear the crystal set for the bombs.

[Aja]

Jimmy who?

[Arghiro]

Light fishing line is a good deterent. They don't see it & it scares the hell out of them when they hit it. Oh, maybe the scaring bit isn't a good idea after all!

[sahona]

Down to Troon today to see the new wheelhouse cover - very nice, but it had already been bombed and the foredeck was the worst mess so far.
Sod the academics about gulls feet, using common sense, as we have the largest radome in the area, they are obviously roosting there.
Got her to wind me up the mast and installed a cats cradle from the radome to the steaming light so that will hopefully be the end of that.
In the meantime the old cover is back on just in case...

[sahona]

Yahoo, sorry that's trademarked - whoopee then, we seem to have effected a defense from the phantom guano squirter of old Troon town.
Clean decks - apart from the odd high-level 'en passant' keech, over the holiday weekend meant that the new wheelhouse tent went up and is a pleasure to play in.
So the answer to the OP is flippers, as we all know, and my smart-@rse idea of painting a bird-of-prey outline on the top of the radome was a failure - possibly worse - it may have acted like a decoy, same as those plastic owls.
Next winter, when we drop the mast, I'll make the cats cradle more aesthetically pleasing, including nautical bends and whipping.[photobucket][/photobucket]

[bosun higgs]

Are gulls protected? I didnt think so.

[sahona]

From Mr & Mrs google and all the wee googlies: quote-
PROTECTION
All wild birds, their nests and their eggs are protected by law. The level of this protection depends on whether the bird is rare or endangered (these are shown on Schedule 1 of the WCA) but even very common birds such as robins and blackbirds are protected. Some birds can be shot for sport but only at certain times of the year. Other birds may be killed because they are pests (for example, magpies or crows) but this can only be done under certain conditions by authorised persons - see definition above. ( couldn't find that , Bill)
Part II
Birds which may be killed or taken by authorised persons:
This section has been replaced by General Licences with the same effect:
Crow (Carrion) Rook, Magpie, Jackdaw , Jay
Dove (Collared) Pigeon (Feral) Wood Pigeon
Gull (Great Black-Backed) Gull (Herring) Gull (Lesser Black-Backed ) -unquote.
So get to know your gull-type and for goodness sake don't shoot out my tricolour/anchor light.

[FullCircle]

I have several cans of Gull paint in different shades so you can ensure you are murdering an allowed pest.
Dodgy scan of a permit may also be possible.
I found the electricity bill for keeping the mast and fittings at 33000 volts to be a tad on the high side though.