SAVVY city seagulls have learnt to wait for late night drinkers to ditch their fast food left overs.

Chips, battered fish, fried chicken and even pork ribs are top of the menu for gulls living in urban areas - and they will wait up late just to get a bite of the remnants - research published yesterday claimed.

Dr Chris Pawson, of the University of the West of England, found the wild birds will gather on roofs near pubs and takeaways between 8.30pm and 10pm and would even go as far as taking it out of people's hands.

The observations were made during an 18-month study in Bath, Somerset, which also noted gulls would feed their young entire chicken breasts.

Similar behaviour was spotted at landfill sites where they began to circle as the rubbish trucks arrive. The findings will be used by Bath and North East Somerset Council to tackle the city's seagull problem.

Woodingdean wildlife expert Roger Musselle, who is looking after 127 baby gulls at his rescue centre in Downs Valley Road, Brighton, was not surprised by the findings.

He said: "Gulls are pretty intelligent and long lived for wild birds - they can live up to 35 years. They most certainly work out where the food comes from. "This happens on the seafront in Brighton because this is their habitat and there is also plenty of food around - and sometimes they grab it out of people's hands.

"They like any sort of food but like fast food for the same reasons we do and they will look for any food opportunity. We have a generation of gulls who have grown up on roofs so that is not going to change but this is because the cliffs were flattened and took away their natural habitat."

It is one of the busiest times of year for Mr Musselle's rescue centre.

He said: "People have brought in baby gulls who have fallen from their roof nests and because the buildings are so tall they cannot get back up there. We take them in and look after them until they are independent and can be released."

Contact Roger’s Wildlife Rescue on 01273 308268 or visit rogerswildliferescue.co.uk

Background

SEAGULLS are misunderstood.

That was the claim from Peter Rock, Europe's leading authority on the wild birds, in an interview with The Argus last year.

He leapt to their defence after reports of seagull attacks on dogs and children. It prompted prime minister David Cameron to call for a "big conversation" on how to deal with them and some called for a cull. Mr Rock said: "Urban gulls are not understood at all. They are not thugs. They do whatever they can to avoid physical conflict."