The gull also screeches in a fairly unearthly way, maximising the impact. It doesn't like me, or it doesn't want me to be in that area. I tried yelling back at it, considerably louder than the gull, but lately it has come up with a louder, more bassy warning call.
Today I found out what its problem is.
This is one of the gulls that nested on the Millom hospital roof and today I spotted a fledgling hobbling about on the grass in the hospital grounds. The bent leg that you can see is completely useless. It can only hop.
The aggressive gull, presumably a parent, was just trying to protect the youngster. Now I could tell the PDSA or RSPB but I doubt very much if they would do anything other than put it down. I don't think you can give a gull a false leg.
Long experience of pigeons who have had their legs damaged or even destroyed by building protection systems, has taught me that birds can survive pretty well even if they have lost most of their legs.
What surprises me is that the gulls have not given up on this young bird, but continue to attempt to protect it. Perhaps nature is not as red in tooth and claw as it is sometime portrayed.
Jonathan Brind