Well this is my first Blog and thought it might be a good idea to put my feelings in writing  and my thoughts about the day to day antics of the local sea bird colony here in Eastbourne.

I have for the last 4 weeks been going to bed with earplugs so that I can guarantee a good nights sleep instead of being kept awake until around 11.30pm and then awoken by around 3am. I am pleased to say that it did work, until that is I got an ear infection of some kind which made my ear very painfuland so the ear plugs came out. Instantly, bang went a good nights sleep as I fell prey to the seagull!

A 5.15 this morning the noise by my bathroom window (I live on the top floor of a maisonette) was deafening and upon pushing the window open there wasa flock of maybe 10 gulls some in flight as I scared them by pushing my window wide open and 2 too busy feeding from a nice big bowl of cat food, just what is needed after a healthy all night bender on fish guts and other types of seafood, basically the proper diet for a SEAgull.

So that is the start of a new day and so, here I am compiling this Blog at 6.15am with the dawn chorus of a flock of some 50 gulls all swooping and diving, screeching and screaming just waiting for their friends to put food out for them so they can get back to their breeding and have a possibly third clutch of eggs for the year.

It really is beyond me why anyone would take preference to vermin over the smaller more pleasant birds that are designed for living on the land. Is it not a case of  animal cruelty to entice a species away from its natural habitat by feeding with cat/dog food, bread, sausages from the BBQ? By doing this insane thing they are also putting the gulls into the sights of people with air rifles, a thing that has been an issue here around Eastbourne, Hastings and Brighton.

The other really irritating noise the gulls make when it is really quiet is the noise of the young. The parents are screeching and screamiong while the young sound like little kids blowing on a penny whistle, non stop for 20 minutes at a time, stopped only when an adult swoops down screeching it's head off! Why oh why are these pests protected?  Why can we not protect Rats, and Foxes, after all they are vermin too, or sould I say that they are scavengers too, but at least they do not drop their load on you as you go about our business, or deliberatly attack you because they  decide to nest in the middle of a populated area.

A few days of peace and relative quiet and no, I do not expect not to hear the vermin due to my closeness to the sea, but I do expect at least some peace and quiet at 4am in the mornings or is that too much to expect? My neighbour, ignorant as he is after admitting that he does put cat food out despite insisting to the backward council that he does not, put out food this morning and was visited by around 9 gulls. It reminded me of the scenes you see of people feeding the pigeons in the park or around Nelsons column where the feeder is obscured by feathered things! Anyway, after a few cups of water they soon got the message and buggered off, noise an all!

My recent letter was published in the local paper last Wednesday and when I purchased the paper I was horrified at the letter beneath mine where the ignorant Polegate resodent openly admits to feeding them at least twice a day with Tuna, Ham and brown bread! How can people morally do this when there are hundreds of thousands of people dying of starvation in Africa and hundreds of homeless people who have to beg and scavenge our rubbish just to survive. Will this ignorant person think the same after they have been shat on a number of times and even whilst on the bog themselves as I have? Would they still feed the vermin after they have been attacked and had 3 pairs of trousers torn? He/she even had the audacity to say that if we do not like it then move! Do they work for Eastbourne Homes I wonder? Why should I have to move? It is all fair enough to say that we do encrouach on the land where wildlife lives and yes I agree we do encroach and force animals out of the wild and into our gardens and streets but how on earth can we say that we are encraching on the vermins territory? Have we suddenly overnight discovered technology that will allow us to build our homes on the breaking waves of our coast or able to build our homes on the vertical cliffs, the seagulls home? NO! The comment also regarding the fact that I have moved to Eastbourne is completely wrong as I have lived here all my life but the last 2 years has seen a boom in vermin.

Well, as is always the case, it seems that somewhere, somehow the pests have found another place to destroy the peace. Yesterday and so far today it has been a bit loud but tolerable, just and it is a coincidence that my ignorant neighbour has not put any cat food out for a week or so. So, is that coincidence or what?

Still wearing ear plugs at night because early mornings the peace is shattered by the vermin as they all await their breakfasts of cat food and other muck they eat.

I wrote a letter to the local newspaper last week about the vermin and they informed me that it was going to be printed after it was edited down a bit, this week! I understand that it is going to be edited because I did come on a bit strong, but I was just trying my hardest to put the point acroos that these ignorant  pigs who feed them are the root cause of their breeding in towns. The vermin in the Close are having their third clutch! That is not normal as they normally have 1 a year from what I have read, but it just goes to prove the impact stupid people are having.

Well, the weather has been unpleasant for the last few days with high winds and rain and as expected the flying verming have shut their mouths. So, onto today, Friday 24th and after being forced to get up at 5.30 because the gulls were fighting over a plate of food I decided at 7.15 to go to the shop to buy some milk and low-and-behold, Splat! All down my arm and shoulder seagull crap. Anyway, I get to the shop and next door is a fish and chip shop and scattered all over the pavement is paper  and those greasy bags as well as about 8 of theose polystyrene boxes you get burgers in. All around the area were 6 gulls all waiting for some chips. Anyway I got milk and was going home when I heard this whoosh noise and as I looked up I saw this gull no more than about 8 feet from my head! Obviously it had tried to scare me off by diving at me! It was then a case of running the gauntlett of 4 gulls all screeching their horror at me for being within about 50 feet of more babies! This will be the third clutch this year!

I eventually got to my from door where low-and-behld I felt something wet hit my head and start to run down my face! Another seagull hit me with the accuracy of a WW2 dive bomber pilot!.

I have decided to take a little drastic action now and have thrown out 2 denture cleaning tablets (no they are not for my dentures as I don't have any but they are excellent for removing tea and coffee stains from cups) with the hope that vermin eat them react with the acid in their guts and explode!

The Dawn Chorus began this morning at 5.45 even though I had my earplugs in with my ear hurting like hell! It is such a shame that it is very rare to hear a commn Blackbird chirping and singing away in the early hours just before dawn on a nice calm morning, or the raucous calling of a Magpie or the barking of a Crow,m all of which are more desirable than the hooting and honking of sea vermin, doncha think?

Yesterday was a day of noises and sounds. There was the annual Airshow here in Eastbourne: Airbourne 2007 and normally the jets going overhead is enought to quell the vermin and give at least 5 - 6 hours over the four days free of their noise. Alas, the weather was very cloudy and the only real jet displays were the Eurofighter, you know the one, the outdated one, the over budgeted one that Britain helped design, finance and build and now we cannot afford to really buy any more then perhaps a few which really sums this pathetic excuse for a nation up. Anyway, that's a different story! The vermin however, were in full flight and voice despite a Red Arrow Gnat on 3 occasions screaming not more than 200 feet above my flat!

All of yesterday because it was very close and humid for much of the day my flat was filled with the stench of cat food from where my ignorant neighbour kept the food flowing just like those fast food wagons you see in fairs and fates. So far today, my neighbour has put out 4 plates of cat food that I know of but will now stop because the Council Offices are open, but by around 4.30 this afternoon the feeding frenzies will begin again and last until they go off to sea where they belong and gobble up fish guts and heads that the fisherman throw off their boats exactly what seagulls are for, to clean up the rotting garbage of the sea.

The problems of the night/morning before prompted me to write a letter to the local news paper (Eastbourne Herald) because the past few weeks there have been letters as well as an article on the infestation that is plaguing the area. The annoying thing is, is that you would think that it was a Health hazzard, being attacked by vermin and having them crap on you and on one occasion I had some hit me as I sat on my own lavvy! Anyway, you contact the local Environmental Health, tell them the problem and they ask, are you Private or Council so you tell them and then they ask is the person you are reporting for feeding them private or council and again you tell them and their reply is to contact the local coucil member who is in charge of your area. So you tell them and they say there is nothing that can be done!