A Brixham without seagulls would be like Trafalgar Square without its population of pigeons. It doesn't matter where you go in Brixham, you probably won't be more than a few feet from a seagull. It's very unfortunate but seagulls have gained a reputation for being a pest, especially where lots of tourists hang out. During the summertime hordes of tourists flock around areas such as the harbour at Brixham, where you find tourists, you find fast food such as fish and chips, pasties and sandwiches. Where you find food, you find seagulls, thousands of them. Over the years the seagulls have realised that where there are tourists eating food, there is always going to be a free meal. Holidaymakers probably think it's fun to chuck the odd chip, or bit of pasty crust to a seagull, unfortunately seagulls have now become so tame that they often don't wait to be given food, they have absolutely no fear of human beings now so will often snatch food out of people's hands whilst they are eating it. It does sound funny and I would probably laugh if it happened to one of my mates, however on a serious note, seagulls have got extremely sharp peaks and they can cause very nasty injuries. Seagulls will often bully people until they get some food, they will stand right at your feet staring at you with those reptilian eyes, they are very intimidating.

The council have put up signs all around the harbour telling people NOT to feed the seagulls. Unfortunately a lot of people seem to take absolutely no notice and continue to feed the seagulls. Now you can't blame the seagulls and I get very angry when seagulls are demonised for being the way they are. If anyone is to blame for the way seagulls behave around people in Brixham then it's the people who have continued to feed them over the years. Seagulls are more than capable of finding food for themselves, if tourism suddenly came to a end here in Brixham and nobody was there to feed the seagulls then they would go off and find natural food to eat.

If you are planning a holiday to Brixham then please under no circumstances feed the seagulls. Every chip, piece of bread that you give to a seagull will only make them more determined to get easy food from people eating outside. There is no excuse, there are plenty of signs around the harbour telling you not to feed the seagulls. Remember, seagulls are not cute and cuddly, they can be very dangerous, especially around young children, so either eat all your food, or discard what you don't eat properly in a bin

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