THE number of gull attacks on people along the Scarborough coast dropped by almost 50 per cent last year.

Scarborough Council has been tracking the number of “muggings” since 2016 as it looks to combat issues with the seabirds nesting in Scarborough, Whitby and Filey, which has included the removal of hundreds of eggs and nests.

New figures released by the authority show that in 2019 there were 25 reported muggings. This represented a fall from 47 the previous year and 46 in 2017.

A report, prepared for today’s (Wednesday) overview and scrutiny board, notes there is no obvious reason for the reduction.

It states: “In the calendar year of 2019 there has been a drop in reported incidents to 25. There is no clear explanation for this dip in reported gull muggings in 2019 and it cannot be directly linked to any council initiatives.”

The number of egg and nest removals were also down, with the drop blamed on weather conditions and delays caused by a change in Natural England’s process for securing the removal licence.

Since March 2016 when the council started tracking data on the gulls, 111 out of the total of 154 reports of gull muggings have come from the Scarborough area.

The most common locations were Scarborough’s main shopping strip in Westborough and around seafront sites such as Foreshore Road, the harbour and Sandside.

In 109 of the cases, the victims described food being stolen from them by gulls and the other 45 mentioned being directly attacked by the birds.

The board will be asked to support the recommendations to continue with a number of measures around gull-proofing buildings and public engagement around the feeding of birds.

A firm will also be employed during the summer to clean areas that are frequently covered in gull droppings.