Trusted Dog- & House-Sitter

Pet-sitting often comes with unexpected challenges, and you can never tell what the challenges are going to be or when they’re going to come a-knocking. Oftentimes the challenges are minor and easily sorted, but now and again something pops up that makes you say “Oh god, what do I do with this?”

I was house-sitting recently, with the owners out of the country, and I was just about to take my breakfast outside to eat in the sunshine with my little dog friend beside me. As I stepped out from the back door I noticed a ball of feathers on the ground. A seagull chick! It must have fallen from the roof as it was too young to fly – the feathers were more fluff than anything else – but luckily it appeared healthy and relatively calm.

I scrabbled to get my dog pal back inside, and went to pick up the little chap (or chap-ess). A couple of minutes chase around the garden later, I had scooped it up and sat it on a cushion in the shade. It drank happily from a bowl of water (then sat in it), and also gobbled up some tinned tuna from my hand (given out of sight of my dog companion as he would have been appalled at the effrontery of this). I have since learned it isn’t necessary or advised to feed seagull chicks, however at the time I wasn’t sure how long it had been sitting in the garden – and mum and dad weren’t watching, so…

My concern was twofold: are seagull-mum and dad going to notice their son or daughter is living a new life on a comfy cushion below and start dive-bombing me, and also – how am I going to get this sweet baby back into the wings of seagull-mum and dad?!

I don’t like bothering owners with anything outside of their control if I can help it, but I thought on this occasion I should at least ask if there was a skylight or roof window upstairs in the house that I could access. Luckily they replied that there was, so I gingerly picked up Boris (that is the chick’s name now) in a tea-towel, scooted past the dog of the house who was VERY interested in getting a sniff and a look at this strange visitor, and whisked it upstairs.

There is a happy ending to the tale. Boris was joyfully reunited with seagull-mum and dad who squawked their approval, unharmed and full of Tesco tuna chunks. I was lucky to be able to get the bird back to where it should be, but I thought I could use my little tale to share some information on what to do if you find a seagull chick on the ground and unable to fly.

• Check out the RSPCA’s advice on baby seagulls – not all seagull chicks will need your attention but if you have dogs or cats it is best to keep the bird out of harm’s way
• If you think you know which roof the chick fell from, (check for the calls and activity of the gull parents) and you can safely pop it back up there, try this in the first instance
• Contact WARS (Wildlife Advice & Rescue Service) in Brighton & Hove if you believe the chick to be in need of medical attention or if you believe it to be abandoned

Please remember that under the Wildlife and Countryside Act it is illegal to disturb nesting gulls, their nests, their eggs or their young. Further reading material can be found on WRAS (East Sussex Wildlife Rescue).

Be kind to our seagull friends, they love living in Brighton and Hove just as much as we do (and who else is going to nick your chips as you’re strolling along the front anyway?).