That Time of Year Again

The annual seagull fledging is well under way and the streets and pavements are occupied with young gulls. They walk around oblivious of all the dangers and the parents frantically keep watch and occasionally feed them. Living in a one way access only street, I find it very sad when people see fit to flatten young gulls, for no reason other than the fact that they don't want to slow down or stop to allow the chicks to get out of the way. These people are already breaking the rules by using an access only street for shortcuts, I suppose killing innocent chicks means nothing to them either. I have been given another injured gull which was run over in the high st, it has a damaged leg, but is on the mend. I also have another younger chick which fell from it's nest between two chimney pots. It has a damaged leg and wing, although the wing appears to be OK it does hang down slightly. I am reluctant to put them back into the street because there are no pavements and the road is narrow, with proven killer drivers using it! I also had to call the SSPCA to take away an adult gull with two badly broken wings, Almost certainly a parent that will no longer be able to look after it's young. Steven my year old gull has accepted the pair of new casualties and surprisingly has not attacked them, although they are in his territory. He is getting the call of the wild again and would like to join the young gulls migrating to the coast, he is using his wings better than ever and I am still hopeful that one day he will be able to fly enough to cope and survive. I am trying to get him to use the full spread of his wings by getting him to jump / fly for his food, the therapy seems to be working and he can jump - fly about a metre from a standing position. ( short vid clip below.)