A town has been invaded by an ‘apocalyptic’ swarm of up to 3,000 seagulls – despite being 30 miles from the nearest coast.
The scavenging winged terrors have flocked to a landfill site in Hyndburn, Lancs., where locals likened the scenes to tthose in Alfred Hitchcok's 1963 horror movie The Birds,
Shocking video shows the huge numbers of seagulls flocking overhead with local houses, cars and gardens now being bombarded by bird poo.
Fed-up residents say they arrive first thing in the morning and stay til late at night - with some even fearing their presence is devaluing the value of properties in the area.
Gary Hough, 62, said: “There must have been 3,000 seagulls above my house on Wednesday this week. I’ve never seen anything like it.
“The gulls are here about 7am and head towards the tip and they come in dribs and drabs but start to congregate.
"Then from 8am onwards, that’s when the majority of them come and it’s just constant until around 9.30pm.”
Gary and partner Cheryl Gouldstone, 59, have lived in their £200,000 semi for eight years, but fear the plague of birds might devalue properties in the area.
They say birds have always been attracted to the site, but since last October it has got steadily worse and the issue has been turbo-charged since April.
Operator Suez have implemented mitigation measures, such as setting of loud noises to scare the birds.
But Gary says all that does is scatter the birds overhead and cause them to drop their mess on cars, washing and driveways.
He added: “It started to become such a concern and people were saying they were getting sick of it.
"The birds that have come have now nested so they’re here to stay. They’re breeding very quickly and from April, we’ve seen them multiplying.
"I’ve never seen anything like it, all these new birds that are breeding, it’s not like they’re coming from elsewhere."
Cheryl said: “It’s like an Alfred Hitchcock film. There’s visual pollution, noise pollution and people can’t believe this is going on.
"They set off pistol-like bangs to get rid of them, but all it does is scares them off in droves.
“You can’t sit in the garden as it's covered in bird poo. They're dropping food in the gardens.
"I drive home on the motorway and I know when I’m home because I see a swarm of seagulls above the road."
Gary said he had a near miss in his car recently as another motorist was distracted by the birds.
He set up a Facebook page where locals can discuss their concerns and has organised a public meeting with landfill operators Suez and local councillors next month.
He added: "There's always been a bit of a smell and the odd bird, but it's never been like this.
"I have it on good authorities there's rats there. So depending on where you live, you either have the birds, the smell, the rats or all three."
Locals said the issue became worse last October when workers at the landfill began filling a disused quarry, which is closer to the houses in the area.
