Signing off for the weekend – the return of the seagulls

That's all for the blog this week – what did you think? Leave your comments below. And finally... It's seagull season again! Not something I particularly welcome. Last summer on an early morning dash for the train in a the rain, a seagull began to circle me cawing loudly, and then swooped down and nose-dived by umbrella. Completely bemused – I ran as fast as I could while the seagull continued to dive bomb my umbrella. Must've been quite a funny sight. But thank goodness, I thought, for my flimsy parasol. I've been pretty wary of seagulls ever since. But the gull was merely protecting it's young – I'd walked underneath a tree where it was nesting. Nevertheless, seagulls are pretty renowned in Cardiff for causing all sorts of annoyances – the main being noise, opening of rubbish, swooping and nesting on roofs. Students get a seagull party with all the rubbish lying around in Cathays, especially when they all depart leaving leftovers for the holidays. To tackle the seagull related disturbance in the city, which becomes more visible as the sunny weather brings people outdoors, Cardiff Council have issued a leaflet from the Pest Control and Waste Management services with advice to businesses on have to make the birds less aggressive. The advice incldes: *Make sure left over food is quickly cleared from outside areas *Dispose of edible litter in gull-proof hidden bins (not plastic bags) *Discourage people from dropping food litter on the floor (this is an offence and the person committing the offence may be liable for a penalty) *Consider using parasols. These tend to "hide" food from seagulls' vision The council say they will also be testing food caddies in some of the worst affected areas and advice not to leave out tons of food for other birds and seagulls will return each year to where they find food. As I found out before, parasols can be used as a form of protection from the gulls. So if you're outdoors this weekend enjoying the sunshine – make sure you have one to hand. Tell us what you thought of the blog this week. Are we covering the right issues? Is there something you'd like to see more of? Add you pictures of seagulls in Cardiff to the Flickr pool here .