GULLS CAUSE HAVOC
FERAL gulls have slaughtered ducklings and moorhen chicks on Hailsham's Common Pond.
Pond warden Philip Hobden said gulls had been swooping on the pond and eating the ducklings as they emerged from their shells.
Speaking at a Hailsham Town Council meeting he told members how 45 ducklings had been born and gulls ate 43.
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Hide AdHe said: 'One survived and I took one home with me and hand reared it.'
He said there had been upwards of 25 young seagulls in and around the pond.
He asked for 8 to buy materials to build a pen next year but the committee voted him in the region of 90 so a large one with a run could be built.
Next year he also wanted to collect two or three duck eggs, incubate them in a pen and release them when they were too big to be seagull prey.