The public is urged to remain vigilant as nesting season begins due to the presence of highly aggressive seagulls.

Seagulls may be a protected species in Ireland, but many see them as a scourge – particularly if they’ve decided to start a family on the roof of your house.

Rentokil’s regional technical manager Colm Moore told Newstalk Breakfast that the birds are “very adaptable”.

“One of the challenges you have with birds is you can get different levels of pressure – if I tried to get you out of your house, you’d resist quite vehemently,” he said.

“In the same way, if you’re trying to amend the birds nesting area – they come back to you annually, by the way – they will resist.

“Bird spikes... make it very inhospitable for them to nest – but if they’re nesting in that region, they’ll just rip them out and sometimes they’ll nest in behind them.”

Main image: Seagull sitting on nest containing plastic materials, nylon rope and cardboard, situated on tiled roof of cottage, coastal fish Image: Ray Kennedy / Alamy. 7 June 2018