Seagull attack left me bleeding like ‘something from a Freddy Krueger film’

Mrs Thrumble took cover behind an overhanging hedge before being escorted to safety by a neighbour wearing a motorbike helmet.

She said: “I was frightened to move, and afraid of it coming at me again. I was close to a wall when it swooped.

“A nice man called Aaron on a motorbike came to help me and walked with me to his house. He was wearing a helmet and we got there without the seagull attacking. Luckily everyone was really nice, the neighbours all helped me.”

Mrs Thrumble was assessed by paramedics and her head wound was cleaned.

The force was ‘quite powerful’

She said she will now be “very cautious” around seagulls.

“It’s hard to know how to warn people to avoid it happening to them because it came from nowhere and was so sudden,” she said.

“I wasn’t eating anything at the time. You hear about it happening at the beach when people are eating chips, but I was walking down a side road.

“I presume the seagull was protecting its young, but I couldn’t see any anywhere, I couldn’t see any nests or any babies. I know residents around there have been plagued by them. I’d be nervous of what it could do to a dog or to little children. 

“Anyone who was a bit frail could have been really seriously injured or knocked over. The force with which it hit me was quite powerful.

“I decided to cut down a side road on the way home rather than going along the busier high street, but I won’t be doing that again. I’m happy to have lived to tell the tale.”

According to the RSPCA, gulls that swoop are usually trying to protect chicks that have fallen out of or left the nest.

The animal charity said: “They’ll stop when the person or animal has moved away from their young. This behaviour usually only lasts for a few weeks until the chicks have fledged and are able to protect themselves.”

Anyone who sees a nest or chick on the ground and cannot avoid walking close by should “hold an open umbrella above their head to help deter the parents from swooping”.