A town has been invaded by an ‘apocalyptic’ swarm of up to 3,000 seagulls – despite being 30 miles from the nearest coast.<br /><br />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,<br /><br />Shocking video shows the huge numbers of seagulls flocking overhead with local houses, cars and gardens now being bombarded by bird poo.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />“The gulls are here about 7am and head towards the tip and they come in dribs and drabs but start to congregate. <br /><br />"Then from 8am onwards, that’s when the majority of them come and it’s just constant until around 9.30pm.”<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Operator Suez have implemented mitigation measures, such as setting of loud noises to scare the birds.<br /><br />But Gary says all that does is scatter the birds overhead and cause them to drop their mess on cars, washing and driveways.<br /><br />He added: “It started to become such a concern and people were saying they were getting sick of it. <br /><br />"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. <br /><br />"I’ve never seen anything like it, all these new birds that are breeding, it’s not like they’re coming from elsewhere."<br /><br />Cheryl said: “It’s like an Alfred Hitchcock film. There’s visual pollution, noise pollution and people can’t believe this is going on.<br /><br />"They set off pistol-like bangs to get rid of them, but all it does is scares them off in droves. <br /><br />“You can’t sit in the garden as it's covered in bird poo. They're dropping food in the gardens.<br /><br />"I drive home on the motorway and I know when I’m home because I see a swarm of seagulls above the road."<br /><br />Gary said he had a near miss in his car recently as another motorist was distracted by the birds.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />He added: "There's always been a bit of a smell and the odd bird, but it's never been like this.<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />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.
