Seagull saga

Just as summer is a busy time for our bees, it’s also a busy time for other rooftop creatures, including the seagulls who we’ve long suspected had a nest on an adjacent roof. Today, we were in no doubt of their presence as, when we ventured out onto the Connaught House rooftop, we were attacked by dive-bombing seagulls! (About four or five, circling the roof and swooping down on us at speed).

Why? At first we thought they were trying to protect their two babies who were up on the roof and wandering around, looking quite disoriented.

We didn’t want any of them to get too upset, so after a few minutes of checking what was going on, we headed back down. Elena, LSE Sustainability Officer extraordinaire, however decided to do some more investigating as she noticed that the babies were focusing in particular on the internal shaft down between Connaught House and the surrounding buildings.

And what did she find? Bobby the baby seagull who had somehow fallen down about seven stories and was trapped on the mezzanine roof between levels 1 and 2! Allan Blair, Director of Facilities Management, went completely above and beyond the call of duty and went out on the roof, getting little Bobby and putting him in a box to transport back up onto the roof.

Once on the roof, in Elena’s words, “after a few minutes of shock he started yelling for his mama and waddling about happy as ever” – what a happy ending! Massive thanks to both Elena and Allan for saving Bobby – now he just needs to avoid getting stung by our bees! (Unlikely to happen I imagine).

So, here’s hoping all three babies are big enough to fly (properly) by next week!