I read with interest the articles in the Exmouth Journal (June 25) Seagulls are beautiful birds and agreed totally with the writer s comments.

I read with interest the articles in the Exmouth Journal (June 25) "Seagulls are beautiful birds" and agreed totally with the writer's comments.

I then read, on the same page, the callous article by the "seagull sufferer" of Chapel Street, Budleigh Salterton, and thought what vindictive, anti-seagull drivel.

Seagulls have always been an integral part of the coastal scene, and long may they remain in our seaside towns and villages. They are beautiful, intelligent and clean, totally unlike the description of them by the "seagull sufferer". Just leave the seagulls alone.

The people who hate them should, instead, direct their anger and venom towards the many more important and pressing matters, which need to be urgently addressed, in this country at present.

Just why do people, who dislike seagulls, choose to come and live near the seaside in the first place? They could, of course, relocate hundreds of miles inland.

May I add, I worked in the booking office at Budleigh Salterton Railway Station in the late 1940s and early '50s and so dealt first hand with the local people - and seagulls were not then persecuted as they are now. There was also a thriving fishing industry at Budleigh Salterton in those days and boxes of fish, lobster and crab were regularly despatched by rail to Waterloo for the various hotels and markets in London.

Bill Smith,

35 Gibraltar Road, Lympstone.