A vicious seagull knocked a woman to the ground as it chased her out of a city centre.

Angela McQueen was walking to work at the Premier Inn in Dundee when the bird ‘came out of nowhere’.

It’s believed the gull may have been for its newborn chick as it swooped at Angela’s head.

The housekeeper said: ‘It came as a shock, and it made me fall over. When that happened, it felt like it was getting really close, too.

‘I got back on to my feet, and I was walking away but I didn’t know what to do to get away.

‘It seemed like it wanted to chase me out of that area. It was right at my head, squawking really loud. It was so vicious.’

Initially thinking the bird was attracted to her sunglasses, Angela took them off in a bid to stop the attack.

She said: ‘I won’t lie, when I came to work this morning I saw a chick and I did everything I could to avoid it.

‘There have been other people swooped at by the gull, and it seems to go for people who are walking alone. I hope it doesn’t happen again.’

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says ‘mobbing’ is a common behaviour in gulls, and is often done to protect offspring.

A spokesman explained that gulls can be ‘fiercely protective’ parents.

‘The chicks leave the nest before they can fly, and the parent gulls try to defend their chicks by swooping at any threat to scare it away,’ he said.

‘It can be very frightening to be confronted by an upset gull, but the best things to do are not get too close to young gulls on the ground and if you have to, walk calmly while holding a bag or umbrella above your head so the gulls swoop at that instead.

‘I also always try to remember that they are just trying to protect their young, it only lasts a few weeks and that gulls really do need our help or at least our tolerance.

‘That’s because many gulls are in real trouble.

‘Non-urban populations of herring gulls have declined by more than 50% since 1970 and are continuing to do badly, along with other seabirds, due to changes in natural food supplies.’

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