A pub landlord has come under fire after fighting back against marauding seagulls that steal his customers' chips.
Steven Walker, manager of the iconic Ferry Inn in Salcombe, South Devon, has placed loaded water guns - marked 'Seagull Gun' in permanent marker - on every beer garden table and is inviting drinkers to take pot shots at the gulls if they come too close.
He claims the tactic is working - with the seabirds learning to recognise the guns and avoid them.
Mr Walker said: 'If a seagull swoops down and robs someone's food then the sensible thing is to replace it, which is not ideal for an establishment making its money from selling food and drink. So it seemed a better idea to deter the birds in the first place.
'We don't want to harm the birds, although they are quite cocky and a bit of a pest. We just want to scare them away.
