Town awards gull and pigeon control

Bird control is one of those very local policies that sounds small until you live under it. In Castro Urdiales, the problem is rooftop gulls and urban pigeons — noise, droppings, nesting, and the kind of summer friction that turns into constant complaints. What changed on May 9 is that the town finally awarded the next round of contracts, so the control campaign now has operators, prices, and a timetable. ### What did the town actually approve? The Castro Urdiales council awarded the yellow-legged gull control contract to the Biscay-based company Biodiversity Sostenibility Pest Control. For domestic pigeons, the contracting board proposed awarding the service to Desirée Pozo Martín. Both services are set up for two years, with the option to extend them for another two, which is why the story gets framed as the next four years. (castropuntoradio.es) ### Why split gulls and pigeons? Because they are different problems. Gull control in Castro is centered on the breeding season — finding nests on rooftops, mapping breeding pairs, and removing nests and eggs under an organized seasonal plan. Pigeon control is more about steady urban management, and this contract includes trap cages in specific locations rather than rooftop nest work. Same headline, different mechanics. (castropuntoradio.es) ### How much is the town paying? The gull contract came in at €15,299.24 a year. That is below the €17,000 base budget in the tender. The pigeon contract came in at €5,082 a year, below its €6,000 starting budget. So the town gets both services for less than the ceiling it had set when it went out to bid. (castropuntoradio.es) ### When will the controls happen? The schedule is tightly tied to breeding. Gull control runs from May 1 to August 31. Pigeon control runs through September 30. That timing matters because the point is not random bird removal — it is to intervene when nesting and reproduction are driving the biggest jump in numbers and the biggest nuisance for residents. (castropuntoradio.es) ### What will the gull contractor have to do? First comes a study and census. The company has to use observation points to locate nests and estimate the birds involved in urban breeding, including age breakdowns and population counts. Then comes the field work. At the end of the season, the contractor must hand over a full report covering nesting birds, controlled nests, mapped locations, extra censuses, and breeding data. Basically, this is part pest control and part annual wildlife accounting. (castropuntoradio.es) ### What about the pigeon plan? The pigeon contract is more concrete in one visible way — two trap cages are to be installed, one on the roof of the town hall and one on the terrace of the Red Cross building in La Barrera. The town also wants the cage at the latter site designed to minimize visual impact, which tells you this is not just about sanitation but also about how intrusive the control measures look in the middle of town. (castropuntoradio.es) ### Is this new for Castro Urdiales? No — it is the next cycle of an existing policy. The town was already running gull-control campaigns in past years. In 2023, it described the work as census-taking plus nest and egg removal, and it said that during the 2022 campaign 134 clutches, 340 eggs, and 160 nests were removed. So this award is less a policy shift than a decision to keep a standing system in place. (castropuntoradio.es) ### Why does this matter beyond one contract? Because urban gulls are not just “too many birds.” Castro’s own planning documents describe a broader coastal-city pattern — gulls moving onto rooftops, expanding breeding in towns, and generating repeated complaints over noise, sleep disruption, and aggressive behavior. The town is treating that as a recurring coexistence problem, not a one-off infestation. (castro-urdiales.net) The bottom line is simple: Castro Urdiales has decided this is now routine city management. The birds are seasonal. The complaints are predictable. So the council is making control seasonal and predictable too. (castro-urdiales.net)