They have been described as vermin, rats with wings and a menace to society.

The list of charges against seagulls is long.

In recent months they have been accused of dive-bombing residents, ripping open black rubbish sacks and scattering their contents along streets, killing ducklings and frightening children.

Pavilion and Avenue Tennis Club in Hove was forced to hire a falcon to stop dozens of seagulls pulling lumps out of the AstroTurf to line their nests.

Residents in Mafeking Road, Brighton, have been repeatedly attacked by angry birds nesting on top of their homes. The winged menaces are so vicious some people claim they pecked a cat to death.

This week a council leader declared war on seagulls with a plea for the public to cut off their food supply.

Ken Bodfish, leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, described the birds as a menace.

Echoing London Mayor Ken Livingstone's campaign against pigeons, he said: "Seagulls are rats with wings and I would urge residents to join a campaign to stop people feeding them."

Yesterday The Argus discovered a couple of residents unlikely to follow Coun Bodfish's plea to starve the birds back to the sea.

In fact one of the two people seen feeding pigeons and seagulls in Hove's Palmeira Square seemed to regard it as something of a hobby.

Alistair Urquhart, 66, said he had brought several loaves to the square every day, rain or shine, for 14 years.

Scattering at least three sliced loaves of white bread in front of a gathering flock of up to 50 pigeons and seagulls yesterday lunchtime, he told The Argus: "I like feeding them. I pay for the bread myself and I come every day, even when it's raining."

Mr Urquhart insisted there was nothing wrong with feeding the birds.

He said: "Most people would agree with what I'm doing."

Coun Bodfish has stopped short of demanding a cull of the birds or punishment for those who feed them.

He said: "People should exercise common sense. Seagulls have always been associated with the seaside but our problem is they're moving into the city centres and becoming a nuisance."

Asked what he thought of people feeding the birds, he said: "They should not be doing it and they are utterly irresponsible. They are also helping to ruin the variation of bird life in the city."

A council spokeswoman said: "Apart from all the mess it creates, feeding wild birds means they do not have a normal diet and also they tend to wait to be fed, which makes them lazy. It's not a natural way for them to live."

The council said there were no plans to introduce laws against feeding birds and pointed out any rules would be difficult for the council or police to enforce.

But Liberal Democrat leader Paul Elgood, who lives in Palmeira Square, said he would like to see bylaws strengthened to stop people feeding birds in the area.

He said: "These bird feeders have good intentions but what they are doing is attracting rats and other vermin into park areas, which risks spreading disease."

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is sympathetic to the idea of using bylaws to prevent the feeding of gulls in some areas.

It says seagulls, which live for up to 20 years and have wingspans of up to 5ft, come to the city for easy pickings and have become accustomed to living among humans.

The overall population of seagulls has fallen by 40 per cent in the past 25 years.

The herring gull, which makes up 99 per cent of seabirds in Brighton and Hove, has even been placed on a list of threatened birds.

But while the numbers living on clifftops has dropped, the number of birds breeding inland has shot up.

A survey in 1971 found there were no seagulls at all nesting on rooftops in Brighton and Hove.

By 2001 there were 235 pairs in Brighton and 261 in Hove and Portslade and the numbers are rising.

Adrian Thomas, RSPB spokesman for the South-East, said: "Seagulls are a natural part of this landscape. While the RSPB is very worried about their national decline, we also recognise herring gulls are increasing in towns and can, at times, be a nuisance.

"The simple fact is herring gulls come into towns because we give them what they need - food and a place to nest.

"The only sustainable way of ensuring gulls don't become a problem in towns is by limiting those temptations."