A STUDENT was injured by a desperate seagull when it tried to swipe a sandwich from her mouth.
Julia Mackay was taking a bite from her lunch when the bird swooped in and tried to make off with it.
The bird came right up to her face and grabbed at her thumb and her cheek, drawing blood, before flying off again.
Mrs Mackay, who needed a tetanus injection after the incident, said yesterday: "I had no idea seagulls could come as close as that.
"The sandwich was in my mouth, so the seagull was right in my face trying to get it. I dread to think what would have happened if I had been a child in a buggy. It was pretty scary."
Mrs Mackay, a 39-year-old mature student from Durris in Aberdeenshire, was walking in the centre of Aberdeen when the incident took place. At first she had no idea what had happened, but onlookers told her it had been a bird.
Adam Harper, a spokesman for the RSPB, said: "We have made it so easy for seagulls to live in cities and provided them with so much food that they?re now accustomed to town life. If they see some food that appeals to them they?re just going to go for it."
