I hope the the posters poo pooing the significance of bird strikes never loose a loved one due to catastrophic impact with birds.
It's a serious business taking up a lot of the AAIB, CAA, UKFSC, DfT and AOA's time money and resource. The UK has some particular hazards with regard to bird strike risks. It's only due to hard work and a fair dose of luck that a big crash has not yet occured.
The are no such things as Sea Gulls but there are lots of differing types of Gull. Coastal airports like BPL, LPL CWL and SEN are obvious sites of increased concern, but with food sources such as tips and particular agricultural methods prevalent across the UK no where is immune.
Bird strike reports are now mandatory for UK reg public transport flights and there's been a 3 fold increase in filing.
Sir George Cayley