The ‘Name-and-Shame’ bird, made from recycled rubbish, has been filmed attacking litterers in a bid to clean up the shoreline.
Wearing a T-shirt carrying the message ‘Pick up your rubbish. Don’t be a tosser’, student Annie Lumby came up with the idea as part of a project for her second year 3D Design and Craft degree course at the University of Brighton.
And to reinforce the message, she filmed her bird in action. “The seagull runs and squawks at people who litter, hopefully making them too embarrassed to litter again.”
The bird took about three weeks to make. The inner frame is made from mild steel MIG-welded and the frame is made from spot-welded steel wire. The feet and legs are made from moulded latex and the body is a layer of recycled milk bottles, heat gunned around the frame, and feathers made from heat-pressed plastic bags.
Annie said she was inspired by the enormous amounts of plastic and waste in general left on Brighton beach, “and the huge devastating impact of plastic in the sea and consequences its having on sea life”.
“On the last Bank Holiday weekend alone, the beach was left under 45 tonnes of rubbish – hopefully, the seagull will help get the message across.”