This is the moment a seagull swooped down and snatched an ice cream from a mum on a beach walk – before cheekily patting her on the head with its foot.
Paula Jayne Legg, 39, from Devon, was enjoying an evening walk with her husband, Chris, on Teignmouth beach when the dramatic incident occurred.
Footage shared by the mother-of-two shows the unsuspecting victim anticipating the bird’s brazen aerial attack while strolling around with an ice cream cone in hand.
The national park worker, who lives on the outskirts of nearby Dartmoor, admitted she knew the town’s seagulls were “quite ferocious” but didn’t anticipate being robbed.
Legg claimed the seabird attempted a bold initial dive toward its honeycomb dessert, before circling back to fire another shot.
This is the moment a seagull swooped down and snatched an ice cream from a mum on a beach walk – before cheekily patting her on the head with its foot.
She said: ‘My husband and I went for a little evening walk and had an ice cream on our local beach in Teignmouth.
“The seagull had actually been down and attacked me once and it was hanging around and Chris said, ‘It’s coming back.’
She added: “I knew he was going to show up so that’s when I pulled out my phone in selfie mode.”
Catching the second attack on camera, the clip reveals how the seagull barely left any of Legg’s ice cream in its wake.
The seagull then added insult to injury by using its head to launch itself with one foot.
Despite being a victim of the winged war, Legg said she has no ill feelings towards the seagull as she was simply being herself.
Sharing the images and video of the meeting on a popular Facebook page called Birds with threatening aurasLegg has since garnered hundreds of positive reactions, with many users making fun of the incident.
One person joked: “This is the funniest thing I’ve seen all day,” while another said: “Your face is so funny!” So I accept it.’
Paula Jayne Legg, 39, from Devon, was enjoying an evening walk with her husband, Chris, on Teignmouth beach when the dramatic incident occurred.
The seagull then added insult to injury by using its head to launch itself with one foot.
By sharing the images and video of the encounter on a popular Facebook page called Birds with Threatening Auras, Legg has since garnered hundreds of positive reactions.
A third commented: ‘So perfectly captured. My belly hurts from laughing so much. I’m sorry!’
Finally, another wrote: “Having a seagull try to grab my sandwich before also landing on my head was a pretty funny shock.”
Meanwhile, a Scottish council has embraced the use of cutting-edge technology to combat pesky seagulls in its cities.
Moray Council is shelling out more than £650,000 on measures to deter birds from nesting in the breeding season.
Lasers will be deployed in Elgin, Forres, Lossiemouth and Buckie to scare away the seagulls to more rural and coastal areas.