B&B owner leaves guests stunned with 'best friend' seagull

Vicky Easley met her unusual pal when the bird landed in the back garden of her seaside guest house, The Fylde International Blackpool, with a smashed beak and a bloody face.

The 47-year-old said the seagull, who she has affectionately named Colin, cleaned himself off in her birdbath and she gave him fresh water and some cat food.

She is still unsure how he hurt his beak but their friendship has blossomed from there and the gull has visited Vicky every day since. Colin has become part of the furniture at her bed and breakfast and guests are amazed by the unique friendship.

The seagull is so comfortable that he even lets himself in to collect the breakfast of cat food or crabsticks that Vicky diligently puts out for him each day.

Guests are so enamoured by Colin that many are rebooking stays at the B&B in the hope of seeing him again - and Vicky has even taken to using the bird in her promotional material to entice new custom on social media.

Vicky, from Blackpool, Lancashire, said: "I never thought I'd have a pet seagull but he just kept coming back and coming back. We're best friends, he's cute. "He arrived in the back and his beak was all damaged.

"There was blood all down his face so I gave him fresh water and food. It looked like he'd gone through a windscreen or something. "Then he kept coming back time and time again.

"He lives on the flats across the road and as soon as I open my curtains in the mornings he knows that I'm here. "Especially when he's got the babies, he's had two this year, he gets very hungry. I can hear him in the back garden pecking his bowl wanting his dinner.

"He's had two partners. He used to go out with a seagull called Mabel. He's dumped Mabel for a younger bit of stuff, I think. He's ended up with Flappy.

"He gets very pesky. He can come up the front steps of the guest house and he knows how to get through to the back door by walking through." Guests at the B&B are in 'disbelief' when Vicky tells them the story of their friendship. Vicky said: "The guests love him.

"They say, 'are you joking me? You've got a seagull?' I go 'yeah he's been with me for years.' "They look in disbelief. They all get their cameras out and take pictures of him."

Vicky said Colin visits her at least twice a day and that his favourite thing to eat is cat food, although he can be partial to a crabstick.

Luckily cats Squeaky and Bertie are not put out by this and get along well with the bird - who is pretty territorial over Vicky's back garden. Vicky said: The cats don't have a problem with Colin.

"They know he's going to get the leftover cat food or they know he's going to come in the kitchen and they don't attack him. "Colin himself knows that the two cats live here and he doesn't attack them but if any other cat comes in the area he will squawk at it. "He seems to be the king of the area."

One B&B guest wrote in a Tripadvisor review: "I have already booked again in May and hopefully we will get to see Colin and Mable the friendly seagulls."