Unusual Sports: Gull Screeching Competition 2025
By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
Cooper Wallace, a nine-year-old British boy from Chesterfield in Derbyshire, United Kingdom, has won, for the second year running, a gold medal in the 2025 European Gull Screeching Competition, which took place, on 27 April 2025, in De Panne, a coastal town in Belgium.
He began doing seagull impressions after being nipped by one whilst eating a tuna sandwich at the beach.
Cooper remarked that:
"Sometimes they can be a bit scary and I'm still a bit wary of eating at the beach, so that's why I eat in a small tent.”
The Competition has been held every year, since 2020, in an attempt to change the image of seagulls, which many regard as a nuisance.
Cooper scored 92 points out of a 100, which meant that he won the juvenile category and also scored the highest points in the Competition.
One of the judges, Jan Seys, a marine biologist, remarked that:
"He managed to include several call types in his performance and each of them resembled a real seagull call in a most impressive way.”
And added that:
"In fact, for me, he was not only the best of the young participants, but of all those who took part in the championship."
Can he make it a hat trick in next year’s Competition?
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘
