A multi-million pound building at Oxford University has been plagued with seagulls attacking its glass roof.
The Blavatnik School of Government, whose network includes human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, former Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and Labour MP Keir Mather, is at war with hungry seagulls perched on its roof.
The trouble started when tapping on the central pane of glass in the atrium of the building.
Upon inspection, a bird was spotted bouncing a large stone off the glass roof just moments before the pane was shattered.
The Blavatnik School of Government was terrorised by the gulls
Getty
A manager on the Oxford University building maintenance team told The Telegraph: "From what we can gather, the gulls thought stones they were using to hit the glass were actually eggs and that by cracking them they might get to some yolk.
"Unfortunately they weren’t eggs and even more unfortunately these gulls chose the very worst pane of glass to tamper with."
Approximately half an hour after the tapping started, the University took the decision to evacuate the £55million building.
The manager added: "The building was now open in the centre, so we had no choice but to ask everyone to leave. It was pretty urgent because it just wasn’t safe."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
- Mark Carney accused of plagiarism in his Oxford University PhD thesis
- Meet the groups leading the free speech fight-back against Britain's 'institutionally captured' universities
- Pro-Israel speakers branded 'genocidal maniacs' as Oxford students pass motion to declare Israel an 'apartheid state responsible for genocide'
The Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford
PA
However, it's not the first time the building has been the target of glass smashing, as protesters reportedly shattered a pane of glass next to the front door.
According to Mohammed Ahmed, who runs a newsagent’s opposite the School of Government, they were pro-Palestinian protesters.
However, another student told The Telegraph the protest might be to do with founder Len Blavatnik, who gave tens of millions to start the school and who was born in Odesa, Ukraine.
Ahmed said: "Normally even in the holidays there are conferences and people coming in and out at all hours, but it’s been completely deserted for days now."
Seagull expert Julia Gould said: "Gulls are also very curious and learn through play, so they could have been trying to see if the stones were food or just practising their technique.
"Either way, they would not be doing it to annoy people."
A post-graduate student named Oliver said: "It is the sort of place that shuts on Christmas Day and that’s it."
