Hard act to swallow: gull caught on film eating squirrel whole

Although a gruesome sight, experts say taking on prey that size is a mark of the bird's bravery and skill

It is a jaw-dropping scene worthy of a Hitchcock film. In a video that has gone viral a huge gull stands brazenly in the middle of a street and attempts to swallow a black squirrel whole, the creature's back legs and fluffy tail hanging out of the bird's beak as it gulps.

While well known as scavengers, large gulls such as herring gulls and lesser black-backed gulls - two of the species colloquially called seagulls - are perhaps best known for pinching chips and ice-creams from unwary seaside day-trippers.