GREEDY gulls are grabbing grub worth £171million a year, research says.

A survey also found 71 per cent of us have had food stolen or targeted by the flapping thieves.

A huge portion of raids from gulls are to steal fish and chips Credit: Newsquest / SWNS

Seagulls are grabbing grub worth £171million a year Credit: Alamy

Fish and chips make up the bulk, with 72 per cent of the aerial raids.

Sandwiches (21 per cent) and ice cream (20 per cent) were also targets of barefaced birds.

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Compare the Market concluded the amount of food stolen in a year amounted to £171,889,518.

Researchers applied the proportion of the 2,000 respondents who had food stolen to the UK adult population and multiplied that by the average number of theft reports.

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They multiplied that by the £5.50 average cost.

Laura Kelley, of Exeter University, found sticking a pair of googly eyes on food is enough to deter gulls, as they think it is a predator to be avoided.

Charlie Evans, Money Expert at Compare the Market, said: “We’ve all been there, you sit down with your chips, look away for two seconds and suddenly your lunch has grown wings.

“Seagulls have long had a reputation for stealing right out of hands, so we wanted to find out just how much this cheeky seaside crime is costing Brits.

“It turns out seagulls aren’t just stealing our food.

“They’re making a meal of our money too.”