A DETERMINED gull has been caught on camera attacking a diver at 31mph thinking his phone was food.
The remarkable footage shows the Great Skua gull – also known as a Bonxie – dive bombing Billy Arthur as he travelled at around 27 knots on a boat.
Filmed near Lerwick in Shetland, the ferocious gull chased after Billy for around 10 minutes, pecking at his phone and trying to attack him.
The 33 year-old from the island’s capital Lerwick was out diving earlier this week when the bird approached the vessel.
After noticing the Bonxie flying alongside the boat the sea farm worker decided to take his phone out and film it.
However, the hungry gull thinks Billy is holding up a piece of food and decided to try and grab the phone from his hands.
In the short clip, the brown bird is seen flying from left to right, dipping down and going for the diver each time it passes over the boat.
Smashing into Billy’s phone at least three times, the large bird luckily doesn’t do any damage or crack the camera.
Eventually fed-up, or realising there is no food onboard the bonxie flies off into the distance and leaves the divers alone.
Talking about the amazing video today, Billy said: “They’re quite bold birds and will dive bomb you if you get between them and their nests.
“But in this case there is a lot of boating and fishing activity in the area we were in and I think they’ve learned to look for food or scraps.
“We were going at around 27 knots but it made it look so easy. I think it was just checking us out and once it realised we didn’t have any food it got bored and left.
“I come from Shetland and it’s well-known they will attack you so they get a bad reputation but really they’re beautiful birds.”
According to the RPSB website, the Great Skua is the “pirate” of seabirds and is known for its aggressive nature.
The bird charity write: “The great skua is an aggressive pirate of the seas, deliberately harrassing birds as large as gannets to steal a free meal.
“It also readily kills and eats smaller birds such as puffins. Great skuas show little fear of humans – anybody getting close to the nest will be repeatedly dive-bombed by the angry adult. “
