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Lorraine Michael, of Elms Lea Avenue, Brighton, blocks her dog Zebedee's ears from the squawk recordings

A speaker system playing seagull squawks every half hour has been driving a group of neighbours to distraction.

The device has been set up to scare off real seagulls to stop them causing noise and mess.

Neighbours have complained the recording of aggressive squawking coming from it in minute-long bursts night and day is far worse than the real thing.

Lorraine Michael, of Elms Lea Avenue, Brighton, said: "It has been driving us nuts. I can't imagine what it must be like for the people who actually live in the block.

"I understand people don't want seagulls on their roofs or their balconies.

It's not very nice if you end up with a nest there. But this seems like the wrong way to go about stopping them."

Mrs Michael, who runs a sandwich shop in St James's Street with her husband, said it was not just her but also her dog Zebedee, a Borderterrier cross, who was suffering because of the speakers on the roof of nearby Cherrywood House.

She said: "During the winter we hadn't noticed it, we were tucked up indoors with the telly on and never heard anything. Then Zebedee started to bark every half hour and we wondered what was going on."

She said as the weather got warmer and the family had more windows open at home they started to hear the squawking too.

Mrs Michael said: "I thought there must be a nest up a tree so I looked around the garden but there was no sign. I mentioned it to a couple of neighbours and they said they had heard it and it was driving them up the wall as well.

"Then one of them said he knew what it was. He took me in a garden and pointed out the speakers."

She said she contacted the council on behalf of the residents.

Mrs Michael said: "We don't mind them having it there but it is so loud and it goes off at night as well."

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said it had received a complaint and contacted the managing agents of the block.

He said: "This sort of thing could be regarded as a nuisance under the 1990 Environmental Protection Act. Such bird scarers which make loud noises are more commonly used on farms but in a city could easily be a nuisance."

3:00pm Tuesday 13th May 2008

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