Seagull mimicking champion, 11, says impersonators trying to ‘make a better world’

Cooper, known as “Seagull Boy”, was asking to judge at the Weston-super-Mare Seagull Screeching Championship and had a “whale of a time”

An 11-year-old boy who went viral for his seagull-mimicking skills says bird impersonators are trying to make “a better world”.

Cooper, known as “Seagull Boy”, is now being drafted in to judge others’ efforts. He was the guest of honour at the first ever Weston-super-Mare Seagull Screeching Championship on the weekend and says he had a “whale of a time” judging it.

The seagull enthusiast, from Chesterfield in Derbyshire, was invited to judge two competitions – one for under-12s and another for teenagers and adults. He was just nine-years-old when he became an overnight sensation after winning a European championship in 2024, and went on to defend his title in April.

The schoolboy said: “I like how people are trying to make the world a better world by screeching. There were so many good people doing a really good noise, so it was very hard and quite scary to pick who was going to be the winner.”

Scott Milton, from Weston-super-Mare, won the adult competition. Weston-super-Mare’s tourism officer David Peters said: “We saw Cooper on television and on the internet – he was all over the place.

“Basically, as soon as we saw him, we just thought that we had to get him down to Weston-super-Mare. It is just such a fun event and he is so good at what he does that we just thought ‘this is so Weston’.”

One contestant, Simon, from Nailsea, said: “My girlfriend entered me into it, who tells me I’m not allowed to do it when we’re out and about, but I just can’t help it.”

At the contest he won back in April of this year, Cooper’s sister Shelby, now known as “Sea Gurl”, also came fourth. They were among 22 who took part in the unusual contest in the Belgian coastal town of De Panne. Competitors, usually dressed in bird costumes, had to take to the microphone and screech to try to impress a panel of gull experts and marine biologists.

Cooper and Shelby’s mum, Lauren, said: “It’s a very tough competition. Everyone who takes part is very, very good, so I’m very proud of them both. We are so happy that Cooper won again, but Shelby is going to be after that title next year, I think.”

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