Sorry about your loss and welcome to the forum. I have regularly had pigeons circle my MP in formation and have been hassled by sea gulls. Pigeons Ave always stayed away, I have some rapid fly past video. But the gulls are more aggressive.
As another poster said stop , turn in sports mode and ascend rapidly. Birds can’t do that so you can’t be a bird. They tend to fly away. Only failed once with a very large flock of sea gulls in a river area near the coast. I got a couple of good picks of a bridge but quickly landed.
I have read posts here about hawkes too.