News - Shell in Aberdeen Care for the Environment
Kestrel chicks nesting at the top of 150 foot demethaniser column
Work on part of the £350 million Rejuvenation Project at the Shell St Fergus Gas Plant had to stop recently when it was discovered that a family of kestrels had set up home on one of the main areas of activity.
Maintenance on a 150ft high demethaniser column was being undertaken when the nesting birds were found and the decision to halt work was immediately taken by Shell management.
Grampian Police Wildlife Liaison Officer, George Sangster, was contacted along with Shell's own environmental office to ensure the correct procedures were followed and everyone was happy with the caring approach being taken. Work on the column will be delayed for up to 12 weeks until the chicks leave the nest which will incur a cost and delay the project. However in line with Shell's "no harm to the environment" policy, it is a cost that will be borne.
Five fluffy chicks have recently hatched and mum and dad are being kept busy with feeding duties.
Kestrels have nested at the Gas Plant several times in recent years but usually chose a very secluded site on the piperack to produce one brood of chicks per year that feed on small mammals, birds and insects.
This year Shell has increased its efforts to address environmental concerns and have employed pest control company NBC to reduce the increasing population of resident herring gulls onsite who wreak havoc among other ground nesting birds.
Areas around the flare stack and fire pond has seen large nesting colonies of common and Arctic terns but each year they suffer severe predation by the gulls who also target the chicks of oyster catchers and common gulls.
Over the last couple of months and leading up to the herring gull breeding season, NBC have flown peregrine falcons and Harris hawks over the gull nesting sites, along with flying look-alike falcon kites placed strategically in rooftop locations to keep the gulls at bay.
It is proposed to continue with this strategy in future years, to keep the gull population under control and improve the breeding chances of other species whose numbers are in decline.
In addition to the nesting birds the St Fergus Gas Plant is also home to ringed plovers, black headed gulls, coots and moorhens.
Latest News
North Kent Branch Sita That!
November 5
John Tandy site manager at SITA site Thames road Bexley, called in the help of Dave Green, Area Manager of North Kent and Dartford to combat a rat infestation. NBC Bird and Pest Solutions are experien...
read more...
