Nexus have recently employed a specialist firm to use birds of prey to keep seagulls off the roof of the new multi million pound South Shields Interchange to prevent them from claiming it as their territory and starting to nest on the roof. Both a falcon and a hawk have been used for this task, an essential job to try and prevent any significant damage from being made to the structure.
The £21 million interchange at South Shields was opened last August in great fanfare and now Nexus are keen that it doesn’t receive unnecessary damage from the “nuisance” seagulls. With the gulls being a protected species using the birds of prey is considered a humane way to control the problem with falcons often used for this purpose by various organisations.
Huw Lewis, Customer Services Director at Nexus, said: “With gulls being a protected species the bird of prey was the best option for us to address this problem. We need to stop the gulls from nesting on the roof of the new interchange building as that can create a lot of damage if it’s allowed to happen and then it isn’t dealt with. A specialist firm is coming in a few times a year with the falcon and the hawk to keep the gulls away from the building. This is a humane and a permitted method for dealing with this issue.”