c2c using hawk at east London rail stations to scare pigeons

[Adlington]

To deter the birds from settling in the rafters and rooftops, rail firm c2c has employed Keith the Harris Hawk its “chief pilot” in a test using birds of prey to control pigeon populations. The hawk is not there to kill the pigeons but to scare them away, a spokesperson said. Keith [...] has already been at Upminster station and will also visit Barking among eight other c2c stations during the trial.

Source (Romford Recorder)
Is this solution better than traditional bird-scaring measures, such as anti-bird spikes or nets?

 

[dgl]

Quite a common thing to do, we have a hawk come down every now and then at the caravan site to try and scare off the seagulls.

 

[Dave W]

There was a fair bit of media attention about hawks at Kings Cross a few years ago... Might one of the birds be named Pluto, or similar? Rings a bell.

Here we go:

 

[zwk500]

Network Rail has been doing this at stations they manage for a while. Also various sporting organisations have used Birds of Prey to deter pigeons from the latticework at stadiums.

 

[Meerkat]

We had an eagle in our town centre for a while. Quite a surprise coming out of the bank, seeing it perched on a roof and thinking 'is that a......nah can't be...blimey it moved!'
They got rid of it because bleeding hearts moaned about the dead pigeons. I hate pigeons, just get a load of raptors and kill the lot of them!

 

[W-on-Sea]

It was Platform 6 (i.e. the Romford line, not any of the c2c platforms) that seemed to have the worst problem with pigeons at Upminster whenever I spent time there....and the netting seemingly did little to help

 

[SCDR_WMR]

As a keen falconer, I'd love to go and do this and it's normally a very successful way of dealing with this issue as they won't breed/lay in the area knowing there's a raptor around so have a longer term impact if done at the right time of year.

Plus, pigeons aren't as daft as they look and will work out how to get around any netting/spikes (see Crewe station)

 

[Adlington]

Thank you all for your replies. So the hawk is not such a silly idea as I thought...

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

ISTR that at one time Inverness had a wooden life-size model of a raptor set up in the roof somewhere. A bus depot I worked at for a while was regularly cleared of pigeons by a member of staff, who held a firearms license, using an air rifle, all under strictly controlled conditions. Not sure it would be allowed now.

 

[DarloRich]

it is a fairly standard tactic - people don't like seeing birds shot or poisoned!

 

[zwk500]

it is a fairly standard tactic - people don't like seeing birds shot or poisoned!

Whereas having them torn into shreds is perfectly fine (I'm aware the hawks rarely actually catch a bird when they're being used like this). Maybe we should bring back station cats, I've had a fair few pigeons in the house in various states of aliveness from the cats over the years. On second thoughts, given their propensity to consider catching and half-killing it the difficult bit done and leave me to finish it off, maybe not!

 

[12LDA28C]

Marylebone station has also used this method to deter pigeons in the past although not for a while as far as I know - more's the pity as pigeons are everywhere now and frequently sit on the tables outside Burger King as well as getting inside Greggs. Not ideal where food is being served/eaten.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Whereas having them torn into shreds is perfectly fine (I'm aware the hawks rarely actually catch a bird when they're being used like this). Maybe we should bring back station cats, I've had a fair few pigeons in the house in various states of aliveness from the cats over the years. On second thoughts, given their propensity to consider catching and half-killing it the difficult bit done and leave me to finish it off, maybe not!

Station cats are still a thing. There are a few famous ones e.g. at Huddersfield.

 

[Horizon22]

This has been going on for years. Quite a common practice to have the hawk turn up to major London stations a few times a year.

They are generally there to scare off other birds as opposed to actually harming them.

 

[zwk500]

Station cats are still a thing. There are a few famous ones e.g. at Huddersfield.

I know, but they're rare and often it's hard to tell if the cat is still about as the media accounts aren't always updated that often.

Here's a youtube video with some shots at King's Cross at the start

 

[DarloRich]

Whereas having them torn into shreds is perfectly fine

natural world init?

( As you say: the hawks don't catch the pigeons - they are there to scare them off )

 

[zwk500]

natural world init?

( As you say: the hawks don't catch the pigeons - they are there to scare them off )

Would liven up a morning commute at King's Cross they if they did get peckish

 

[DarloRich]

Would liven up a morning commute at King's Cross they if they did get peckish

A hawk couldnt eat a commuter. An eagle maybe.............

 

[zwk500]

A hawk couldnt eat a commuter. An eagle maybe.............

Oh, that's a wonderful image

 

[Ediswan]

( As you say: the hawks don't catch the pigeons - they are there to scare them off )

They're not intended to catch the pigeons. There was a falconry display in Ware during which one of the birds went AWOL. It was snacking on pigeon in the yard of the nearby builders merchants.

 

[Ken X]

We often met the Falconer working his birds in the British Airways Engineering hangers at Heathrow. The birds have to be flown regularly so being able to earn a bit of cash for doing so seemed to be a winner for all parties, except the pigeons.

 

[fgwrich]

Network Rail has been doing this at stations they manage for a while. Also various sporting organisations have used Birds of Prey to deter pigeons from the latticework at stadiums.

There was a fair bit of media attention about hawks at Kings Cross a few years ago... Might one of the birds be named Pluto, or similar? Rings a bell.

Here we go:

I've been lucky enough to meet the Falconer's at both Kings Cross and Reading and they are both genuinely interesting people - the Reading Falconer was even kind enough to pass me the glove and to call her back to my treat filled hands. Definitely a shift I'll never forget!

 

[Meerkat]

Are they toilet trained - I imagine a rapture dropping isn’t something you want in your building.

 

[johnnychips]

Are they toilet trained - I imagine a rapture dropping isn’t something you want in your building.

A ‘rapture dropping’ would occur when God summoned all pure Christians towards heaven, then changed His mind.