The flight fantastic - Hinkley B rescued Peregrine starts anew
A peregrine falcon which fell from a nest, was mobbed by gulls and then rescued by Hinkley Point B workers, has flown to freedom.
The bird was released by a charity earlier this week and marks only the second year in which the rare falcons have successfully fledged at the power station.
“Seeing the video of this bird flying off is such a wonderful sight,” said Hannah Dyer, Environmental Safety Group Head at Hinkley Point B.
“It has not had the easiest start in life so seeing it take off with such renewed confidence is a lovely thing for us at the station to see.”
More than 20 years ago workers at the power station erected a platform for birds of prey on the side of the main reactor hall building. The birds famously nest in hard-to-reach, for humans, high spots meaning the side of the reactor building is a great spot for them.
Unfortunately, none of the pairs of falcons that set up home on the platform successfully reared young, until last summer. Then this summer a pair of falcons once again set up home at Hinkley B and had two youngsters. Over recent weeks the young birds tried their wings several times with one trying, failing and falling to an area beneath the platform where it was then attacked by seagulls which also live on the site.
Staff from Apple Technical Solutions saw the drama unfold and shooed the gulls away and then recovered the youngster, sending it to wildlife charity Secret World to help the bird recover.
Then last week the charity released the bird into the wild.
“Watching that video was quite inspiring to see,” said Hannah.
“Those of us on station have seen the platform so many times we sort of forget it’s there. To know that this year, for the second year in a row, it’s hosted these threatened birds and provided a sanctuary for them to further increase the national population is great. Putting up that nesting station all those years ago was a small thing – yet it has paid off once again and helped bolster the nation’s biodiversity.”
For more information
Matthew Pardo
External Communications Manager (South)
(T) 01452 654545
(M) 07384 529006
matthew.pardo@edf-energy.com
About EDF
EDF is helping Britain achieve Net Zero by leading the transition to a cleaner, low emission, electric future and tackling climate change. It is the UK’s largest producer of low-carbon electricity(1) and supplies millions of customers with electricity and gas.
It generates low carbon electricity from five nuclear power stations and more than thirty onshore wind farms and two offshore wind farms.
EDF is leading the UK's nuclear renaissance with the construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C, and there are advanced plans for a replica at Sizewell C in Suffolk. Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C will provide low carbon electricity to meet 14% of UK demand and power around 12 million homes.
EDF is one of the UK’s largest investors in renewables, with more than 1.5GW of renewable generation in operation and almost 14GW in planning and development across a range of technologies including onshore and offshore wind, solar and battery storage. We are constructing our largest offshore wind farm in Britain – the 450 MW Neart na Gaoithe project in Scotland.
EDF is helping its customers, both in business and at home, take their first steps to sustainably powering their lives. Whether it is buying an electric car, generating and storing electricity, selling energy back to the grid or installing a heat pump. EDF is one of the largest suppliers to British business and a leading supplier of innovative energy solutions that are helping businesses become more energy independent. In addition, the company’s energy services business, Dalkia, is one of the largest technical service providers in the UK and Ireland.
EDF is part of EDF Group, the world’s biggest electricity generator. In the UK, the company employs around 14,000 people at locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
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