High life for breeding birds at Teesside power plant
For decades Hartlepool Power Station’s reactor building has been a distinctive sight for Teessiders.
Now a protected bird is making the most of the towering structure as the perfect isolated spot to rear young.
Peregrine Falcons, which just a few years ago were considered endangered across the country, have occasionally nested at the EDF power station with mixed results.
But this year a pair set up home right next to a tower, 60m above the ground, and reared three youngsters.
“My office has a window which looks right towards where these birds have been feeding,” said Ross Nuttall, environment group head at the power station.
“And every day for the past few weeks we’ve been treated to amazing views of them as they take flight and learn to hunt. Sometimes you can hear them as well screeching at one another, looking like they are playing in the air, it’s been a lovely sight for the past few weeks.”
The area around the power station is home to a wide variety of birds with dozens of species nesting on land around the station every year and this year monitoring of the area has identified a gadwall duck breeding nearby, a first for the station.
But birdwatchers at the station have noted peregrines flocking to the station every year since 2015. Only one bird was spotted at the station in summer 2023 so when power station staff noted a pair nested on top of the reactor building earlier this year, hopes were high.
“About six weeks ago our security cameras, which occasionally, capture the birds’ movements, spotted three chicks,” said Ross.
“One of the three has sadly died and of course it was sad to see that it had died but knowing there are two more healthy youngsters and a pair of, presumably, happy parents too is a nice thing to see. “We’ll certainly continue to keep a careful eye on the birds over the coming weeks.”
About EDF
EDF is driving the transition towards An Electric Britain – a secure, affordable, low-carbon future for everyone. As Britain’s biggest generator of zero carbon electricity, we are investing more than £100 million weekly in Britain’s electricity infrastructure. We supply millions of customers with electricity and help homes and businesses switch to electricity for heating, transport and industrial processes.
We operate five nuclear power stations and more than 35 onshore wind farms and three offshore wind farms. Since 2009, EDF has invested almost £9 billion in the nuclear fleet to improve reliability and extend station lifetimes. The five generating stations currently supply about 12% of the UK’s electricity demand.
EDF is building the UK's nuclear renaissance with the construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C. We are a minority investor (12.5%) in and major supplier to a replica plant 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 Group companies Framatome and Arabelle Solutions have a presence in the UK and manufacture critical equipment such as reactor pressure vessels and turbines.
EDF is enabling its 5 million customers, both in business and at home, to choose electric solutions that save cash and carbon, whether it is buying an electric car, generating and storing electricity, selling energy back to the grid or installing solar panels or a heat pump. In 2025, EDF’s Customers business was ranked as one of the Sunday Times’s Best Place to Work.
It is also one of the UK’s leading developers of renewable energy through EDF power solutions UK and Ireland. We have more than 2GW of renewable generation in operation and over 10GW in construction, planning and development across a range of technologies including onshore and offshore wind, solar and battery storage.
We are 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, one of the UK and Ireland’s largest technical service providers.
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