Some Penrith residents have been puzzled by the appearance of beams of light in the evening sky above the town recently. Earlier this week three residents living in the North and West of town contacted us wondering what was causing the lights they were seeing in the sky just after it started to go dark. The likely origins of the lights it emerged are from a high tech battle on the towns industrial estates.
Penrith’s Industrial estates have faced ongoing issues with nesting gulls over the last few years but work by the Penrith Industrial BiD has seen the number of nests reduced to 317 this year less than half the number of nests businesses on the industrial estates had last year.
As part of efforts to rid the industrial estates of gulls a bird of prey has been flying as part of the gull control efforts, but the gulls have become habitualised to the birds of prey the Penrith Industrial Bid Board was told at a recent meeting.
The towns industrial BiD have now gone high-tech adding lasers to its arsenal in the ongoing battle with the gulls. The industrial BiD has installed two roof top lasers one on Penrith Industrial Estates that covers Haweswater Road and Mardale Road industrial area and one on Gilwilly Industrial Estate.
The Laser Bird Control system uses high powered laser beams to scare the birds that perceive the laser beam as a physical danger causing them to fly away using their natural survival instinct.
Lasers are not the only potential new addition to the Industrial BiD’s arsenal after members of the BiD had meetings with a representative from Sellafield regarding a gull control method used at the West Cumbria nuclear facility called push/pull that is also been considered as an option for the ongoing battle with the birds on the town’s industrial estates.
It is illegal to kill gulls or damage their nests in the UK. Licenses to control populations can be acquired in extreme circumstances. A contractor for the BID has been in discussions with Natural England regarding some possible egg and nest collection licences for specific buildings on the grounds of health and safety.
Then select "Add to Home Screen"
