Hawking
Specialist hawking bird control designed to keep pest birds away through expert aerial deterrence, creating a less attractive environment for roosting and nesting while safeguarding your site and assets.
Hawking
Our hawk bird control team has over 40 years of experience using Harris hawks and peregrine falcons to control pigeons and seagulls. The use of hawks and falcons in bird control is a go-to solution where other pest control methods are difficult, unsuitable or impossible.
Examples of situations where hawk pest control is a suitable option include large open space areas such as parks, waste and landfill sites, agriculture centres and on the roofs industrial sites. It can also include covered and confined areas where proofing isn’t possible, including in underground and multi storey car parks and warehouses.
Pigeon and seagull problems around tower blocks, office blocks, hotels, hospitals, stadiums and shop frontages, docks, power stations, airports, railway stations, sea fronts and any areas where access is all but impossible can also be successfully solved using hawking strategies.
Hawk pigeon Control
The most common problem seagulls we have here in the UK are the herring gull and the lesser black backed seagulls. These gulls can be tackled with pest control methods including hawking. Unlike pigeons, seagulls tend to breed just once a year in the UK and seagull control with hawks is carried out during this season from spring to late summer.
The approach will usually involve three site visits a week over this period. It’s important to visit at different times of the day so that the birds don’t become conditioned to when the hawks will be flying. We usually start with the use of our Harris
Hawks at lower level close to the handler, before moving to a higher level approach using the peregrine falcons which will work further away. Each visit takes around 4-6 hours and the two types of bird cannot be flown together.
The strategic flying of hawks both to take a number of birds and scare others away from the problem area goes hand in hand with nest removal. Seagulls are very stubborn and aggressive birds in their own right, especially when nesting. But they are still naturally scared of birds of prey. Over time a certain number of the population are taken by the hawks, and the rest are driven out of the area as a result of the repeated visits.
Hawk Seagull Control
Pigeons nest all year round in UK and they can also nest in the tightest of spaces which are next to impossible to reach and proof with other methods. In these sort of situations the mobility of a bird of prey and its ability to literally pick them off whether they are nesting, roosting or in flight can make hawk pigeon control highly effective compared to other methods. Our pigeon management strategy using Harris Hawks and Peregrine Falcons utilises what we call a 5-4- 3-2- 1 approach.
It’s vital to make intensive visits at the start of the programme and then as we gain control, we can begin to stagger them. We will make five visits in the first week, usually starting with the Harris hawks, followed by four in the second, three in the third, two in the fourth and one in the fifth week.
Buy this time a large number of pigeons will have been taken and the message will well and truly have got to the rest of them, and the level of pigeon control should allow us to move into visits every fortnight. Each visit will take around two hours and the approach is suitable to open spaces, buildings and tight enclosed spaces like multi storey and underground car parks, as well as areas that are hard to reach and therefore unsuitable for other bird proofing methods.
Ideal in large open areas like waste sites, parks, tower blocks
An effective solution when access is very difficult
Bird control without any visual footprint
Also suited to tight, covered areas like multi storey car parks
Clearance of nesting material and guano also offered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much hawking for pigeons or seagulls cost?
We need to know more about the problem with before pricing up a hawk pest control strategy , but often we are able to give you an estimate from a telephone consultation with you, and a look at the site involved on Google Earth. Sometimes a site visit is required. Hawk pigeon control and the control of seagulls with birds of prey can only be achieved through regular flights of the birds over an extended period, ultimately driving them out of the area.
With seagulls this usually takes place between about March and September while they are nesting. Pigeons nest all year round and our 5-4-3- 2-1 pigeon management plan can be carried out at any time of the year. It goes hand in hand with removal of nesting material. If access equipment like cherry pickers are required, this is charged additionally to the price per visit.
How many birds of prey to you have?
We have a team of ten working birds, split between Harris Hawks and Peregrine Falcons. Both are highly effective at clearing both pigeons and seagulls. The hawks are used at lower level and usually work close to the handler.
The falcons operate at higher level and will work further away from the handler. Both will take birds both in flight, and while roosting or perching. The birds that are not taken but see this in action become very wary of the area. The two birds cannot be used together at the same time.
What happens to any pigeons that are killed by the hawks?
The birds are highly trained and we are always able to remove any dead birds from the site along with the nesting material, in line with legislation.
Pigeon and seagull droppings are vectors of some very nasty diseases and pathogens which can be passed to humans and clearance should only be tackled using the correct PPE. British Bird Control operators are fully RSPH Level II qualified and our company has been awarded a full waste carriers licence by the Environment Agency.
Need Help or Advice?
To discuss our hawk pigeon control solution, lease get in touch:
- Call us on: 0800 327 7293
- Email us at: info@britishbirdcontrol.co.uk
- Submit your request online with picture, address, post code and phone number