Drilling contractor Valaris has recruited a new crack team of taloned terrors for a “special mission” offshore.
Birds of prey Omega, Firecracker, and Hattie were recently set to work on the Schooner platform and the Valaris 247 jack-up in the North Sea.
Supplied by NBC Environment, the trio deter seabirds from nesting in places where they can pose health and safety risks.
In a post on LinkedIn, Valaris said: “Having these birds onboard the rig renews our appreciation for wildlife!”
In the past operators of offshore assets have found creative ways of keeping birds from causing headaches.
‘Scaretech’, an innovative scarecrow system, was installed at an offshore wind farm in July 2019 to help tackle the issue of seabird droppings on platforms.
Gull poo, or ‘guano’, is a huge problem for the offshore industry as it poses several health risks and is expensive to remove.
Until relatively recently sightings of birds and marine life in the North Sea were officially documented and used to study the impact of oil platforms on migration patterns.
The North Sea Bird Club (NSBC) ran for more than 40 years and collected more than 150,000 records of birds, bats, insects and mammals spotted on or near installations.
But with a reduction in the number of people working offshore after the industry downturn in 2014, as well as an increase in decommissioning, the group decided to call it a day in 2020.
Changes to working practices, such as HSE guidelines restricting the use of cameras and mobile phones on platforms decks, also contributed.
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