Hatch of the day

19/06/2006

Birds have reared chicks despite their nest going mobile and disappearing for hours most days.

The pied wagtail parents built the nest next to the radiator under the bonnet of a van driven about 25 miles a day on routine pumping station inspection and maintenance duties.

Now that the five young have been discovered the Ford Ranger van has been taken off the road until the brood fly the nest.

The bird family have a feathered friend to thank for their remarkable success.

They were saved by pigeon fancier John Wilson from Darlington, who works as a production operator at Northumbrian Water’s Stressholme sewage treatment works.

John, who found the nest, said: “We have obviously been driving very carefully as we haven’t broken the eggs! The warmth under the bonnet must also have stopped the eggs getting cold when the parents couldn’t sit on the nest.

“We take the van out most days but always park it in the same place in the yard and you would have thought they would have abandoned the nest when it kept disappearing.

“The birds have struggled this far and now we have found the nest we have decided to help them finish rearing the young by not using the vehicle,” said John, a member of the Cleveland Bridge Homing Society who has 100 pigeons in his home cree.

The Stressholme works on the banks of the river Skerne serves Darlington and surrounding villages with sewage treatment.

Alistair Baker, Northumbrian Water’s Communications and PR Manager, said: “This is a remarkable hatch of the day and the brood have survived on a wing and a prayer!

“It is not surprising it has happened at one of our treatment works, however, as they are in effect very safe nature reserves with little disturbance – and Northumbrian Water has more than 400 thoughout the North East that are home to a huge variety of wildlife.”

For further information contact: Alistair Baker on 0191-301-6851 or mobile 07711-793493