Hawk calls broadcast at ‘poo hotspot’ UK station to ward off pigeons

A train operator has come up with a clever trick to stop pigeons defecating at a station dubbed a "poo hotspot".

Northern Railway launched a "counter-offensive" to scare away the birds after Driffield Station in East Yorkshire was inundated with faeces. By playing the call of a hawk, the creatures' natural predator, the company hopes it will be able to rid itself of the problematic pests.

Kerry Peters, regional director at the rail group, explained the move came in a bid to make stations a "no-go area" for pigeons. She said: "We want to make sure our stations are a 'no-go' area for pigeons and make them fly the coop in a way that is humane and harmless.

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"We clean all our stations regularly and we take the impact the mess has on our communities and the environment very seriously."

The noise is now played every half an hour between 10am and 4pm every day from static loudspeakers. The system is currently being trialled for several weeks, and if successful, could be rolled out long-term in a bid to save commuters from the piles of poo covering the station.

It's not just hawk sounds being used to deter the creatures either. The company is also placing "fire" gel on ledges where pigeons might perch and roof trusses, which look like ultraviolet light to the birds and deter them from landing there.

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At Morpeth station in Northumberland, which complained of a similar pigeon problem, Northern Rail has also put some plastic owls up on display to scare away the pesky birds.

The trials are set to last until the end of November. If they are successful, the measures could be rolled out across the entirety of the Northern network, the UK's second-biggest.

The company runs some 2,500 services every day between more than 500 stations across northern England.

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