Deceuninck has employed the services of some airborne allies – Gerald, Bo Jangles and Nessie, who are the three Harris Hawks of Talons Out Bird Services.

The hawks are being used to fend off Common Gulls, which were making a mess of the 2,500 solar panels on the roof of Deceuninck’s Calne manufacturing facility, an installation that represents an investment of more than six-figures by the system company.

James Cross, maintenance engineer explained: “We installed approaching 2,500 solar panels at the start of this year, but very soon it became clear we had a problem, seagulls – or more accurately their waste, which was starting to coat them.

“The solar panels were installed as part of our sustainability strategy so it’s important that we maximise their outputs which if the seagulls were left unchecked, would have been compromised.

“The Harris Hawks are flown regularly as part of an eco-solution which encourages the gulls to move on and allows us to maximise outputs of renewable energy.”

The new solar panels will generate a total of 895,762 kWh of clean energy per year reducing CO₂ emissions from Deceuninck’s Calne site by 498,507kg a year.

Deceuninck says it has established a lead on sustainability based on its commitment to the Science Based Targets (SBTi) programme, with a headline pledge to cut the CO₂ emissions from its own operations (Scope 1&2) by 60% by 2030 from a 2021 baseline.

A further six figure investment at the start of this year saw Deceuninck add two new chillers to its operation, delivering a 50% reduction in energy usage.