DTEK Donetsk Grids took care of the rare birds by installing nesting grounds for falcons
DTEK Donetsk Grids takes care of the region's rare bird species. Within two days, the company's specialists installed 22 nesting houses for a red-footed falcon in the national natural park named Meotida* in the Donetsk region. These birds are rare not only in Ukraine, but also in other countries. They are included in the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats and considered by scientists to be close to extinction.
A red-footed falcon is the smallest of the falcons that lives in the steppe zone of Ukraine. Previously, their population was quite big. However, now there are now fewer and fewer of them left. One of the reasons for this is lack of nesting places. The fact is that the red-footed falcon, like other falcons, does not build a nest on their own. The bird of prey equips the house in old magpies, rooks' nests or in the hollows of trees. There are in turn fewer and fewer of magpies and rooks, like hollow trees.
Therefore, the energy company made special houses for the birds. They carefully put grass and fallen leaves inside, and placed on the trees. The ornithologists of the Meotida National Natural Park helped in this important matter.
“Biodiversity conservation is one of the activities of our company, which is in line with the DTEK 2030 strategy based on ESG principles, values and business responsibility for progress in achieving the sustainable development goals of the UN Global Compact. Since 2015, we have equipped 15 metal nesting platforms for storks, which preserve the bird population and protect against power outages. According to ecologists, such an initiative of DTEK Donetsk Grids has saved about 200 white storks over 5 years, 120 of which are chicks,'' says Oleksii Degtyarev, General Director for DTEK Donetsk Grids. “Now we have taken care of another rare bird - the falcons. In addition, this year we also plan to install bird diverters on high-voltage lines, which will protect birds migrating through our region from electric shock."
In addition to stork nesting platforms, DTEK Donetsk Grids installs bird protection devices on power lines - special casing that cover the wire sections on the sides from birds. By the end of 2021, the number of bird protection devices, including those installed on the territory of the Meotida National Natural Park in the Azov Sea, will reach 1,590 pieces.
*Meotida is a national natural park located within the territory of Donetsk region in the Azov area. The landscape of Meotida Park is unique because of the diversity of its forms. Here is a branched network of channels, estuaries, lakes, estuaries, bays, a significant diversity of morphohydrographic elements: remains of bedrocks, riverbed and coastal massifs, lagoons, spits. More than 60 monuments of archeology and culture, fragments of traditional buildings of Ukrainians, Greeks and Don Cossacks are located in the park. Unfortunately, because of army actions in 2015, the security service stopped working in the territory of the national park, which led to numerous violations and the loss of part of the bird populations.