Blogs

The world’s largest airport… not an easy thing to define

If you ask a hundred people what the highest mountain in the world might be, at least 90 of them would say Mount Everest. But ask those same individuals about the largest airport on the planet and you might get a number of different answers. The reason for this is simple: how on earth do […]

Keeping boats free from the curse of bird faeces

On a warm summer’s day, there are few sights more picturesque than a packed marina. Boats shimmer in the sunshine, bobbing gently away on a calm, blue sea. No wonder these places are so popular. It’s worth taking a more detailed look, however, because in many cases the close-ups don’t match the overall view. Significant […]

Keeping birds and wind turbines apart can be complex

As a general rule, it’s not easy to trust the statistics about birds and wind turbines. Various websites will tell you that hundreds of thousands of birds are killed each year by turbines, while other sites will say that hardly any are. Until we see reliable data from an independent source, it’s perhaps best to […]

Telling the Time

How monitoring keeps you ahead of the game

The secret to success can be any one of a number of things, depending on a variety of circumstances. While a hundred different experts may give you a hundred different opinions, many of them will point to the importance of staying ahead of the game. Knowing what issues and problems may be about to hover […]

Plane on Runway

Keeping airports safe for every user

If you were to Google the words ‘increase safety awareness in airports’, you will be met with a list of web pages offering advice and opinions on security issues, as well as safety advice for travellers. For those who work in the industry, there’s more to safety than this, of course. If you happen to […]

Oil Platform

Don’t let birds become a nuisance on offshore platforms

Oil and gas platforms are a particularly tempting location for sea birds, as they provide opportunities to rest and sometimes, if left unchecked, to roost as well. The relative lack of disturbance from predators is a major draw, as is the often plentiful supply of food options both on the platforms and in the sea.   […]

Plane coming in to land

How to keep your airport safe

Airport managers, irrespective of where they are located or the size of airport they manage, are always under pressure to make sure all the right boxes are ticked. This can potentially cover everything from ensuring staff levels are maintained to negotiating with airline companies in order to allocate runway slots. In most cases, the regular […]

Keeping birds at bay on oil and gas platforms

The occasional bird visiting an offshore oil or gas platform may seem like a relatively minor issue for those who work there, but this is far from the truth in most instances. Inevitably, one bird will lead to several more in a short space of time, and before too long managers and employees are facing […]

airport-aerodrome-reporting

Using bird deterrents safely and effectively

There are many ways to get a bird to move away from a specific location, but of course not all of them would be suitable for locations such as airports, farms, oil platforms, retail parks or marinas. Single birds can usually be encouraged to move with a single clap of the hands, but when you […]

Using the most effective software to help prevent bird strikes

Bird strikes on aircraft are thankfully very rare, but of course there’s no denying the potential damage that could be caused should the worst-case scenario unfold. For this reason, airport managers need to be fully prepared for such an eventuality just in case. In fact, it’s best practice to assume this issue is of major […]

Plane at Christmas

Gatwick hustles and bustles even on Christmas Day

In most places in the UK, life slows down in late December before coming to a complete stop on the 25th. The vast majority of shops, banks, sporting venues, local amenities, offices and the like tend to close on Christmas Eve and remain that way for a few days. That’s how it is in Britain, […]

A herd of deer

Non-avian wildlife threats to aviation

For most people, when there are wildlife threats to aircraft, they will tend to imagine geese, gulls, larks and pigeons, but the truth is there are plenty of potential threats from the non-avian sector. When planes are landing or taking off, ground-based animals can be the cause of a potentially dangerous situation, and here at […]

Gatwick Airport

Gatwick – a historic, and hugely important, airport

Most of us, whether we’re occasional travellers or frequent flyers, tend to take airports for granted these days. They are often seen as something of an unwanted necessity, and for the vast majority of passengers it’s a case of trying to spend as little time as possible within the airport environment. Behind all the queues […]

Horned Lark

Which birds are the main culprits in a bird strike?

We’ve all heard about bird strikes on planes, of course, and thanks to the efforts of companies like Scarecrow and Robin Radar Systems many important steps are taken to prevent them. Despite the excellent products and the effective monitoring processes that are currently available, however, strikes can and do still take place. The steps our […]

The benefits of B.I.R.D Tab refresher training are all too apparent

New products, new processes and new systems are an integral aspect of working in almost any sector of industry these days.  In civil aviation it’s no different. Here at Scarecrow, we manufacture and supply a popular range of bird strike prevention equipment to airports all over the world.  We fully understand that operators and end […]

Bird dispersal is not just for the retail and agriculture sectors

If you’ve ever seen the sudden appearance of thousands of birds on farmland just after a tractor has started ploughing, you’ll know just how much damage can be done by our feathered friends. No matter what crops the farmer is expecting to introduce, the local bird population will do all it can to reduce the […]

External influences on wildlife management

To those who don’t work airside in the world’s airports, the whole process of planes landing and taking off may seem somewhat uncomplicated. Runways are busy throughout the day, and as long as traffic management is handled correctly then operations can run smoothly day in, day out, right? Well, a little bit yes and a […]

Plane, Antique

Unusual Flights of the Past

There’s little doubting the fact that the aerospace industry has always been at the cutting edge of technology. It seems incredible that the first powered flight was not that much more than a hundred years ago, partly because in the intervening time the aviation sector has pioneered so much in the way of technological advancement. […]

planes-of-future

What will planes of the future look and feel like?

The future of aircraft design is a topic that has always been capable of producing a great deal of debate, ever since the dawn of the aviation industry when the first flights were made back at the start of the 20th century. And while most of us tend to think that the conventional shape of […]

Why do planes suffer such heavy damage when hit by birds?

We all know about the potential dangers of a bird strike on an airplane, but many people have understandably questioned why it is that such a situation is so serious. After all, a bird is pretty small and a plane is the size of, well, a plane. How come so much potential danger can arise […]