Article In Local Newsletter
24/04/2006
On the back of Steve Wilkinson's recent appearance on the BBC Television program 'Countryfile', we have recently had a full page feature in a local newsletter. The full article is below -
Focus on...Wildlife Solutions at Suddenstrike Ltd
The next time you fly out of Liverpool Airport, spare a thought for the battle being waged on the ground to get you up in the clouds safely.
Armies of starlings used to home in on roosts on lighting gantries around the airport’s car parks. But the flocks used the same flightpaths as the aircraft – and a clash between birds and jet engines is potentially dangerous and very expensive.
To the rescue came Suddenstrike Ltd, a Nantwich based company with a nationwide reputation for solving friction between humans and wildlife. Two specialists spent ten weeks attaching thousands of stainless steel spikes to the gantries. The flocks left for a more hospitable site, aircraft safety and punctuality were safeguarded.
Suddenstrike is about wildlife solutions, a tailor-made service based on an in-depth knowledge of wildlife and lateral thinking. One of the most successful wildlife management companies in the UK, its turnover has doubled in the last year.
Significant industrial contracts have been won, particularly where public health and safety is concerned. One of Suddenstrike’s current clients is Network Rail in Lichfield, where burrows are threatening to undermine the embankment. Hundreds of rabbits have been removed and their return prevented by 36,000 metres of netting.
Another call for help came from a local authority where a spiralling problem with mosquitoes from the local estuary was causing a nuisance with the local residents. This time two technicians were deployed with knapsacks to treat the areas where mosquitoes had been laying their eggs.
Problems in public sensitive areas can sometimes mean working through the night, such as the catching and removal of 80 Canada geese from the middle of Manchester.
The company also receives numerous requests for the control of pigeons, bees, squirrels, rats and even bed bugs which have taken up undesirable residence in homes.
Suddenstrike was launched in 1997 and has grown impressively, now employing six full time staff plus specialists as required. At the hub is a father and son partnership: Steve Wilkinson, veteran country lover and expert marksman, and his son James, responsible for the company’s administrative tasks, enviable filing system and revamped website.
Says Steve: “I’ve spent most of my life working in countryside. It’s a wonderful place and there are always new challenges. The trouble is that we are a small island community trying to live and produce food in concentrated areas. Most problems are simply a matter of the wrong creature being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Fifty years ago many more people were employed on farms and it would be common knowledge how to deal with moles or rabbits. Nowadays, the average person has lost contact with the countryside. One of the biggest problems for me when I’m searching for new employees is finding people who can ‘read’ the countryside.”
Suddenstrike is as much about pest prevention as it is about catching pesky critters. Two staff work full-time erecting exclusion fencing – typical clients are nurseries where rabbits can do thousands of pounds worth of damage to young trees.
Vegetation and weed control is another key area – the company is contracted by the National Trust and the Forestry Commission.Goose
Control Canada Geese Control, Mink Control, Weed Control.
