Last week, a family of oystercatchers was discovered on the Deutsche Bahn staging area!

This area is used to provide the materials (soil, FMI, concrete, etc.) removed by work on the track for the WHV-OL extension line. There is a lot of traffic here from construction machinery, lorries and tractors for the delivery and removal of tws.> 1,000 tonnes of waste per day. During one of the daily site inspections, an employee of Mull und Partner Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH became aware of a family of oystercatchers. The birds always take it in turns to breed so that both parents are always nearby. The mother and father oystercatchers behaved very suspiciously and raised the alarm if a person came near the ground nesting site where they were incubating their three eggs. The environmental building inspectorate was informed immediately.

After exploring the clutch at a lofty height of 3 metres, the removal of the entire pile was spontaneously stopped so that the "Hillbird family" could breed in peace. Approaching within 50 metres of the clutch was expressly forbidden. Only the vehicles were allowed to approach, as this was not a major disturbance factor for the birds. Despite all this, any motivation to protect the animals led to an unclear outcome. After the weekend, the eggs and their parents were gone.

Whether the family left the site as a result of a tragic nest robbery or because the birds hatched is unfortunately unclear. The fact is, however, that nature finds a way despite human intervention, which we feel is absolutely worth protecting! The birds probably found our technically designed pile very cosy.

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