JET THE PEREGRINE FALCON has been scaring pesky pigeons at Eccles Shopping Centre this morning.

The falcon, accompanied by Luke Summers, a mobile bird and pest technician, has been taking weekly trips to Eccles Town Centre for over two years.

The Shopping Centre employs two birds of prey to scare away the pigeons that plague shops and shoppers in the town: Jet the Peregrine Falcon and Scarlett the Harris Hawk.

They come from NBC Environment, a company that specialises in ecology services, bird solutions and pest solutions.

A spokesperson from Eccles Shopping Centre said: “We bring Jet in as a scare tactic for the pigeons.

“The birds don’t hurt the pigeons; they just scare them away in the hope that they won’t come back.

“Jet and Scarlett get a lot of attention in the square when they’re out and we get people interacting with us on Facebook saying how they got their picture taken with them.”

One Facebook user commented: “Met him this morning. Gorgeous.”

Another said: “It’s about time. Pigeons have been a blight for too long.”

When asked about the effectiveness of falconry response, the spokesperson said: “It does work, but the pigeons do come back.

NBC Environment operate their services nationwide and are considered the UK’s leading bird control specialist. They also boast the most experienced falconry response teams in the UK.

The company was founded by John Dickson in 1993 who realised the possibility of using specially trained hawks and falcons as a visual and humane deterrent to prevent problem birds, like pigeons and seagulls from settling.

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