COURIER staff have enjoyed their own special delivery – after a pair of Blue Tits nested in their ashtray.
Now staff at Eagle Couriers have been banned from using the outdoor cigarette bin while the tiny, protected birds nurse a clutch of eggs.
Delighted staff at Scotland’s biggest independent courier company are now eagerly awaiting the day when the hatchlings fly from their unusual nesting spot.
Jerry Stewart, one of the directors at Eagle Couriers, told how smokers a their Bathgate-based HQ were alerted when the tiny birds started darting in and out of the ashtray, which was installed in a brick-built bin storage area so smokers could enjoy some shelter.
He said: “One of our operations team, Richard McIntosh, was the first to see the birds and advised the rest of the smokers to stop using the ashtray while he phoned the RSPB.
“Sure enough, the RSPB let us know that Blue Tits are protected and that it is illegal to disturb the nest in any way. Nobody here would dream of disturbing the nest, but there’s now a very wide exclusion zone around the ashtray.
“We’re all keeping a watch from a distance, desperately hoping that we’ll soon be hearing the hatchlings and maybe even get sight of them when they fly the nest.”
And he joked: “It’s got to be the first time a brood of Blue tits has enjoyed protection from an Eagle. I also hope it might help the smokers in our team to cut out the fags.”
The Eagle team believe there are up to four eggs in the nest. The birds normally breed from mid-April. Once the female lays, the eggs take 12-16 days to hatch, while the mother sits on them throughout that two-week period.
The baby birds then fledge for around 15- 23 days before the fly the nest.
Catriona Webster, of RSPB Scotland, said: “Blue tits are versatile birds that are well known for choosing unusual nesting sites. This just goes to show you never know where nature can find a home. All bird nests are protected by law so staff have done the right thing by leaving the nest alone until the birds hatch and fledge.”
This is not the first case of birds taking up lodgings in a bizarre place. A restoration project on a vintage JCB in Moray had to be put on hold because a pair of blackbirds built their nest inside.
Eagle Couriers is Scotland’s biggest independent courier company has 20 members of operational staff across Scotland and a 100-strong team of couriers. It has its HQ in Bathgate, West Lothian and additional offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The company provides safe and quick logistics services to organisations across the private, public and third sectors as well as working directly with consumers and boasts a 3,500 strong client base including the BBC, the Government Procurement Service and the NHS.
Further information on Eagle Couriers can be found at www.eaglecouriers.co.uk or on 0845 123 1230.
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