Cambridge City Upgrades to Ultima
Friday 09 May 2008

As part of a strategic review of its airside bird management procedure, Cambridge City Airport has upgraded its bird dispersal system to further strengthen its safety practices. Ensuring compliance of bird control data records is crucial for airports and Scarecrow’s latest and most innovative bird control technology Ultima, has been deployed at Cambridge, in order to maintain the highest possible levels of safety, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. 

Ultima not only meets (and exceeds) stringent CAA regulations but the state-of-art self learning system streamlines the entire process of bird management and dispersal as it is quick and easy to use, robust and requires minimal training. The airport supports a wide range of business and charter airline operations and with around 42,000 aircraft movements annually, its’ management team is pleased to be working with a professional bird dispersal company to assist in the effective management of bird control.

Gerry Lennox, Chief Fire Officer at Cambridge City Airport commented; 

“We’ve been using Scarecrow’s Premier system for the last ten years but tougher safety legislation demands documented control to establish proof of dispersal. We decided that Ultima would best meet this requirement. We have a variety of birds flocking at different times of the year; December through to February there’s an abundance of Lapwings, but Rooks, Starlings, Crows and sometimes Geese are also potential hazards. Our key parameters are logging bird numbers, species, location and time of day on the airfield, and with a 75% dispersal rate, Ultima in our view, is the most reliable and efficient system available.”

Cambridge City Airport is home of the Marshall Group of Companies, a major employer in East Anglia, with a workforce of around 3300.  Founded in 1909 as a chauffeur drive company, Marshall moved on to retail motor business in 1911 and entered the aviation business in 1929. The Airport opened in 1937 as a grass airfield and has progressively developed to meets the needs of Marshall’s Aerospace business and the strict requirements of the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry Of Defence.  Today, the entire airfield spans 500 acres and has a concrete runway of 1965 metres, providing the essential “gateway” to Marshall Aerospace, with over a £100M a year turnover company that engages with a range of aircraft types including Boeing 747, 767 and 777, Airbus, C-130 Hercules, MD-11, Gulfstream, Cessna, Global business and executive jets and light aircraft.

Cambridge City Airport is committed to environmental matters and with local community, operates a Consultative Committee that meets on a formal structured basis every six months to discuss the operation of the airport. With residential areas in close proximity and a bird sanctuary located a quarter of a mile from the runway, addressing environmental issues and related health and safety concerns is always a high priority. Gerry Lennox continues; 

“The bird sanctuary is at the end of the runway, so we have to be vigilant with bird activity especially during breeding seasons. We have a long grass policy, which means we let the grass grow 6 to 8 inches which deters certain species of birds, but we also operate short grass runways as this is potentially where birds may flock. Our Air Traffic Controllers will often direct the bird controller in the Landrover to these areas, so we can target the nuisance birds. Depending on conditions, we use cartridges and lures in addition to distress calls and Ultima logs any bird control technique.”

Scarecrow has worked alongside some of the world’s busiest airports including Gatwick and Heathrow. Its latest product innovation, Ultima, a unique tablet computer controlled system offers the most advanced functionality in bio-acoustic bird dispersal and has received worldwide recognition since its launch 12 months ago. Ultima has been supplied to numerous airports, including Delhi International, Hyderabad, Christchurch and Jersey, negotiations are also underway for the supply of systems to Libya and Cyprus.

Scarecrow’s growth continues abound with an ever increasing portfolio of leading edge products, the company has firmly positioned itself as a global leader in bio-acoustic bird dispersal technology.