Baby pigeons saved after dramatic rescue from 50m-high crane at £500m incinerator

RSPCA officer scales towering waste plant after parent birds become trapped outside sealed building

Two baby pigeons have been rescued from the top of a 50-metre-high crane inside a £500 million waste incinerator after their parents were prevented from reaching them when the building was sealed for testing.

The tiny squabs were discovered deep inside a ventilation pipe at the new Enfinium waste plant in West Bromwich, where their parents had fashioned a makeshift nest from discarded plastic cable ties.

But when the building was sealed ahead of ignition testing, the adult pigeons were unable to return to feed their young, leaving the chicks stranded high above the ground.

Contractors inspecting the crane spotted the nest and alerted the RSPCA after finding the birds still alive.

RSPCA Animal Rescue Officer Bal Dhamia was called to the scene on 9 June and undertook the challenging rescue, climbing multiple flights of stairs before scrambling to reach the nest perched on top of the towering crane.

He said: "The squabs were in a nest, of sorts, that their parents had built from plastic cable ties deep inside a ventilation pipe on top of a 50-metre-high crane inside the new waste incineration plant.

"The building had been sealed for ignition testing a few days earlier which stopped the parent birds from returning to their young.

"A member of staff found the nest while inspecting the crane and, thankfully, the young birds were alive so he called it into us.

"I had to scale many flights of stairs and then scramble up to them. I was able to scoop them out unharmed and take them into our care."

The rescued chicks were taken to the RSPCA's Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre in Shropshire, where they are now being cared for until they are old enough to survive in the wild.

The new Enfinium facility, which is due to open later this year, is expected to process up to 395,000 tonnes of household waste annually.

An Enfinium spokesperson said: "We're grateful to the RSPCA for their work with our site teams in safely rescuing and rehoming the pigeons from our Kelvin facility."

The RSPCA is reminding the public that baby pigeons are often cared for by their parents even when they appear to be alone, and is urging people to seek expert advice before intervening.

The charity has also launched its Summer of Kindness campaign, encouraging people to carry out simple acts that help protect wildlife and improve animal welfare during the busy summer months.