The plastic pallets are to be used to provide artificial nest platforms to attract breeding pairs of ospreys back into the Rutland area.
Historically, ospreys were widespread throughout the UK, but were driven to extinction by man. In 1954, ospreys naturally returned to Scotland and began breeding, but due to their instinct to return to the place they are born, they were not spreading south to England.
The Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust and Anglian Water worked together to instigate a reintroduction project to bring the osprey back to England, and it was A success. Since the first breeding took place in 2001, 117 young ospreys have fledged from nests in the Rutland area, of which there are now eight.
Goplasticpallets.com donated seven of its heavy duty Qpall 1210 HR 5R pallets, which are made from recycled polypropylene for use in the project. Volunteers from Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust built and installed the platforms on farmland in South Lincolnshire with assistance from Western Power.
To make the platforms, the central webs were removed from the plastic pallets to make a socket for the pole. The nest was then built by fixing twigs to a weld-mesh base, which in turn was fixed to the pallet. After installation the nest was finished by adding moss, grasses and other nest material.