In November 2021, personnel of DTEK TILIGULSKA WEP partnered with the management of the Tiligulskyi Regional Landscape Park to implement a unique environmental project — the Bird Islands — that included the construction of 1,500 m² of artificial islands where rare species of shorebirds could nest. The project is targeted at preserving biodiversity in our country.

The bird islands are artificial wooden platforms covered with straw and dried grass that can be used by birds to build their nests. The platforms have carefully aligned with the water level in the estuary, they cannot be accessed by either predators or humans, so the birds cannot be disturbed as a result of their presence. The Tiligul Estuary is the location used by birds for large-scale nesting and a habitat occupied by numerous birds during their seasonal migration. Some 270 species of birds, representing two-thirds of the entire Ukrainian bird population, can be seen on the territory of the conservation park. The total number of birds that stop by the estuary and its shores during their migration sometimes reaches 50 thousand. Some birds winter here. This territory is the main European bird migration route, and a habitat for over 40 rare bird species recorded in the Red Book of Ukraine and the European Red List, which makes the Tiligulskyi Regional Landscape Park really unique.

In April 2021, employees of DTEK TILIGULSKA WEP built in the Tiligul Estuary three big artificial islands — platforms that could be used by rare shorebirds for nesting. The total area of these islands was 500 m², and the project was expanded up to 1,500 m² already in November.

Birds have already nested both in the familiar natural locations and on the artificial platforms during this summer, after the first islands had been built. While implementing the project, the park personnel was monitoring the changes in the bird population on this territory. The initial results of these monitoring efforts demonstrated a positive impact of the project on the environmental situation in the park.

‘Birds are not fully protected from the impacts caused by negative factors on their population and reproductive performance even when they stay on the territory of a conservation park. The shortage of places where birds could nest is common for the Tiligulskyi Regional Landscape Park, and there are many factors that have an adverse impact on the bird population. These factors include both human factors and threats from predators that ruin nests and thus destroy bird offspring. We could see that the Bird Islands project has already had a positive effect on the avian population: hatching success and productivity of birds nesting on the artificial platforms is 90%, while this indicator is much lower in the natural environment, ranging between 30% and 50%. We will be welcoming our feathered friends coming to nest in their new homes already this spring,’ commented Oleh Derkach, Director of the Tiligulskyi Regional Landscape Park.

‘DTEK RENEWABLES operates in line with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles. Not only do we produce environmentally clean electricity from renewable energy sources, but also implement projects aimed at the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems in accordance with the UN Global Compact. Our Bird Islands environmental project pursues the objective of preserving and increasing the population of birds nesting on the territory of the Tiligulskyi Regional Landscape Park by creating favourable conditions for their reproduction. The platforms designed by the company’s engineers give the birds an extra opportunity for growing their offspring in a peaceful environment,’ noted Oleh Solovey, Director of DTEK TILIGULSKA WEP.