ORLEN Unipetrol

Peregrine falcons in Litvínov are already brooding and will soon see their chicks. Don’t miss it!

23-03-2022

Watch the nesting of peregrine falcons online at www.starameseosokoly.cz. These birds have regularly returned to the chimneys of the ORLEN Unipetrol plant in Záluží near Litvínov for 12 years to raise their young. The female laid two eggs in mid-March and is currently warming them. The nest is located at a 100-metre height on the T700 heating plant’s chimney in the largest chemical plant in the Czech Republic. The second nest on the steam cracker’s chimney in the plant’s petrochemical part is still waiting for its new inhabitants.

Peregrine falcons start to nest (i.e., the period from courtship until the young are born) at the turn of February and March. Until then, the couple lives at their usual pace. They move around their territory but do not use the nest for living. The female generally lays one to four eggs, sitting on them for about 30 days before the chicks are born. Then the parenting hustle and bustle starts because the offspring demand regular care to be strong and experienced enough in June to leave the nest. Young raptors leave their home to acquire experience and seek their territory after two to three years to keep themselves and bring another generation of this endangered species into this world.

Ornithologist Václav Beran of the ALKA Wildlife Association has been monitoring peregrine falcons in the ORLEN Unipetrol Group since 2011. Forty chicks have been born on the chimneys in Litvínov, Kralupy nad Vltavou, and Neratovice so far. “We ring the young about three weeks after they hatch. We do that to clarify the birds’ origin in the Czech territory in the future. We will also see if they are male or female when visiting the nest,” explains Václav Beran of ALKA Wildlife.

The ORLEN Unipetrol Group is the largest refinery and petrochemical company in the Czech Republic. It focuses on crude oil processing and the production, distribution and sale of vehicle fuels and petrochemical products – particularly plastics and fertilisers. In all these areas, it belongs among the critical players in the Czech and Central European markets. The ORLEN Unipetrol Group encompasses refineries and production plants in Litvínov and Kralupy nad Vltavou, Paramo in Pardubice, Spolana Neratovice, and two research centres in Litvínov and Brno. ORLEN Unipetrol also includes a network of Benzina ORLEN filling stations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. With 424 filling stations, Benzina ORLEN is the largest chain in the Czech Republic. ORLEN Unipetrol employs more than 4,800 people. In 2005, ORLEN Unipetrol became a member of the ORLEN Group, the largest crude oil processor in Central Europe. In addition to its business development, ORLEN Unipetrol is proud to be a socially responsible corporation. Therefore, it pays an equal amount of attention to initiatives, focusing on the cultivation and support of sustainable development, education, local communities, and the environment.

Contact: Pavel Kaidl, spokesman, telephone: +420 736 502 520, e-mail: pavel.kaidl@orlenunipetrol.cz

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