Alberta oilpatch activist Wiebo Ludwig and about 10 other protesters have set up camp near a sour gas well north of the farm where he lives with his family.

Ludwig said Canadian Superior Energy began test flares at the well Sunday.

The protesters from the Hythe, Alta., area -- about 500 kilometres northwest of Edmonton -- gathered with protest signs on public land just outside the fenced-in well and are prepared to stay there for weeks in a trailer, he said.

The crowd peaked at about 60 people Sunday morning, Ludwig said, but a "skeletal crew" of about a dozen people representing six families in the area remains.

"We have a house trailer there right across from the well site and we plan to man that at night as well with at least one family a night," Ludwig said. "We'll rotate and keep an eye on the signs. We have about 10 signs out there."

One includes 20 pictures of malformed animals and aborted babies, he said, "basically saying that this is the blood that has been spilled here since you surrounded Trickle Creek with gas development."

Police and security guards were patrolling the protest, Ludwig said.

"The officers are saying to us they're just trying to keep the peace in case somebody loses it," he said.

Representatives of Canadian Superior Energy were unavailable for comment Sunday.

"They are aware of the situation that is occurring and they are not commenting on any of these issues at this time," an emergency line operator with the company said.

RCMP officials were advised of the protest but have not received any complaints, said Grande Prairie RCMP Cpl. Carol McKinley.

"It's my understanding that it's a peaceful demonstration," she said. "It is not impeding the traffic in the area nor the work that is being conducted at that particular well site."

Ludwig said Canadian Superior Energy has ignored requests from residents to discuss the impact on their community.

"All the ones that live near this thing are not given a voice," he said. "Strangers can just come in here and do what they like, and that's very upside down when it comes to the right of people to have some say in what they want to breathe, which poisons they would want to breathe."

Canadian Superior Energy and two other oil companies, EnCana and Seaview Energy Inc., recently requested a peace bond against Ludwig, his son Benjamin, and Richard Boonstra, a friend of the family who lives on the Ludwig farm. If granted, the men could be ordered to keep a certain distance from the oilfield property for one year.

The trio is planning to submit a cross bond next month. "We will make the case against them for not having (the sour gas wells) here," Ludwig said.

Ludwig, a noted anti-oilpatch activist, was arrested in January in connection to a series of unsolved pipeline bombings in nearby northeastern British Columbia.

He was released without charge.