Prize-winning Fife poet fears windfarms' effect on wildlife
A renowned Fife author fears not enough is known about the impact on wildlife caused by wind turbines.
- By Aileen Robertson
- Published in the Courier : 16.02.12
- Published online : 16.02.12 @ 10.16am
Arncroach resident John Burnside, who has won numerous awards — including most recently the coveted TS Eliot Prize for poetry — is concerned that the inspiration for much of his work, the natural world, is being damaged by the surge in windfarms across the UK.
In particular he believes peregrine falcons could be put at risk by a north-east Fife proposal, claiming reports have suggested that, despite their agility, raptors can still be injured or killed by turbine blades.
Opponents also point to video footage from Spain, showing a buzzard vulture being struck by a turbine blade after apparently becoming attracted by the movement.
Mr Burnside has lodged an objection to the Green Company's proposal for a single turbine at North Cassingray Farm and two at South Baldutho Farm, Anstruther, on the grounds of potential disturbance to wildlife and also his health.
As a sufferer of sleep apnea, he is concerned his sleep will be disturbed further by turbine noise.
He told The Courier: ''One source of inspiration for me is the landscape and the wildlife on it — the community of living things out there. It is generally agreed there is not enough information in this country about the impact on birds. There are a number of reports coming out of the United States to show a large number of birds, including raptors, have been killed by this.
''If birds are damaged by this kind of development, and they are top predators high up on the food chain, then it's going to have an impact on the ecology of the entire ecosystem. I wrote to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and received a reply from someone there to say their assessment was there was no risk to peregrine falcons because they are very agile.''
A report by Thomson Ecology highlighted that SNH had raised concerns about the developments' potential impact on birds at three Special Protection Areas protected by European law. It concluded there was a ''low collision risk'' for migrating pink-footed geese.
Other species known to fly over the Cassingray site are brent goose, barnacle goose, kestrel, merlin, golden plover and curlew.
Iain Rennick, SNH Forth area manager, said: ''When Fife Council consulted us on the planning application we alerted them to the potential impact of the proposals on pink-footed geese. The applicant surveyed the use of the site by pink-footed geese. Other birds were also recorded, particularly raptors, waders and waterfowl. These surveys were designed to provide enough data to statistically analyse any possible impact on birds using the site and to calculate the potential collision risk.
''We have now received the report and we will be commenting on its conclusions to Fife Council shortly. We will also discuss peregrines as a result of extra local knowledge provided. However, peregrines are agile birds and we would expect them to be able to avoid collision with turbines of this size.''
11.38am - 16.02.2012 Gus's Angle - Invergowrie, Perthshire, UK Report This
So in that case, maybe should not have built any roads, or allow aircraft to fly? wildlife usually adapts to new surroundings its part of life. next.
12.04pm - 16.02.2012 Stuart Allan - Dundee, Scotland Report This
As always, the only video showing a bird being hit by a turbine gets trotted out. By contrast, the humble window kills many, many thousands of birds of all kinds in the UK every year. No-one is suggesting we get rid of them. Humans have an impact on the environment .... its a fact of life.
03.40pm - 16.02.2012 George - Elgin, Scotland Report This
Why are our extortionate electricity bills being used to subsidise foreign multinationals and millionaire landowners to trash our finest landscapes? What sort of green policy actually destroys the very environment it is supposed to protect? Lets have renewables that deliver, reliable, constant power
04.08pm - 16.02.2012 Bill - Coldstream, Scotland Report This
Gus & Stuart. What utter rubbish. The American Bird Conservancy, the leading bird conservation organization, recently stated that "Wind Power Could Kill Millions of Birds Per Year by 2030". Wind farms are also expected to impact almost 20,000 sq. miles of bird habitats.
08.01pm - 16.02.2012 Stuart Allan - Dundee, Scotland Report This
Bill, in the US alone, turbines reportedly kill 70,000 birds/yr while aircraft kill 80,000; cars kill 57 million; windows kill 97 million; cats kill 500 million. Cats, cars and windows are infinitly more dangerous to birds than wind turbines. Try getting them banned :)
10.07pm - 17.02.2012 Bill - Coldstream, Scotland Report This
Stuart. Windows and roads do not concentrate their kill on top raptors such as Condors, Golden Eagles, White-Railed Eagles, Griffon Vultures and Red Kites. In the Altamont area of California the wind kill of Golden Eagles is exceeding the breeding replacement rate.
01.42pm - 20.02.2012 Stuart Allan - Dundee, Scotland Report This
Bill, if bird kill is such a problem, why are the RSPB and SNH perfectly happy with turbines? If they were really putting bird populations at risk, these organisations would be vehemently opposed to them. You can't single out one species in one relatively small area and extrapolate out to the world.
09.45am - 21.02.2012 Zach - Newburgh, UK Report This
Windows rarely kill large raptors like eagles. Large numbers of bald eagles are killed by a huge turbine installation in California every year. I tire of this irritating windows and cats tripe...when does your moggie ever fell an eagle...or a protected goose. Never! Turbines are a scam end of.
02.38pm - 21.02.2012 Stuart Allan - Dundee, Scotland Report This
Ah Zach :) The figures don't deliver the answer you want so you resort to the old "sticking your fingers in your ears" tactic and declare "end of". It doesn't win any arguments :)
10.03am - 29.02.2012 Thornindaside - perth, scotland Report This
One of my sister's went to America last year on a coach trip and brought back pictures of one stretch of road which had so many higgly-pigglty windmills it'd looked like they'd grown up like weeds.Reading about that Trump fella and his £10million to save Scotland maybe he should get on a bus there.
Add a comment