bird strikes & wind farms

[spurtle]

In the light of the press report of a buzzard being killed by a turbine blade, is anyone researching bird strikes, around the wind farms currently operating in Caithness?

[Ricco]

In the light of the press report of a buzzard being killed by a turbine blade, is anyone researching bird strikes, around the wind farms currently operating in Caithness?

I do question the validity of such a report. Those blades turn quite slowly - it would have to be a pretty daft buzzard to have been struck by one. More likely is that the bird was blown into or flew into the structure itself.

[Seabird]

I think this report speaks for itself.

http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/mduch...es/000042.html

Birds are taken into consideration when wind farms are built in the UK.
But alas bird dont expect a blooming great obstruction to drop into their flight path so these incidents will occur, although greatly reduced by sensible planning.
The R.S.P.B will object strongly if windfarms are built near migratory routs or planned for bird sensItive areas.

Colin

[dozy]

Bird strikes are supposed to be part of the E I S but the fact is are that most EIS s are a joke .I have known of some EIS s where the consultants spent only three half days on site in a 30 months study and that only happen because the sun was shining .
The Developer picks the consults and makes sure the questions that need to be answered are in a way that will suit .
One Turbine Factory on the East Coast of Caithness had over 30 geese strikes in 1 day and thats the ones we know off
Turbines are not a natural form on the landscape so birds can't compute the risk and so they really dont see them .It 's a bit like letting your 18 month old child to walk down the street unsupervised . The child would see the cars and can tell by the size ,shape that the cars are moving but they CANT take onboard is the RISK AND THE LIKELYHOOD they COULD BE killed .Birds dont have the capacity to assess what the Turbines are and the DAMAGE they can do
99% of strikes go unreported because there is no one to see them happen and if they do find birds dead they sure as hell won't report them as it would put the EIS in jeopardy so the strikes are alot more common than reported
If the TRUE figure was to get out the Turbine Industry would collapse over night as the planning permission would be revoked because the EIS s would be deemed untrue or false.
I think that the Turbine operator knows what happen is not a one off and thats why they are keeping a low profile...
If the Council have any guts they should stop the works and get the whole site reassessed...

[captain chaos]

Quote from Ricco

"I do question the validity of such a report. Those blades turn quite slowly - it would have to be a pretty daft buzzard to have been struck by one. More likely is that the bird was blown into or flew into the structure itself."


Ricco

It may surprise you but a normal wind turbine blade at the tip is travelling at 140mph YES... 140mph even at 1/4 of the distance from the hub the blade is doing 35mph.

This would be in a ground wind speed of about 14mph

Even a buzzard would have difficulty dodging at these kind of speeds

How Turbines Work

Turbines use the principle of lift, which allows the rotational speed of the blades to actually surpass the wind speed. This is described quantitatively by the tip speed ratio: the ratio of the rotation blade speed to the wind speed. Turbines today that employ lift technology can reach tip speed ratios of approximately 10.

[spurtle]

[QUOTE=dozy;185427]The Developer picks the consults and makes sure the questions that need to be answered are in a way that will suit .

To confirm your atatement, here is the view of an honest consultant who tried to put an unbiased view to the developer who had employed him :

HADRIANS BIRD WEEK
12 Ð 20 Feb 2000
JOHN MILES
Jockey Shield
Castle Carrock
Carlisle, Cumbria, CA4 9NF
Email John@birdsociety.softnet.co.uk
26th March 2000
Dear Brian
Having seen both your letter and your article I thought it was time to write
to you. I spent 3 years carrying out Ôenvironmental assessmentsÕ for wind
turbine companies until I came up against the old enemy. I had previous
worked for the RSPB from 1976 Ð 1991 and I challenged the establishment on
their views. Here again as a free lance consultant I was facing the problem
of a company claiming that my evidence was wrong for their own gain. My
conclusion was that the site was finally not suitable for the turbines.
The site was close to the other English pair of golden eagles and
information from California showed that immature golden eagles were the most
vulnerable birds when the turbines sites were erected. Also in Southern
Spain large numbers of birds of prey were being killed by turbines off the
Straits of Gibraltar. (The new Scottish site in Argyll where large amounts
of money have been spent trying to keep eagles away from turbines is an
interesting case!)
The company paid another consultant for a one day visit to the site to write
a report condemning my findings and came up with 13 statements that they
wanted changing or I would not get paid for my work. He even changed my
name to make his findings more suitable!
I wrote a letter to the local press telling them what the company was
playing at and after a long wait finally got paid although the company were
given the last reply in the paper which I felt was wrong. I was never
approached by a turbine company again!
The problems of being a free lance consultant are that you are paid to write
what they want to hear not the truth.
I hope this is some help to you
All the best
John Miles
copy ends

[dozy]

I would say that the consultant is correct in what he says , they only hear what they want to hear and they only pay for the answers they want .
I have worked as Engineer on these projects as the EIS needs to include the installation infastructure and have been lucky to work with one of the countries best Environmental Consultants and he lives in Caithness .
Most of the EIS are of a very poor qualility and yet they get through and thats a Planning Department failure.

[golach]

In the light of the press report of a buzzard being killed by a turbine blade, is anyone researching bird strikes, around the wind farms currently operating in Caithness?

I have seen no similar press reports researching pheasant strikes by speeding cars on the A9, I wonder when will the P&J cover that story, and as an after thought the number of flattened hedgehogs, rabbits, and even, dare I say it...Cats, needs to be looked into with sympathy

[webmannie]

I have seen no similar press reports researching pheasant strikes by speeding cars on the A9, I wonder when will the P&J cover that story, and as an after thought the number of flattened hedgehogs, rabbits, and even, dare I say it...Cats, needs to be looked into with sympathy

You said it, noooooooooo. Cats! Murderers, Satan of the birdworld, be gone you devil before we are all led down the road to perdition.

[webmannie]

I have seen no similar press reports researching pheasant strikes by speeding cars on the A9.

seriously though

A couple of years ago I was travelling up home from Glasgow as a passenger in a car, to pass time I counted pheasant roadkill, from Glasgow to Thurso there were 23. I was quite surprised.

[golach]

seriously though

A couple of years ago I was travelling up home from Glasgow as a passenger in a car, to pass time I counted pheasant roadkill, from Glasgow to Thurso there were 23. I was quite surprised.

Webmannie My point exactly, one bird that is daft enough not to see a beeg blade and the whole o Kaitness is up in arms

[webmannie]

the whole o Kaitness is up in arms

I'd hardly say that, .org doesn't have that many members. 'storm in a teacup' maybe suits

To me the news item in the P&J was more the fact that somebody seen it rather than that a turbine had killed it. You'd have to be pretty naive to think that it doesn't happen, what is unknown to most is how often it happens.

[kas]

I have seen no similar press reports researching pheasant strikes by speeding cars on the A9, I wonder when will the P&J cover that story, and as an after thought the number of flattened hedgehogs, rabbits, and even, dare I say it...Cats, needs to be looked into with sympathy

Not a dig but just agreeing with your comment Golach.
Roads deaths will never ever be prevented, 14 people died on Scotlands roads in the last 48 hours, how much will be done to prevent this from happening again? Yet if 14 people died from any other circumstances there would be major investigations.

Nearly everyone needs road travel to exist these days so it is almost accepted. Whereas Wind turbines are something that has opinions split, and those who oppose them will use every arguement in their case.

As a bird lover I hate the thought of anything that kills birds, although I have double standards as I do own a cat myself.(She prefers rodents to birds though thankfully.)

Why can they not place turbines on the outskirts of towns and cities, instead of slap bang in the middle of our beautiful countryside. Is it because that the land is cheaper?

[caithness lad]

In the light of the press report of a buzzard being killed by a turbine blade, is anyone researching bird strikes, around the wind farms currently operating in Caithness?

i hope they get a lot of scorries