RSPB outlines significant risk to golden eagles
Conservation charity RSPB has raised concerns about the impact of the proposed development on exceptionally rare birds in the area including Golden Eagle, Merlin, Dotterel, Ring Ouzel and Ptarmigan. The location is also an important foraging ground for Peregrine, Kestrel and Buzzard.
RSPB warns that the considerable risk to birds includes ‘disturbance, displacement, loss of suitable habitat and collision risk’.
The proposed development site is between and adjacent to the Foinaven Site of Special Scientific Interest, the Foinaven Special Area of Conservation and the Southern Parph Site of Special Scientific Interest. These designations have been awarded precisely because of their nationally and internationally important habitats and species. In addition the Foinaven Special Protection Area, of crucial importance to juvenile Golden Eagles, is about 2.5km from the site.
RSPB, in its initial comments to the Energy Consents Unit, criticizes Galileo for failing to reference the 50km or more of high voltage overhead lines which would be required, to connect the development to the electricity network. These power lines, and the windfarm itself, would also have an impact on vulnerable birds, including White-tailed Eagle, Red-throated Diver, Curlew, Greenshank, Snipe, Golden Plover and Dunlin.
RSPB described the site as a ‘very sensitive location… on and surrounded by important wetland and peatland habitat with significant wildlife interest’.
Steve Davies is a licensed bird ringer and conservationist who has been studying Greenshank at Kinlochbervie for 20 years. He comments: “This really is one of the most important sites for Greenshank in the UK. It has been studied continuously by ornithologists since the 1960s. It is a unique habitat.
Greenshanks only breed in Scotland. If they lose this habitat there’s nowhere else for them to go.”
Read the Northern Times coverage of this story here
Comments