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Evidence that wind farms may well kill off wildlife tourism 

Credit:  The Herald | 29 June 2013 | www.heraldscotland.com ~~

The disastrous encounter between a rare white-throated needletail with a wind turbine on Harris was not a good omen for wildlife tourism in Scotland (“Birdwatchers see rare swift killed by turbine”, The Herald, June 28).

It’s also another headache for Energy, Economy and Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing. How can he square this deadly contradiction between his tourism and energy portfolios?

Alex Salmond has argued that Scotland’s commitment to renewable energy makes it more attractive to ecologically-minded visitors. Ministers routinely tout Whitelee wind farm as a successful tourist attraction.

Perhaps Mr Ewing should take this creative thinking a step further, and present this week’s fatality as an exciting new marketing opportunity for Scottish tourism. Scotland is now the must-visit place for viewing bird-mincing turbines in action and rare birds as museum exhibits.

Linda Holt,

Dreel House, Pittenweem.

I WAS shocked and saddened to read that a rare swift, the white-throated needletail, had been killed in the Hebrides by the blades of a wind turbine . This incident throws into stark relief the risk posed to birds by wind farms.

Each year, ornithologists flock to Scotland to view some of the best birdlife in all of Britain, all the while providing a significant economic boost for local communities across the country.

However, I have long sought to raise awareness over the effect of wind turbines on bird populations. Indeed, we already know that poorly- situated wind farms in California and Spain have been responsible for large numbers of avian deaths and this incident in the Hebrides only confirms that the headlong rush for wind farm development in Scotland will put birds here at risk.

The SNP Government needs to wake up and understand that the loss of rare birds from these shores is unacceptable collateral damage from its reckless pursuit of wind energy.

Struan Stevenson MEP, (Conservative),

The European Parliament,

Rue Wiertz,

Brussels.

WHILST walking in the hills behind my home recently I met a cyclist who was on a recce of a historic trans-Scotland path. He runs a company that takes cyclists on historic routes. He felt the destruction of the landscape from wind farms was starting to limit the areas he could take his tours. When he encountered areas that had been destroyed by wind farms or the Beauly to Denny upgrade, he struck those routes, and consequentially all of the tourist accommodation and eateries in that area, off of his list for future tours.

His customers visit Scotland because of its wild landscape and heritage. While the Scottish Government insists there is no hard evidence to support the claim that tourists do not want to visit a country riddled with wind farms, it may now be humbled by the latest YouGov poll which suggests that a natural environment is much preferred to an industrialised one.

The SNP’s ambition to “reindustrialise” Scotland should not be at the cost of destroying one of its most entrepreneurial, developed, and lucrative sectors. Alex Salmond may have designs on Scotland to be the Saudi Arabia of the north, but should tourists be permitted to visit Saudi Arabia it would be for the culture and natural environment, not the oil wells.

The novelty of visiting any major energy production station, whether fossil fuel or renewable, is a one-off. It is certainly not the stuff of Thomas Cook brochures or the reason people book long-haul flights. People do not return to the glorious landscape of Scotland year after year to see the evolution of any mammoth industry. The SNP’s constant denial of this reality and its relentless disregard of the opinions of those in the know make one realize that the only thing Saudi Arabian about Scotland is its leadership.

Denise Davis,

Secretary, Alliance Party Scotland,

White House,

Ardblair, Inverness-shire.

Source:  The Herald | 29 June 2013 | www.heraldscotland.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

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