Letters / ‘We feel utterly helpless’
Occasionally Sustainable Shetland receives messages of support from residents concerned about the Viking Energy wind farm but who do not want to attract publicity for themselves.
I feel that this e-mail should be shared with your readers. The writer has given permission for us to do this.
“We live in Nesting.
We emailed the RSPB on 10 August to raise our concerns about the impact the ground investigation works by VE was clearly having on birds and wildlife in our area.
We have had no response and are left feeling helpless about the potential destruction of the surrounding wildlife.
We wanted to contact yourselves regarding our concerns.
We love the massive variety of bird population around our house. We have seen and heard red grouse, curlews, snipes, whimbrels, lapwings, shalders, ravens, crows, starlings, redwing, blackbirds and sparrows to name but a few. We don’t know a huge amount but we are fairly sure we have also heard merlins and golden plovers.
It’s always been alive with bird song around us but since this ground investigation work has commenced there is an eerie silence and most have disappeared.
We are worried about the impact of this work and this is only the investigation stage.
We have also recently seen on three separate occasions both in Nesting and da Lang Kames bonxies down from the hill at the road – clearly displaced from their nesting areas up on the hill.
That is something we have never seen in the time we have lived here. We appreciate they are not a schedule 1 bird as protected by law, but we’d be concerned about any bird being displaced especially when there may be young.
We feel utterly helpless and want to do something to share our concerns.”
Members of Sustainable Shetland and others continue to monitor closely the work currently in progress in the hills of the central mainland of Shetland.
It is to be hoped that other environmental organisations and SIC planners are doing likewise. There appears to be little evidence of that so far.
Frank Hay
Chairman
Sustainable Shetland
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