The biggest is just over 1,000 sq miles is between Whalsay & Sumburgh, with a further 670 sq miles of turbines off Eashaness and other smaller areas. Up to now it was not thought viable to erect turbines in hostile waters around Shetland. But Norwegian technology may have brought the day closer as they hope to have free floating turbines about 12.5 miles off Aberdeen in the very near future.
A full write up can be found here:
http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2011/05/27/five-sites-identified-around-shetland-for-possible-offshore-windfarm-development
I did see the plan about 5 years ago in the Shetland Times, they would still need the interconnector so lets hope the cost will be too high. Whereas the government said it would consult the public with onshore wind farms, offshore wind farms are not included.
Then it just goes to show that SSSI's don't mean a thing when news came out that the government had just released proposals to start fracking at the RSPB reserve at Bempton Cliffs, that's one of 300 wildlife sites the government said it would protect. These wildlife sites now come under threats from 159 inshore oil and gas licenses issued by the government last month. Nine RSPB reserves are included.
Anyway onto the good stuff, at least 123 Yellow Browed Warbler, 4-5 Blyth Reed Warbler, Bluethroat (2), Pechora Pipit and many other good birds on Tuesday. Also invaded by many birders/ twitchers.
Most behave OK but some just cannot wait for the bird to appear and there has been several instances where people have rushed in the flush a very tired bird. All it needs is a bit of patience. At the weekend I was watching a couple of Yellow Browed warbler when two cars pulled up. They had just arrived and needed these birds to kick start the holiday so a couple went into a private garden to flush the birds which they did and they flew off so they wouldn't have got a good view anyway. they were quickly back in the car and headed up to Sumburgh Head.
They didn't care it was a private garden or that I had just spent over an hour photographing them, or to the other person watching. The other person i was with said he never reported any birds until after he had left Shetland so he wouldn't be responsible for causing the bird harm.
I remember another Shetland birder at Quarff who stopped writing his blog due to the actions of inconsiderate twitchers who had obviously been reading it to gain information.
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