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Wind turbines and reptiles |
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sussexecology
Senior Member Joined: 30 Sep 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 411 |
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Posted: 02 Jun 2012 at 7:39pm |
I was wondering if anybody knows if any research has been undertaken on the indirect effects of wind turbines/renewable energy on reptiles. I am not concerned in regards to habitat loss as the wind turbines have already been built (so we were not involved in this project) but I am carrying out reptile surveys for another project and so far found nothing. I have done a bit of background research already and have come across a couple of websites which state that the vibrations from the wind turbines are causing indirect effects on reptile populations. Reptiles don't like vibrations so this would make sense, but would be interested in anybody has actually done any research into this. The habitats on the site are perfect for the reptiles, with abundant food supplies, good vegetation structure, open sunny location and recent records of reptiles present within the area. There may be other reasons why the reptiles are not present, but the 2 wind turbines and major renewable energy source structure are in the adjacent field so relatively close to where surveys are being carried out. Regards SE Reptile Ecologist |
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AGILIS
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1689 |
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I think Gemma might be able to comment on wind turbines and herps keith
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LOCAL ICYNICAL CELTIC ECO WARRIOR AND FAILED DRUID
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will
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830 |
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I'd be skeptical of the 'vibrations hyopthesis' since good reptile (including snake) populations exist very close to motorways etc...
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sussexecology
Senior Member Joined: 30 Sep 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 411 |
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Thanks Will
I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons why reptiles may not be present on the site, and there is still a good chance that reptiles are indeed present, but at very low population levels. Low populaitons can take months to find, so haven't ruled out completely that they are not present. Would be interested though if anybody has done any research on this topic though. The motorway vibrations I don't think would be the same as electricity or vibrations from cables underground. I know that offshore wind turbines can affect marine wildlife, in terms of vibrations, so there is no reason why the same can't apply to reptiles on land. Regards SE Reptile Ecologist |
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GemmaJF
Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Location: Essex Status: Offline Points: 4359 |
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I worked on a wind farm project several years back and during my assessment of impacts considered that the turbines would have no or low impact based on findings at the time (other than obvious loss of the footprint and disturbance to the site during lay down and construction).
I am in 100% agreement with Will, having worked on motorways several times, the level of vibration is constant, can easily be felt through the ground and there is no shortage of reptiles living in that environment at all. In fact the densities are often high. There also plenty of high voltage electricity cables buried in the ground along motorways, we used to get maps of them to ensure none of our contractors cut into them by mistake. I do not no know where the thread is now, probably in the archived forum but I do remember the topic of vibration apparently affecting reptiles coming up before. Several of us including Tony thought it was unlikely to actually affect them at all and cited real world observations to support our views. I do seem to remember there being some reference in the literature where we thought it might have stemmed from but nobody seemed to be convinced by it. Not saying it is impossible but I am not sure how solid the evidence is for it. I could put across several other reasons for not finding reptiles at the site, site history, rubbish weather for survey this year..
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AGILIS
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1689 |
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I dont think vibration does much and the animals like us its a norm we all live with it daily from natural cause like wind earth movement and all the other stuff caused by traffic & trains low flying aircraft and noise pollution the latter could be restricted but the authorities dont have the will or guts to stop. Keith
pS many time I have seen sand lizards and commons basking on road sides and dont blink a eye when a truck or bus passes,but still alert to hop it when some one comes by. Edited by AGILIS - 03 Jun 2012 at 7:11am |
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LOCAL ICYNICAL CELTIC ECO WARRIOR AND FAILED DRUID
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sussexecology
Senior Member Joined: 30 Sep 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 411 |
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Thanks for that Gemma I was interested to see what people thought about this, and wasn't implying at all that the vibrations from the wind turbines were the solid reason why there are no reptiles there. Thanks though. I have found a webiste though where it states that there have been fewer sightings of snakes near wind farms, but I will see if I can post a link later as i am not really meant to be here as I'm working today. Agreed though that there are plenty of other reasons why reptiles may not be present at this site and this thread isn't intended to be highlighting these issues. Regards SE Reptile Ecologist |
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GemmaJF
Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Location: Essex Status: Offline Points: 4359 |
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I've read you get more UFOs around wind farms, perhaps they scare the snakes away!
The trouble is land based wind farms are controversial so all sorts of things are now in print regarding their apparent impacts on the environment. Seeing less snakes may have been due to the development impacts. Though the footprint may be small the amount of disturbance to a site is very significant during the construction stage of a wind farm. Unfortunately the project I worked on was not completed, which was a shame considering we mitigated the works area in preparation. I never found out the reason for the cancellation of the project. (Though I suspect a shift to favouring off-shore wind farms was a factor). It is a pity, because it would have provided an ideal site for monitoring any adverse affects and we would then have an answer. We had very good base line data so follow up surveys for several years after the farm became active would have been very useful.
Edited by GemmaJF - 03 Jun 2012 at 3:40pm |
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sussexecology
Senior Member Joined: 30 Sep 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 411 |
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Thanks Gemma Could be that the project that was not completed was sold to another developer with planning permission. This happened to us after we had finished all the mitigation work on reptiles (and bats) and after we had made all that effort. Apparently the client changed architects and reduced his budget, so all about money at the end of the day. Thanks for your info on wind farms though, and would agree 100%. Apparently, no ecology surveys whatsoever were undertaken prior to planning permission, and the Council's ecologist is rubbish as this should have been flagged up. Damage has been done (as there is bound to be some impacts) and nothing we can do about it now. I think more research is required though for sure. Maybe somebody at the University of Kent would look into this. Would be very interested in any positive evidence on the indirect effects of wind farms and renewable energy sources. UFOs near wind farms That made me giggle. Our gcn ecologists did some night work on the site recently, and I believe they got spooked . Maybe we should start a new thread on UFOs and those working at night - somebody must be able to find a link . Anyone know what frequency (if any) a UFO would be picked up on a bat detector? Good job we have a sense of humour Gemma. Regards SE Reptile Ecologist |
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AGILIS
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1689 |
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Some people believe the turbine pulse attracts UFOs & doggers keith
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LOCAL ICYNICAL CELTIC ECO WARRIOR AND FAILED DRUID
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