At first glance the image I have selected for this weeks Photo Challenge does not seem an obvious one. First let me tell you just where it is….then I will explain. It is taken near Tormsdale which is up in the very far north of Scotland, in fact just about as far north as one can get. It is known as the Flow Country (Floi being the Norse word for Marshy place) bounded to the south and west by the most northerly and also some of the very highest of the Scottish Highlands with to the east and north the North Sea and stormy Pentland Firth. This area of Caithness and Southerland known simply as The Flows is the largest intact blanket bog (peat bog) covering about 1400 square miles of mainly flat bog, obviously it offers few habitations for humans but is vastly important for wildlife ,in particular birds and wildfowl, but also for much more from herds of Red Deer to the smallest of insects and of course the very plants that help make up this ‘moss’ covered breathing bog. Wild on a bad day but evocative in its vast beauty on a good day.
It is hard to gain a real eye for perspective. The Barn is very close to us, the trees are a good size conifer plantation( one of very few to survive the climate and wet habitat) so imagine these then you start to see that the landscape is so vast that it dwarfs the now familiar giant size Wind Turbines. On the horizon in the far distance are some of Southerland Highland Peaks.
So these Giant Wind Turbines are my UP. Giant in real life but dwarfed by this immense expanse of true wild Britain
Now for the controversial bit.
Wind Farms, so we are told, are badly needed for a green energy supplier both for now and vital for the future. Let me also say that I am not opposed to Wind Turbines per say, but I do question some locations in which these ‘farms’ are located and also the shear scale of these developments. From which ever biodiversity angle you look at this is a vital and internationally important and very fragile habitat. It is the breeding ground for vast numbers of Artic and sub Arctic birds, holds nationally and internationally important populations of many species and has a ‘tick list’ of animals and birds that would fill many a blog!
One has to question that if planners and governments allow Wind Turbines to be put UP in such precious areas of habitat where would they deem it appropriate to say no!
Enough of the moan back to UP and here is one much closer to my home. One of the Gritstone Tors of Stanage in the Derbyshire Peak District…
21st APRIL
© David Oakes 2013
DAVID OAKES - IMAGES. 