30/11/2017
At least 15 Whooper
Swans were electrocuted at a single site in north-east Co
Donegal earlier this autumn, according to BirdWatch Ireland.
The swan carcasses were
discovered lying under electricity lines near the village of Carrigans, close
to the border with Northern Ireland. BirdWatch Ireland staff member Daniel
Moloney travelled to the scene and confirmed that the swans had collided with
the wires in flight and that they had each been electrocuted. A high proportion
of the dead swans were juveniles.
It appears that the deaths were
the result of multiple, separate collisions with the electricity wires over a
period of several weeks. Some of the birds were freshly dead, while others
showed varying levels of decomposition, indicating that they had died on
different occasions.
The culpable wires were fitted
with "deflectors", which are supposed to make them more visible to
flying birds, but these appear not to have worked satisfactorily in this case.
Indeed, several of the deflector devices had been knocked off the wires due to
the swan collisions, further reducing the wires' visibility.
No comments:
Post a Comment