Will Windmill Farms Safeguard Wildlife?

LAST WEEK British Prime Minister Gordon Brown set out goals to increase renewable-energy use in Britain tenfold by 2020. Brown's vision for a "green revolution" is heavily reliant on wind power, with plans for 7,000 new turbines--4,000 onshore and 3,000 offshore.

Brown says the North Sea could turn "into the equivalent for wind power of what the Gulf of Arabia is for the oil industry.  Britain aims to reach an E.U.-mandated target of sourcing 15 percent of energy from renewables by 2020, which will require an investment of nearly $200 billion says Brown. And, he envisions the U.K. cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by nearly 20 percent and oil dependency by 7 percent, and creating some 260,000 green-collar jobs.

This sounds wonderful but I wonder what safeguards will be in place for migrating birds. Does anyone know of a current study on windmill bird fatalities? What do you think the chances of a similar effort happening in the U.S.?

Tom Patrick
WindStar Wildlife Institute

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'Backyard Mystery Birds Confuse Us'  
An article that appeared in the latest WindStar Wildlife Garden Weekly

 

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'Backyard Mystery Birds Confuse Us'  
An article that appeared in the latest WindStar Wildlife Garden Weekly

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'Insects: The Original White Meat'

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'How Children Lost the Right To Roam In A Short Time' 
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'To See A Flower Fly...'

YOGI BERRA supposedly said, “You can observe a lot by looking.” Yogi gets credit for a lot of odd things said by others, but I love this saying. I look out my office window. I find myself unable to resist praising the new blossoms on the multi-hued lawn. I rejoice in discovering that the blue violet with the largest blossom is actually an Indigo Bunting. To see a flower fly is something you can observe only by looking.

Al Batt
Hartland, MN

Any Natural Deterrents For Wasps?

I WAS reviewing the (American Wildlife) blog on wasp control and noticed you are in Myersville, MD. We recently moved from Middletown to the Cunningham Falls area. We are huge animal lovers and attempt to live in harmony any way we can.

I put a small pond in some of the landscaping near the front of our house. In retrospect maybe not the best location, as wasps and yellow jackets have a nice highway in and out all day.

I saw the suggestion for using mint oil and think I will give that a try. Provided I keep up with it, do you find this pretty effective? Any other natural deterrents you find work?

Jeff Hetzer
Thurmont, MD