Fair Isle Bird Obs Plans (1 Viewer)

[KenM]

Slightly off topic, my general purpose flashlight though it has immensely bright levels of white LED lumens also has red and green options (again with different power levels). This seems not to startle any wildlife around the village, owls and bats (red) rabbits, hares and deer (green) seem to be the best options I find.

After reading the links as posted by Paul and KB57....yes ''Green'' seems to do the least damage!

On that basis, is there a need for ALL external coastal lighting (at least) to be biased towards the green spectrum and for it to become an international standard, as anything that reduces light pollution with it's corresponding loss of ''life'' should be given the ''green light'', as I'm sure that any responsible charitable trust would support such a move?

Cheers

 

[PYRTLE]

After reading the links as posted by Paul and KB57....yes ''Green'' seems to do the least damage!

On that basis, is there a need for ALL external coastal lighting (at least) to be biased towards the green spectrum and for it to become an international standard, as anything that reduces light pollution with it's corresponding loss of ''life'' should be given the ''green light'', as I'm sure that any responsible charitable trust would support such a move?

Cheers

One also has to bear in mind the existing international navigational colours and intensities for marine and aviation purposes. End of the day Ken, it surely comes down to reducing to an absolute minimum the installation purposes and types of lighting required in all respects. Harping back to your post about additional lights - again, no need or ethical requirement for this in any form was my thought then, seems a concerted effort by some organisations to return to dark skies.

P

 

[KenM]

One also has to bear in mind the existing international navigational colours and intensities for marine and aviation purposes. End of the day Ken, it surely comes down to reducing to an absolute minimum the installation purposes and types of lighting required in all respects. Harping back to your post about additional lights - again, no need or ethical requirement for this in any form was my thought then, seems a concerted effort by some organisations to return to dark skies.

P

Am unsure Pat as for the need to have ''white'' Lighthouses in today's world, with the on-board radar and navigational systems that even small trawlers are probably fitted with?

Cheers

 

[PYRTLE]

Am unsure Pat as for the need to have ''white'' Lighthouses in today's world, with the on-board radar and navigational systems that even small trawlers are probably fitted with?

Cheers

I would imagine it will remain as an international marine standard for when a system or a vessels equipment fails. I had to study for some basic RYA qualifications alongside my job at the time on the Thames. Navigational lighting was quite a challenge.

Regards, P

 

[Farnboro John]

Small boats don't have radars and rely on lighthouses. White light carries better than either red or green. White lighthouses will continue.

John

 

[KenM]

Small boats don't have radars and rely on lighthouses. White light carries better than either red or green. White lighthouses will continue.

John

Good to know!...but it does make you wonder just how many small boats are plying the waters around Fair Isle between sunset and dawn, that would qualify the annual maintenance costs of two lighthouses?

 

[dantheman]

Good to know!...but it does make you wonder just how many small boats are plying the waters around Fair Isle between sunset and dawn, that would qualify the annual maintenance costs of two lighthouses?

You could also ask how few people would have to die (by drowning) in a year that would qualify the disuse of two lighthouses?

 

[Farnboro John]

Good to know!...but it does make you wonder just how many small boats are plying the waters around Fair Isle between sunset and dawn, that would qualify the annual maintenance costs of two lighthouses?

I imagine any small boat, especially if sailing, that was making a passage from Bergen to Aberdeen (say) over a day or two, would welcome the confirmation that its GPS was still working.... and confirmation that its compass course was right if not!

John

 

[KenM]

I imagine any small boat, especially if sailing, that was making a passage from Bergen to Aberdeen (say) over a day or two, would welcome the confirmation that its GPS was still working.... and confirmation that its compass course was right if not!

John

Don’t know what the reach of lights biased towards the green spectrum might be but!....the trialling of this type of light must raise concerns as to “why” the power companies have “independently” acted thus?

Coupled with the night shift workers giving the green light...to ”the green light”, must merit some real consideration?

I don’t know what the annual avian mortality rate might be from UK lighthouses, suspect that if figures have been compiled, they wouldn’t necessarily be available for public consumption?

From my own findings Canary Wharf, the strike rate over 5 years was negligible, with only seven corpses of six migrant species found during this period, I don’t doubt that the toll was higher (scavenging Corvid population in residence), certainly no “multiple strikes” occurred...but then being c45 miles from the coast would have negated any “real” casualty loss.

Presumably “colour” changing e.g. the Fair Isle lighthouses might reduce the “air traffic” by a not inconsiderable margin, and the resultant avian life loss would be much reduced, as indeed might the incidence of scarcer migrants?

Cheers

 

[kb57]

I might be misinterpreting the gas platform 'green spectrum' lights, but my understanding was that they didn't look actually green, but were more on the green spectrum side of white...in a similar manner to the 'warm LED' lights which are frequently specified in developments now to reduce disturbance to foraging bats ('cold LED' = higher UV component, more disturbing). So I think in theory they would still have enough range to function as navigational lights - they must have been considered sufficiently bright to light up the platform, which I presume you need to illuminate sufficiently to stop ships crashing into it.

 

[Ross McGregor]

The light is indeed greenish, rather than the bright green of navigation lighting (https://www.conservationmagazine.org/2009/04/red-light-green-light/ ). My understanding is that it's not that the light is intended to be green, but that the red end of the spectrum is removed making it look more green to our eyes. Research has shown that it's the red component of lights that affect a birds ability to navigate, rather than them being attracted per se (e.g. https://www.nature.com/articles/364525a0 ). I would imaging that there is some attraction going on, but the capture by light sources causing birds to fly around the light until exhausted, or they fly in to something, is apparently down to the red component of the light. Some island communities in the Netherlands have also installed these in street lighting to prevent bird "attraction".

 

[Steve Arlow]

This recently seen on stv.tv/news. An early 'artists' rendition of the new obs

https://news.stv.tv/highlands-islands/bird-observatory-to-rise-from-the-ashes-after-fire?top

 

[Farnboro John]

Sticking with the best of flammability then....

John