Better for the birds

Published: Thursday, 13 April 2017

SO MANY birds were being slaughtered by the power wires running along the Stainforth & Keadby Canal that Canal & River Trust has worked with Northern Powergrid, the company to install special ‘flight diverters’.

Brightly coloured, special attachments known as ‘flight diverters’, have been installed by engineers from Northern Powergrid along 325 yards of power lines located at Lock Hill in Thorne next to the Stainforth & Keadby Canal in Doncaster.

Dead Swan

Suspended from the power lines, will help to increase visibility of the lines to birds, particularly those flying from nearby Staniland Marina. This was brought about by the report by a member of the public of a dead swan that hit a power line near the marina.

Jonny Hart-Woods, Senior Ecologist at the Canal & River Trust explained:

“Collisions with power lines are a major cause of serious injury for large species such as swans, geese and other wildfowl that cannot change direction quickly. These birds can accidentally fly into power lines because they do not see them at all, or they see them too late to react and they’re injured, which often in this situation proves to be fatal.

“It’s great to see the flight diverters installed to make this waterway safer for our feathered friends. We’ve been impressed by the responsiveness to our request by Northern Powergrid and see this improvement in place in just a few weeks.”