Reducing Impacts on Wildlife and the Visual Environment

In areas of outstanding natural beauty or heritage, proposals to erect overhead transmission lines are likely to arouse significant opposition from local stakeholders interested in preserving views and avoiding damage to rural tourist industry.

For example, significant planning opposition process is taking place in the Cairngorm National Park in Scotland, where local landowners are vigorously opposing the installation of transmission towers in key sections of the route.

The photographs below show the reduced visual impacts in XXXXXX:

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In certain areas, power lines and communication towers are thought to be responsible for a significant proportion of migratory bird deaths. Towers lit with red lights are a particular risk, as they appear to attract traveling birds at night, while guy line supports on communication towers and the lines strung between power transmission towers are difficult to see during both day and night.

Birds are not the only flyers to run risks from transmission lines, and operators have had particular success in improving safety by stringing plastic visibility balls onto lines in areas where light aircraft and helicopters travel. These balls have been shown to also reduce bird strike by 50% in wetland areas of the United States.

Another tactic is to place power lines underground when particularly active migration areas are crossed. Although this involves significant short term installation disturbance, the final transmission line is unable to affect wildlife.