You couldn't make it up...

From Sunday Times Scotland

IT MAY be the protector of wildlife but Scottish Natural Heritage has a problem. Its new £15m HQ appears to be giving some species the bird.

Some of them can’t see the glass-fronted building in Inverness, and are killed crashing into it.

Since its opening two months ago there have been several fatalities, including a greenfinch and a gold crest. Cleaners have been hired to remove the dead birds.

Staff have been told to leave lights on at night to reduce casualty figures but other measures are being considered, such as erecting cardboard cutouts of hen harriers to scare the birds away, or introducing a real bird of prey to act as a natural deterrent.

“Birds are flying straight into the glass and dropping down dead around the building,” said a Heritage member. “One solution has been to leave office lights on but others, such as reflective strips and cutouts of birds of prey, are being looked at.”

The building has solar panels to reduce electricity costs and gathers rainfall in an underground tank to flush toilets. It won an environmental award last year and was commended by Rhona Brankin, deputy environment minister.

Widespread use of glass is intended to make the building energy efficient.

But critics say designers overlooked the effect of so much glass on wild birds, which fail to recognise the reflections of trees or sky and fly straight into plate glass windows.

Amanda Bryan, chair of SNH’s north area board, said the matter would be investigated. “Every step will be taken to resolve the problem. Clearly, people will not be happy about this,” she said.

A spokesman for SNH said: “We are monitoring collisions at Great Glen House with a view to targeting the areas of greatest risk to birds and will look into mitigation options to prevent further casualties occurring. At a local level such mortality is highly unlikely to have any effect on bird populations.”

Doreen Graham, of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said: “Glass is a known killer of birds. A simple solution is to fit blinds which cut out the glare and can reduce collisions. That is something SNH may have to look at.”

Meanwhile, attempts to revive the great bustard, once Britain’s biggest bird, are floundering after most of those released into the wild were killed by foxes or crashed into power lines and fences.

Organisers of the project said last week that only 12 of the 55 birds imported as chicks from the banks of the River Volga since 2004 were still alive. They admitted that many of the ungainly 2ft 6in high game birds had died because radio- tracking devices fitted to them were too heavy.

The birds, weighed down by the transmitters, were weakened and then attacked by foxes. Others were killed on cables or fencing as they tried to gain height.