Impact on eagles of wind energy projects

IN his letter "Bird protection", (20 March), Lloyd Austin of the RSPB claims that renewable energy projects "must be delivered without harming our most important places for wildlife". Yet the RSPB are discreetly supporting wind farm projects in a number of locations where they will kill a great many birds belonging to protected species.

Of course we all remember the robust opposition they put up against a large wind farm project on Lewis. But there are eight more wind farms to be built on that island, one of them in a Special Protection Area for eagles and migrating birds (Pentland Road project), and another in an Important Bird Area with the highest concentration of eagles in Scotland (Eishken); projects that will accelerate the decline of biodiversity in Scotland.

The huge wind farm being planned on Shetland is another case in point, and so are those of Edinbane and Ben Aketil on the Isle of Skye.

The RSPB routinely object to projects such as these, but it is neither done in a robust manner, nor is it done unconditionally. So the wind farms are built anyway in "our most important places for wildlife".

More money will come into the charity's coffers via the sale of "RSPB Energy", which promotes wind farms – yet RSPB management may claim that they "objected".

MARK DUCHAMP

Environmentalist

Director, Iberica 2000

President, Save the Eagles International