There’s two in the park!
Headache for rock festival chiefs after new osprey nest discovered
SCOTLAND’S largest music festival is in danger of being cancelled completely – after a second osprey nest was found on the event’s new site.
A question mark has hung over T in the Park at Strathallan Castle Estate in Perthshire after a pair of ospreys chose the site to breed. Now a second protected nest has been found. This could cause significant problems for event organisers DF Concerts, who are already trying to create a buffer zone around the first nest which could see them having to move their main stage and arena areas. Experts believe that a third osprey could be making his home on the estate – but are unsure if it is the male from the first couple building a second home.
Campaigners said that it would be ‘pretty impossible’ for festival bosses to hold T in The Park now there are two active nests.
The RSPB have confirmed the second nest and said that DF Concerts will have to allow it the same legal protections as the first. A spokesman for the charity said: ‘There is a bit of a lack of clarity whether this is a single male, or if it is the male from the pair building a second nest. But in the eyes of the law both have protected status.
‘Even if this nest does not remain in use, DF Concerts face a real challenge to deliver something that doesn’t impact the birds negatively.’
The original osprey nest is around 100 yards from the planned arena, while the new nest is even closer on the opposite side of the site.
This could mean that two buffer zones of more than 820 yards would have to be imposed.
It is feared that noise from the three-day festival could scare the protected birds into abandoning unhatched eggs.
A spokesman for Strathallan T Action Group said: ‘A single male has been busy nest-building and practising his “sky dance” for a week now in the hope that he might attract a female. It is entirely possible he is the progeny of Earl and Countess, our existing pair.’
One resident, who did not want to be named, said: ‘ DF Concerts didn’t really have any wriggle room to start with. This must make it pretty impossible now.’
Perth and Kinross Council are due to make a decision on the event’s planning application on May 13.
DF Concerts have al r eady confirmed acts such as The Libertines, Twin Atlantic and Noel Gallagher, with more than 75,000 people set to attend on July 10.
A spokesman for DF Concerts said that they believe the osprey to be the male from the original pair.
They also believe that the nest has been there for a while and the original osprey couple are yet to choose which one to live in.