Resting pterodactyls! How Outlander writer views wind turbines that ‘deface landscape’
THE best-selling author behind Outlander has described wind turbines as ‘resting pterodactyls’ that ‘deface the skyline’ of Scotland’s magnificent landscapes.
Diana Gabaldon chose the country’s hills and glens as the romantic backdrop for her tales of time travel and adventure.
Now the American writer has added her voice to the mounting cry of protest over the proliferation of wind farms in Scotland’s great outdoors.
She claims the rising number of turbines threatens the ‘aesthetic’ splendour of the countryside and its historic castles and ruins. The 69-year-old author lives in Arizona but has visited Scotland several times to oversee the TV adaptations of her Outlander novels.
The sixth season of the Outlander TV show finished filming last month and will be screened at the start of next year.
She told The Scottish Mail on Sunday: ‘Wind pylons look like resting pterodactyls, which is not altogether a bad thing in the wind farm in a California pass near Indio, which is all barren rock and open sky and not a dwelling-place in sight, but is likely a much different thing if turning up next to your lovely Highland crofter’s cottage, or defacing the skyline of the Black Isle.’
Ms Gabaldon, who plans to return to Scotland in the autumn for the publication of her ninth Outlander novel, titled Go Tell The Bees, says her objections are based on the aesthetic impact of wind farms.
But she admitted she had doubts about the benefits of wind power, claiming she was ‘definitely on the sceptic side of alternate energy technology’. Her comments follow a recent report by Scottish
Government agency Historic Environment Scotland (HES), which raised concerns over the proliferation of wind farms near the country’s heritage sites.
As revealed in the MoS last week, the quango warned wind farms could harm the way ‘historic structures or places are understood, appreciated and experienced’.
In doing so, HES, which was set up to protect and promote some of our most iconic sites, such as Edinburgh Castle and the Wallace Monument, broke ranks with the Scottish Government which has committed to a significant expansion of wind power.