LED lighting is being used to stop geese flying into a wall
In the seaside town of Scarborough, LED lighting is being used to stop geese dying after flying into the side of a block of flats. Or as the Daily Mail describes it, ‘an invisible wall of death’. Oh, and these are ‘kamikaze geese’.
The problem is that the residential block is directly on the birds’ migration path, and also happens to be a pale grey colour that matches the sky, something that will be familiar to anyone who’s been on holiday in the UK.
Unfortunately the building can’t just be painted, say, luminous yellow, because the current shade of grey is designed to prevent it being too obtrusive. So far the developers have tried using LED lighting to deter the geese, but residents say birds are still flying into the wall, which is now covered in pock marks from their beaks.
It seems the lighting is effective at night, but not during the day or at dawn and dusk, and so councillors are now considering putting a mural on the side of the building. An elegant solution has been proposed by local wildlife rescuer Jim Ward, who suggests a mural of woodland, which would be inoffensive to residents and which geese naturally avoid because it is hazardous to birds of their size.
So it seems a solution is in sight, although it may be less welcome to non-squeamish residents who like a bit of goose.
