The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Conservation Drone Unit has pioneered the installation of Overhead Warning Lights on a municipal power line using a drone in a bid to reduce the risk of collisions to the local Flamingo population along the Garden Route.
Overhead Warning Lights, or ‘OWL’ devices, are a type of bird flight diverter. These have been placed on the municipal power line alongside the N2 bridge across the Swartvlei lagoon near Sedgefield to make the power lines more visible and thus safer for flamingos in the wetland system.
The Swartvlei Lagoon is not only a Ramsar Site, but also part of the Garden Route Biosphere, highlighting the importance of this part of the Cape Floristic Region as a biodiversity hotspot in South Africa. Among the threatened species living within the Ramsar Site are the African Grass Owl and the Greater and Lesser Flamingo.
Noting the impact of these lines on flamingos which fly across the bridge at night, local birders foresaw a need to find a way to stop the birds from colliding with the power line. The BirdLife SA Lakes Bird Club approached the EWT for assistance with mitigation measures. The EWT has been working with Eskom for over 30 years to reduce the impact of energy infrastructure on wildlife and a key aspect of this work has included the marking of thousands of kilometres of power lines across the country to prevent collisions by numerous bird species, including vultures and eagles.
Tim Carr, owner of the Reflections Eco-Reserve and member of the Lakes Bird Club, says once they learned that permission was required from the Knysna municipality to install the mitigating measures, the club approached the EWT, for assistance with project. The club’s members, together with Birdlife Plettenberg Bay, collected more than R100,000 to cover costs of the installation.
After getting all the necessary permissions, the EWT Drone Unit was sub-contracted and this week installed OWL devices on the section of the power line that crosses the lagoon. The installation was done on a live line with no electricity supply interruption to local communities, which is in itself a remarkable feat and a global first.
“If it wasn’t for the Knysna municipality agreeing to this installation, it would not have been possible and we would not have been able to play such a key role in ensuring that flamingos no longer fly into the power lines. Key to this operation was collaboration. The Knysna municipality, Sedgefield fire brigade, and Western Cape traffic control officials were all on hand to ensure our teams, working beside the N2, were safe. The Garden Route National Park granted our team permission to fly our drone over the area, and SANParks staff were also on site” says Lourens Leeuwner, the EWT’s Head of Operations and Flight Operations Manager of the Drone Unit. “These bird flight diverters will also prevent other waterbirds and raptors in the area from colliding with the power line with the aim of reducing mortalities.”
“A phenomenal collaborative conservation success that Reflections Eco-Reserve and the Lakes Bird Club are privileged to have been part off. A massive thank you to all parties involved,” says Mr Carr.
