A NO-FLY zone introduced over a Northumberland wildlife haven after an incident in which birds were killed is to become permanent. <\/p>\n
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed an exclusion zone created over the Farne Islands following the incident earlier this year will be in situ in future breeding seasons. <\/p>\n
The news was last night welcomed by the National Trust, which owns the islands, and the owner of a company which takes boat tours to them. <\/p>\n
A Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft is said to have flown low over the Farnes, off the coast of Seahouses, in June. <\/p>\n
The islands have a population of 80,000 pairs of seabirds, including kittiwakes which were in the midst of breeding season and nest in cliffs there. <\/p>\n
The noise of the low flying is said to have shocked some of the adult kittiwakes, causing them to accidentally tip their chicks out of their nests. <\/p>\n
The young birds then fell into the North Sea below and drowned. <\/p>\n
The incident was reported on social networking website Twitter by trust head warden on the islands David Steel and Andrew Douglas, who runs the boat tour company. <\/p>\n
Both men criticised the RAF for carrying out low-flying over the islands during breeding season and claimed such incidents had happened before. <\/p>\n
They also said the air force had been asked not to carry out low flying during the season. <\/p>\n
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Farne Islands no fly zone to become permanent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A NO-FLY zone introduced over a Northumberland wildlife haven after an incident in which birds were killed is to become permanent. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed an exclusion zone created over the Farne Islands following the incident earlier this year will be in situ in future breeding seasons. The news was last night welcomed by the National Trust, which owns the islands, and the owner of a company which takes boat tours to them. Continue reading