Power crews feature on popular evening TV show filmed near nature reserve

Power crews from Lynn featured on a popular BBC evening show in a West Norfolk location.The Lynn UK Power Networks team featured on BBC 1 show Countryfile last night, which featured them at Welney Wetlands installing bird diverters on a power line.The team were showing presenter Charlotte Smith how they work safely to put the florescent discs up using long specially-insulated rod.

Linesperson Steve Thurston and colleagues had recently installed about 100 of the discs across the area after swans started flying nearby.Heather Patrick, environment adviser at UK Power Networks, who was interviewed for the show, said: “It’s difficult to predict the swans’ flight paths from year to year as they move around in search of feeding opportunities.“This location is now safer for the 2000+ Whooper swans which migrate here, and for future generations of these majestic birds with their distinctive honking calls.”

The diverters make the cables more visible to big birds with poor eyesight that need long take-off and landing paths and cannot suddenly turn away at the last moment.As a result, the birds steer clear of the cables and fewer power cuts are caused by their collisions, improving the resilience of the electricity network for local residents.