Bettyhill Wind Farm welcomes school visit

Covid has taken its toll on everyone, but especially young people. One specific request from the pupils of Farr High School in the Scottish Highlands was for more school trips and more mental health support, so the Head Teacher jumped at the offer of a site visit to Bettyhill Wind Farm with Earth Energy Education last September. 

It was a chilly, windy morning  – ideal for generating wind power. After a health and safety briefing the children set to their first challenge of the day, to estimate the height of one of the turbines. They used the method of looking backwards between their legs and kept checking until they could see the tip of the turbine. The children then walked back counting their strides. Their estimates of the height of the turbine varied from 100m to 240m. Quite a large margin of error! The actual turbine height is 119m (measured to blade tip). 

The children commented that “it makes me feel dizzy”; “Wow, that is so high!”; and,“It’s so much better than being in the classroom!”

They then moved on to exploring the biodiversity of the site which is on moorland with both bog and heath plants. They set up quadrats in several places to examine the different vegetation and wildlife. One group found a slug which they kept in a pot. But as it was both very windy and late September there were not many insects around. However they did spot a bird of prey in the distance which was identified as a buzzard. 

Their final activity of the morning was to use compasses to work out which direction the turbines were facing and therefore which direction the wind was coming from. They soon realised their compasses didn’t work, whether handheld or on mobiles, and that this must be due to magnets in the turbines. Walking away from the turbines to find true north, they identified that the wind was coming from the southwest. 

Katherine Wood, Farr High’s Head Teacher, thanked Lorna Lyle from Earth Energy Education for organising the trip: “It was very enjoyable and interesting for pupils and staff – shame it was so cold, but everybody enjoyed the chance to do something different.” 

Since then, the school has been given wind turbine kits to experiment within the classroom – and another wind farm visit is being planned for May, when it should be less chilly!