Beauty or Beast?

Modern windmills are rapidly becoming an integral part of our landscape. Personally, depending on the scale of the development and how they are sited, I find them rather beautiful. Perhaps first impressions are important. The first wind farm I ever saw was in California in the 1980s. Never having seen one before I was mesmerised by what must have been thousands of turbines spread across a huge expanse of rolling hills. It had a surreal, dynamic beauty that I've never forgotten.

But I know that opinion is strongly divided. Some people consider them to be a blight on the landscape. They consider turbines to be noisy beasts that have to be banished from spoiling the peace of our countryside. I've come across someone here whose quality of life appears to have been seriously compromised by living under one. The windmills in this shot are massive, and they dominate the skyline for miles around. They catch the evening light with some considerable pride. They certainly don't try to blend into the landscape. Indeed, perhaps it's significant that these kind of wind turbines are always to be found painted white, to appear as bright as possible. They could easily be camouflaged with a dark green, but that would feel wrong to me. I like it that they make such a strong statement.

The landscape is evolving all the time, and, certainly here in the Dales, it's a result of constant management. It's not a wild landscape at all. Even the heather moor depicted yesterday is managed. Left to its own devices it would not flourish the way it does but would soon become overrun with bracken and grasses. I believe that we have no real choice but to embrace wind farms. We have to accept that they are all part of the bigger picture of achieving a more sustainable presence on our planet. But there is an aesthetic element which is fundamental to the overall equation.

Like with everything in life there needs to be balance. I think the turbines here have been sited rather well and the scale is right. Contrary to the impression given here they are actually arranged in a 4x2 grid, which means that the outline they present to the eye is constantly changing as I cycle around. In this setting I think they actually enhance the landscape. If the scale was much larger, though, I might find myself reacting differently. As it is they just seem appropriate. And that perhaps is the key word here. What do you think?

My deadline has been extended further. Rather embarrassingly, I've mislaid some code. There is no trace of it anywhere. It's rather silly but I spent longer looking for it than it has taken me to rewrite it today! Of course, it will probably turn up tomorrow now! As a result I'm posting this past midnight and I need to collapse into bed. There just aren't enough hours in the day right now.