We’ve all heard the usual reasons for music festivals closing down, wild weather, artists dropping out, financing problems and poor ticket sales – however the issue plaguing one of Scotland’s biggest music weekends is flapping mad.
T In The Park, held at the incredible Strathallan Castle of Perthshire from July 10 – 12, is under threat after endangered birds were found to be near the festival grounds, as The Telegraph reports.
Ospreys, commonly referred to as fish hawks, have been spotted close to the festival and as they’re a protected species it’s illegal to disturb the species during their breeding season which has left T In The Park’s future for 2015 looking uncertain.
At present, there is a 2500-feet “buffer zone” that protects the birds from any form of noise pollution, and unfortunately for T In The Park, they are yet to be granted permission to hold the festival at the Strathallan Castle grounds.
T In The Park maintain that there was no sign of of the Ospreys at the time of hiring the venue and experts had gone as far as to construct a new nest in hopes that they’d settle at a safe, legal distance from the area.
Despite the local council pushing for the festival to be moved from the location, a spokesperson for festival organisers, DF Concerts, believe that the birds have not in fact nested, attesting the show will go on, “We can confirm that osprey have returned to Strathallan, but the expert opinion of our ornithologist is that they have not yet nested. We will continue to liaise with the relevant organisations to ensure the protection of the birds.
“In the meantime, we’d also like to assure fans that the festival will go ahead. The decision on our planning application will be made in May and we remain confident that the event will take place at Strathallan.”
There has been no concrete verdict yet as to whether T In The Park has been given a definite green-light to go ahead at the Strathallan venue, however should these birds begin nesting – this could very well be one of the oddest cases of a massive festival being forced to move, or even more, canceled for the year.
This year’s T In The Park boasts of an epic lineup, the three-day event will see the return of garage revivalists The Libertines, not to mention UK hero Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Kasabian and Grammy Award killer Sam Smith.
In addition to that, feet will (hopefully) be moving to the sounds of The Prodigy, Avicii and David Guetta plus many more. Click here for additional ticket and festival information and check out the strong lineup below.
