THEY are loved and loathed in equal measure and would not normally be regarded as beneficial to wildlife.
But new research has discovered the gas flares and refinery lights that dominate the upper reaches of the Forth estuary are helping some birds survive.
By providing a man-made equivalent for the light of a full moon, the industrial complexes are helping shorebirds stock up on more food during the winter to fuel their arduous spring migrations.
Dr Ross Dwyer and colleagues from Exeter University investigated how artificial light affected the feeding habits of the common redshank in the Firth of Forth, one of Scotland's most industrialised coasts.
As well as major industry such as the Grangemouth oil refinery and Longannet power station, whose lights and gas flares illuminate the intertidal areas at night, the estuary's pristine salt marsh and mudflats are home to hundreds of thousands of migrating birds each winter.
Mr Dwyer measured the amount of artificial light in the Forth at night using satellite images from the US Air Force.
Although previously used to study electrical power consumption, this is the first time such US military data has been used in animal behaviour research.
He then worked out how the light affected the birds' foraging behaviour by attaching tiny radio transmitters to the backs of 20 redshanks.
The devices monitored the birds' location and contained posture sensors to detect how often the birds put their heads down to feed.
Generally, redshanks need to forage day and night during the winter to find enough food to fuel their migrations to Iceland and Scandinavia.
These birds usually forage by sight during the day, which provides them with the most food, and less efficiently at night by locating prey by touch using their bills.
The study, published this week in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Animal Ecology, found artificial light had a major impact on how redshanks searched for food, allowing them to forage more efficiently.
At night, birds in brightly-lit areas foraged for longer and foraged by sight, rather than touch, compared with birds under darker night skies.
Mr Dwyer said: "Artificial light from industrial areas strongly influenced the foraging strategy of our tagged birds.
"It was as if the 24-hour light emitted from lamps and flares on the Grangemouth oil refinery site created, in effect, a perpetual full moon across the local inter-tidal area which the birds seemed to capitalise on by foraging for longer periods at night and switching to a potentially more effective foraging behaviour to locate prey."
The results contrast with other studies, which found adverse effects of light pollution on wildlife. Previous research found artificial light caused newly hatched turtles to head away from the sea, rather than towards it, and caused seabirds such as petrels to collide with lighthouses and other lit structures.
Named for their long bright orange or red legs, the common redshank is a medium-sized shorebird with a greyish brown back and wings in winter, and a black-tipped orange bill.
On their wintering sites, the birds patrol estuaries and coastal lagoons feeding on molluscs, worms and crustaceans. Redshanks are generally wary and nervous birds. Often the first to panic, they give noisy alarm calls, earning them the nickname "sentinel of the marshes".
Redshanks are widely distributed, breeding and wintering across temperate Europe and Asia.
Although numbers are in decline, the species is widespread and quite plentiful in some regions.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article