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8 May 2014updated 09 Jun 2021 11:15am

Poor little robins are confused by Radio 5 Live

The journal Nature has published research that electromagnetic noise from stations such as Radio 5 Live could be disrupting birds' migration paths.

By Media Mole

(Photo By A confused robin. Photo: Getty)

Bad news for Radio 5 Live, receiving backlash today from a feathery faction of its listeners. But it’s not for its news-lite or even any inappropriate comments about female sport stars. No, robins are apparently disturbed by the electromagnetic noise AM radio transmitters, such as the popular BBC radio station, emit. The noise is confusing the poor little birds’ in-built compasses, affecting their migratory flight paths.

The Telegraph this morning quoted Professor Henrik Mouritson, of the University of Oldenburg in Germany, who commented:

The frequency that we found effects the birds is the radio frequency AM band, from about 50 kHz to about 5 mHz, and that means that it is not mobile phones and it’s not power line. It’s radio signals.
 

5 Live can expect some angry tweeting today… 

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