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THERE ARE question marks over the rebuild of the Fair Isle Bird Observatory after a tender for the work proved too expensive – resulting in those leading the project to rethink their plans.
An enhanced building, costed at £7.4 million, has already secured planning permission after the former observatory was destroyed by fire nearly two years ago.
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But Fair Isle Bird Observatory Trust chairman Douglas Barr said the charity is now looking at other options after a contractor priced the work well above the project’s budget.
“It means therefore at present we will not be reopening in 2021 or 2022 and will aim for doing so in 2023,” he said in an update to local residents at the end of January.
THE REMOTE community of Fair Isle is said to be in shock after the warden and administrator of the island’s bird observatory were made redundant. David and Susannah Parnaby have been working at the observatory since 2011. They lost their belongings in the tragic fire almost.
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A tweet by this reporter about the original story has been seen by more than 1.7 million people on the social networking platform Twitter after being shared around, prompting discussions around preserving social history.
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It was always Moarâs intention to put the slides to the museum and its photo archive with Dymondâs permission, and Tait said they would be welcome if offered for donation.
The collection of images include unstaged shots of every day life in the isles – including an emphasis on Fair Isle where Dymond worked as an assistant warden at the bird observatory – and the curator said it was this focus that has made them so popular.