GOLDEN EAGLES, the icon of the Scottish Highlands, could be killed if plans are approved to build Britain’s highest wind farm in a mountain wilderness near Loch Ness.

The 36 wind turbines on a 2,000ft-high plateau in the Monadhliath Mountains on Dunmaglass Estate, could also threaten nesting sites of the protected raptor.

The wind farm developers, Renewable Energy Systems, of Hertfordshire, gave the warning this week in their own 300-page environmental impact study on the plans. The study states that up to 11 golden eagles could be killed in collisions with turbines and suggests that the wind farm, covering 4 square miles, will have a long-term impact “on the potential of this area as a nursery ground for future replacement breeding birds in the region”.

It says that the 360ft turbines, higher than Big Ben, will be visible from Loch Ness and from the Ptarmigan visitor centre in the Cairngorm National Park, some 20 miles away — before concluding that the proposal will have “few adverse environmental effects”.

Local campaigners are demanding a public inquiry, with the backing of the conservationist David Bellamy, who described the plans as “selling Scotland’s heritage for a mess of wattage”. They are concerned that the wind farm — classed, because of its size, as a power station — could severely affect eagle nesting sites in the neighbouring Upper Findhorn Valley, known to bird watchers at “Eagle Alley”.

Roy Dennis, an ornithologist and wildlife expert from Nethy Bridge, said: “Golden eagles will die, of that I have no doubt. This power station will turn a pristine wilderness into an industrial site.”

Dunmaglass is the Highland holiday home of Sir Jack Hayward, a Bahamas-based property developer, who will make an estimated £9 million for letting Renewable Energy Systems build on his land. The developers are set to make profits of more than £120 million.

The proposals have provoked anger on the neighbouring 40,000-acre Coignafearn Estate, owned by Sigrid Rausing, the Tetra Pak heiress. Dr Rausing has spent six years encouraging the regeneration of habitat and wildlife on her estate.

She said: “Bird watchers come to Coignafearn to enjoy the landscape and the sightings of rare birds. It is one of the wildest and most beautiful areas of Europe, which now may be destroyed.”

The Cairngorms National Park board, which assesses wind farm proposals for their visual impact on the park, will take a close interest in the development. If all the proposals seeking planning permission were to go ahead, the park would be circled by a “highvoltage necklace” of 12 farms.

Scottish ministers will decide whether to approve the Dunmaglass scheme. Objections must be made by April 18.

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