The neighbours were furious and the local authority initially
advised there was no record of planning permission and they didn't
know what it was. It then transpired that the golf ball was a
doppler weather radar, built by the Met Office, who as part of the
MOD, do not require conventional planning permission.
But why is it here?, well it's part of a network of 16 similar
radar sites covering the whole of the UK. Their job is to look
inside rain clouds to allow rainfall and flood predictions to be
made. Unfortunately, construction of Europe's largest windfarm on
Eaglesham moor, near Glasgow, has rendered unusable the radar
originally sited there. This has now been replaced by two new
radars, one located at Holehead near Fintry (GC15ZR7) and the other
here at Bishop's Hill.
For the technically minded the equipment installed is a Plessy
"C" Band (5.625 GHz tx) Doppler weather radar with a range of 255Km
and housed inside a 6m diameter radome. This equipment sits in the
forest, above the tree top level, on top of a green painted steel
tower.
To prevent the radar from being blinded there is a tree
management plan in place and frequent pruning will be required.
Additionally no new windfarms will be permitted in the
vicinity.
How to get here, well you could use the steep path up the west
face of the hill from Scotlandwell (N56°12.166, W003°
18.982), but there is now another possibility because a new access
road, open, to walkers bikers and horse riders, has been
constructed. To use this, park at the Holl Reservoir
(N56°13.045 W003°15.142), then take the track running west
from West Balgothrie Farm (N56°12.915,W00 3°15.022).