On Monday, I went to EndX to retrieve data from the anemometers I had around the wind fence, and found the set up kind of trashed. The ultrasonic gust sensor had been blown over, which sounds like a common issue with that setup from the past. The fall, however, broke some of the plastic pieces that the screws holding the head of the sensor together. I think the sensor is still functional, but it will need to be glued back together.

One of the other cup anemometers may have been attacked by a bird, or possibly a vehicle. The cable had been unplugged from the sensor, drug more than 20 feet and the sheath and a couple wires had been cut. I would normally blame a bird for that, but the copper tube I had secured the anemometer to was also bent. It's possible that a gust of wind had bent the post, but neither of the other posts were similarly bent. There are tire tracks up around the fence, but it's hard to say how old they are, it's likely they are left over from the fence install, and none of them come very close to the post. Finally, the batteries in the logger for the 3 cup anemometers had worked free of their connections, so the logger only collected about 3 days worth of data, even though they were installed for a week and a half. The batteries are held in place by a plastic strap, and this strap probably got soft in the sun, which allowed the batteries to work they way free.

I don't know what we can do to keep birds (or bees, they seem to really like the fence) away from the outside instruments, but couple of other things I'll get for next time:

1. Cones or flags to mark a stay clear around the fence.

2. Weights and guy lines for the ultrasonic sensor, after I get it back together.

3. A foam shim to secure the batteries in the cup anemometer datalogger.