Birds and Wind Energy in the UK

The greatest threat to bird populations in this country is climate change. This was confirmed in a recent report in Nature. It concluded that over the next 50 years climate change is expected to drive a quarter of land animals and plants into extinction and that under the higher estimates of climate change a quarter of the birds could become extinct. The RSPB described the report as 'a deeply depressing paper'. RSPB agree that developed alongside other forms of renewable energy and energy efficiency wind energy has a key role to play in averting the worst of these impacts.

Across the country as a whole, studies carried out at the UK's existing wind installations shows hit rates of less than one per turbine per year; for example, the 9 turbines on the harbour wall at Blyth are in a busy bird area and of bird flights through the wind farm, only 1 in 10,000 resulted in a collision. This translates to 1-2 collisions per year per turbine. To put this in perspective, more than 10 million birds are killed by cars in the UK – every year.

There are two examples of high mortality rates elsewhere in the world. The 6,500 turbines at Altamount Pass in the US are responsible for killing 'several hundred raptors' every year. A key contributory factor in this case is that the turbines all have lattice towers, perfect for raptor nests and perches, and the turbines are located in very close proximity. Whilst these deaths are highly unfortunate, BWEA understands that raptor numbers have not declined in the area and hence the significance of the deaths in ecology terms is for debate. The second example is Tarifa in Spain where the turbines were built on a migratory route and adjacent to a municipal tip, and once again with towers were of a lattice design. UK wind energy developers consult English Nature and the RSPB at a very early stage in site scoping, so as to avoid mistakes which have happened in other countries. This is in addition to generally already having screened out SSSI’s designated for bird interest. It is a simple matter to map migratory and feeding paths - and then avoid them. We wouldn't build turbines in a motorway and we don't propose them on the avian equivalent.


Similarly, care is taken to avoid unnecessary disturbance during sensitive times, i.e. breeding season, and it is now common to find that larger wind farms are built over several seasons so as to minimise impacts. Quite simply, birds are in far more danger from colliding with overhead power lines, or being eaten by domestic cats, or hit by vehicles than they are from wind turbines - and we want it to stay this way.