By Lucy Oates
North of the border there have been claims that wind farms kill more birds
of prey than illegal poisoning or shooting. Given North Yorkshire’s
reputation as a hot spot for raptor persecution, just what is the impact of
wind farms on protected birds of prey in our county?
I first became aware of claims about the number of raptor deaths caused by
wind farms when I spotted a social media post with a link to a national
newspaper article. Keen to get a better understanding of where the idea had
come from and whether it could be true, I traced it back to comments made
by the Scottish Gamekeeper’s Association following the publication of a
report by the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme, which is funded by
the Scottish government to investigate suspected cases of wildlife poisoning.
Figures for the first half of 2014 showed four raptors were killed by wind
turbines in Scotland and only two were found to have been poisoned or shot
during that same period.
In recent years there have been a string of well publicised cases in which
protected birds of prey have been deliberately shot or poisoned in
Yorkshire, many of them in the north of the county, giving it an unenviable
reputation as something of a death trap for birds of prey.
Despite my attempts to obtain figures that would enable me to compare the
number of deaths from wind farms with those resulting from illegal
persecution, it soon became apparent that this information simply doesn’t
exist for England, let alone for Yorkshire.
Paul Stancliffe, a spokesman for the British Trust for Ornithology, said:
“There is no data on bird deaths from land-based wind farms. Most wind
farms are off-shore, where they’re not an issue for raptors. Offshore wind
farms can impact on seabirds but, of course, you don’t find the bodies of
seabirds so there are no figures. Very little work has been done onshore.”
Confirming the absence of any data to prove or disprove the theory, RSPB
spokesman Chris Collet pointed out that in Yorkshire there are no wind
farms in the upland and moorland areas where you would expect to find hen
harriers and other protected birds of prey.
He said: “There’s no-one logging this information but wind turbines will
inevitably kill some birds at some point. However, there’s no evidence to
suggest that there’s a problem with them killing birds of prey because
they’re not located in areas that are their typical habitat.
“You do get instances where wind turbines have been spectacularly badly
located – on migratory routes for example. Studies have shown that there
are wind farms in Spain, Gibraltar and elsewhere overseas that are very
badly sited for birdlife.
“There’s a myth that’s perpetuated that wind farms are like bird blenders
and it’s just not true as studies shows that birds can see them and tend to
avoid them, even if it’s foggy.”
Chris confirmed that the RSPB’s policy is to object to wind farms that
would have an adverse effect on nationally and internationally important
bird species. This prompted the organisation to oppose plans to develop
major offshore wind farms off the Holderness Coast, which is an important
breeding ground for seabirds, including gannets and kittiwakes.
Despite the comments made by its Scottish counterpart, the National
Gamekeeper’s Organisation doesn’t have a particular stance on the issue.
NGO spokesman Julian Murray-Evans said: “There is currently no policy on
wind farms. It is possible that we may develop one in the future, but we
have 15,000 members and it has not come through this office.”
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