WINDFARMS pose less of a threat to farmland birds than previously feared, new research has found. A British Ecological Society study blows a hole in claims that birds and windfarms don’t mix. Indeed, it may be that windfarms could help reverse dramatic declines in biodiversity on European farmland by offering havens to wildlife.
Dr Mark Whittingham and colleagues from Newcastle University carried out bird surveys on arable farmland around two windfarms in the East Anglian fens, in the south-east of England.
They recorded almost 3,000 birds from 23 different species, including five red-listed species of high conservation concern – the yellowhammer, the Eurasian tree sparrow, the corn bunting, the Eurasian skylark and the common reed bunting.
They found that the wind turbines had no effect on the distribution of seed-eating birds, members of the crow family, game birds or skylarks.
There was a downside: common pheasants – the largest and least manoeuvrable species – were the only birds whose distribution was affected by the turbines.
Dr Whittingham says: “This is the first evidence suggesting that the present and future location of large numbers of wind turbines on European farmland is unlikely to have detrimental effects on farmland birds.”
This is good news for the European Union (of which Britain is a member), where there is a big push to generate huge quantities of electricity using wind turbines.
At the same time, the EU is spending billions of euros on agri-environment schemes whose major goal is to boost biodiversity on farmland.
If wind turbines were to harm farmland birds, the two environmental policies would be difficult to reconcile. But it seems that they can be worked together.
Previous studies by other researchers have concentrated on the impact of wind turbines on water birds and birds of prey.
But, since the British Ecological Society study was conducted during the winter, further studies are needed on the impact of wind turbines on farmland birds during the breeding season.