WHAT moral duty, if any, do we have to
safeguard the birds and other wildlife of our oceans?
This is one of the questions posed in a new study
by environment writer Jim Wright.
In A
Fault To Nature, his particular focus is on the threat posed to hundreds of
thousands of birds by the proliferation of offshore wind farms in UK
waters and beyond.
He acknowledges that wind energy is helping to
revitalise the economy of coastal towns such as Grimsby but
claims this is likely to be coming at the expense of marine species.
These include puffins, shearwaters, terns and
divers which are increasingly being
displaced from longstanding maritime habitat because of their aversion to the
‘invasion’ of turbines which, to them, are alien structures.
Meanwhile night-migrating songbirds such as nightingales,
warblers and members of the thrush family are at risk of fatal collisions,
especially when conditions are misty or rainy.
For reasons that are not clear, raptors are
particularly vulnerable, and there are numerous fatality records involving such
species as sea eagle, osprey and red kite.
The unenviable record for the largest recorded
number of multiple bird kills on a single night is thought to be held by an
onshore turbine in Nasudden, Sweden, where 49 birds (of species unknown) were reported to have been found early one
morning in 1983.
The turbine was not operational at the time,
but the weather was poor and the birds are thought to have been drawn to the structure
by a single lamp about 35ft above the ground.
However, no one has yet come up with a way of
measuring avian collisions with offshore turbines so the extent of destruction at
these turbines is likely to be higher - but it is impossible to tell.
Unlike fish, birds have no commercial value -
no one measures their ‘stocks’ - so regard for their welfare is minimal.
The giant of UK offshore wind is the rapidly-growing Danish company, Ørsted, whose projected developments off the UK could result in an area approaching the size of the county of Yorkshire becoming a no-go area for almost all birds. Not so much habitat ‘loss’ as habitat ‘theft’.
The author applauds the American Bird Conservancy
which is vigorous in warning on the windfarm threat to birds, especially on
migration flyways.
But he is critical of the RSPB which he accuses
of lying low on the issue - in part, be believes, because it has been a willing
recipient of the generous donations and ‘partnership’ payments from windfarm developers
including SSE, Scottish Power and Ecotricity.
The Crown Estate, which owns most of the seabed
in British waters, claims to be seeking
to create “healthy places where natural habitats can thrive”.
But it wholeheartedly supports the Government’s
push for offshore windfarm development - not surprising given that its portfolio of sites, which was valued at £855-million as of March last
year, generates upwards of £28-million rental income per annum.
It is time, surely, for some of this money to
be allocated for projects designed to protect and enhance the welfare of birds
and other wildlife.
Because of the advance of solar, the author
believes wind power may only be an intermediate technology (just as fax was a stepping
stone to email). As such, its economic benefits may not be long-lasting.
He believes future generations would not thank
us if populations of birds were decimated,
or even destroyed, for the sake of a technology lasting only a few decades.
A
Fault To Nature - Birds, Migration and The Problem with Windfarms is available, price £3, as an e-book on Kindle.
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