AT LAST - THE RSPB SPEAKS OUT ON THE 'UNPRECEDENTED' PERIL POSED TO BIRDS BY OFFSHORE WINDFARMS

These turbines are located off Spurn on the Yorkshire Coast

A SURPRISE alert on the huge threat posed to seabirds and other marine wildlife has  been issued by the RSPB's conservation director, Martin Harper.

In the past, the organisation, which is part-funded by the windshore industry, has  invariably been reluctant  to highlight the dangers.

Martin Harper - 'mounting risks'

But Mr Harper pulls few punches in his latest blog.

He states: "Offshore wind may be largely out of sight, out of mind, but evidence points to the severe risks that turbines pose to our marine wildlife.

"As more and more turbines are deployed, these risks mount up to an unprecedented scale. 

"On this basis, how we deploy large numbers of offshore turbines in harmony with our natural marine environment is likely to be one of the conservation challenges for society over the coming decades."

The director goes on to pinpoint some of the threats.

"The UK seas and coasts are home to millions of seabirds that come here to breed and overwinter - species such as gannet, kittiwake and puffin.  

Gannet - species at risk (photo: Ben Andrews/RSPB)

"Being highly mobile and spending most of their lives at sea means seabirds will interact with and be impacted by large offshore turbine arrays.  

"Individual birds may no longer be able to feed in their favoured feeding grounds which, in turn, means they could lose weight and not be fit enough to breed successfully or survive the winter months.

"Meanwhile, collisions with moving turbine blades, with tip speeds that are in excess of 150mph, is often fatal."

He continues: "With 2,000 turbines already in operation in UK waters, the cumulative effect is substantial.  

"Evidence suggests it could mean some seabird species will see their national populations significantly reduced over the next 15-20 years.

"These relatively new impacts are in addition to many existing impacts on the marine environment caused by long-term human activities such as fishing or pollution. 

"A particular irony is  that one of the biggest pressures on many seabird species is likely to be the effects of temperature increases caused by climate change, which is rapidly altering the delicate balances that support life in the oceans and the birds above them." 

It is not just the dangers in UK waters that now concerns the RSPB director.

Says he: "As seabirds can move huge distances between breeding and wintering grounds, they  also interact with offshore wind projects in other countries. 

"For example, each neighbouring North Sea country has similar ambitions for offshore wind as those of the UK. 

"It is clear that immediate action is needed to avoid the already huge risks posed on our seabirds, especially if the sector is to continue to expand into the future. 

"Otherwise we face creating a wholly new environmental disaster."

Mr Harper suggests floating wind turbines "could offer a different future" - one less threatening for birds.

"It could help move offshore wind toward deeper water and further offshore locations," he suggests. 

"In principle these deeper, far-offshore sites are likely to have fewer environmental sensitivities, distant from the shallow water, near-shore sites favoured by seabirds for feeding."

He concludes: "There is no one easy solution that will adequately protect our seabirds and other marine wildlife while also delivering the renewable energy we desperately need. 

"Rather a suite of measures will be needed to tackle this huge national and wider-  scale issue."

The Wryneck says: This statement from the RSPB is extremely welcome. In the past, its controversy-averse leadership has invariably shirked the issue, perhaps for fear of incurring the displeasure of windfarm developers on whose financial support it partly relies. But a single statement from an individual director will not suffice. Nor is it likely that floating turbines represent an option that is either feasible or even significantly less hazardous to marine wildlife. The RSPB needs to keep drumming home the message that, for all its 'green' energy credentials, offshore wind  threaten not just seabird species but also migrating raptors, songbirds and many marine mammals.

                                     

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