Farmland birds not bothered by wind turbines, study finds

Farmland birds aren’t bothered by wind turbines being built in the countryside, a new study has found.

The sight and sound of ranks of whirling 100-metre high turbines had little effect on the numbers of birds in the area, scientists found.
The results will disappoint conservation groups, who claim turbines pose a threat to birds but will provide a boost for wind energy groups who want to erect hundreds of wind farms around Britain.

The study, published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology, concludes that wind farms can help meet tough sustainable energy targets without threatening biodiversity on European farmland.

A study by a team from Newcastle University conducted bird surveys on arable farmland around two wind farms in the East Anglian fens during the winter time.

They recorded almost 3,000 birds from 33 different species, including five red-listed species of high conservation concern – the yellowhammer, the Eurasian tree sparrow, the corn bunting, Eurasian skylark and the common reed bunting.

They found the wind turbines had no effect on the distribution of seed-eating birds, corvids (the crow family), gamebirds and Eurasian skylarks. Common pheasants – the largest and least manoeuvrable species – were the only birds whose distribution was affected by the turbines.

Telegraph