Environment

Wind Farms are not a threat to birds says study

by Amy Judd | October 1, 2008 at 10:01 am

378 views | 11 Recommendations | 8 comments

According to a new study released today, wind farms are not a threat to birds and do not drive them from the surrounding areas, which could be good news for wind farms and renewable energy sources.

It has previously been reported that wind farms can harm birds as they can get caught in the turbines.

But this study says that only pheasants were affected, out of the 23 species studied.

The findings published in the Journal of Applied Ecology could help government and business efforts to boost the number of wind farms as a way to increase production of renewable energy.

"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," Mark Whittingham, whose team from Newcastle University carried out the research, said in a statement.

"This should be welcome news for nature conservationists, wind energy companies and policy makers."

The survey studied the impact of two wind farms on about 3,000 birds in the area, including five species of conservation concern -- the yellowhammer, the Eurasian tree sparrow, the corn bunting, the Eurasian skylark and the common reed bunting.

The researchers recorded the density of birds at different distances from the turbines and found that aside from the pheasant, the structures posed no problems.

The new findings are important because the European Union is committed to generating 20 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2020 and is also seeking to boost biodiversity.

However, birds could still collide with the turbines, which is a major worry for conservationists.

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chowdawg

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 11:55 on October 1st, 2008

This is good news Amy. I always wondered about the welfare of our feathered friends.

Paschen

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 23:20 on October 1st, 2008

amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.

I am glad they cleared that up.

Paschen

at 23:22 on October 1st, 2008

One question does remain though, will this be enough to counter the Wind mill opposing groups or is more PR work needed.?

thw05

at 03:51 on October 2nd, 2008

Those windmills I photographed in Hawaii had noise makers that went off every 15 minutes or so to frighten away birds that might consider nesting nearby.

A wind farm in Wisconsin I visited several years ago was also testing multiple devices to warn birds about the existence of windmills. Some were small devices attached directly to the blades and others were located nearby.

In addition, wind farms help to reduce the emissions of harmful sulfur dioxide and other chemicals from traditional power plants that pour into the atmosphere in huge quantities. Pollutants impact all creatures that depend on the atmosphere for survival. Unfortunately the people that promote coal, oil and fossil fuel burning never factor the true costs of pollution and destruction of the environment into their costs per watt!

mkriggs

at 14:54 on October 5th, 2008

These particular windmills are in Benton County, Indiana and are part of a wind field of 87 turbines. I am no expert, but it was explained to me at the wind farm that the spin cadence was monitored and was supposed to be timed in a way that helped give birds time to adjust their flight. Oh--bats, bats too.

mkriggs has contributed a photo to this story.

gringo155

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 15:11 on October 21st, 2008

Good work!

Gavin365

at 00:35 on October 23rd, 2008

I was driving though the east of England and I came across a field with many of these wind turbines. I found them fascinating and quite hypnotic and I had to take some photos. Its amazing how large they are.

Gavin365 has contributed a photo to this story.