Publication - Research and analysis

Seabird flight height data collection at an offshore wind farm: final report

Published: 30 September 2022
Directorate: Marine Directorate
Topic: Environment and climate change, Marine and fisheries
ISBN: 9781804358771

Understanding seabird flight heights and behaviour in and around operational offshore wind farms is a priority knowledge gap. Using aircraft mounted LiDAR technology, this study collected data on seabird flight height and shows the potential for using it in offshore windfarm impact assessments.

Supporting documents

Appendix V. Species Specific Histograms for Distance to Nearest Turbine (m)

Survey 1 Histograms

Histograms demonstrate the distribution of distance to nearest wind turbine (m) for each species recorded as flying during survey 1 (June 2021). In June this included eight species and three species groups, including guillemot (n=757), kittiwake (n=261), fulmar (n=53), gannet (n=45), razorbill (n=32), herring gull (n=26), guillemot / razorbill (n=8), great skua (n=3), great black-backed gull (n=2), auk / shearwater species (n=1), and auk species (n=1). Histograms were not created where less than three individuals of each species were recorded (great black-backed gull, auk / shearwater species and auk species).

A histogram showing the distance of guillemot to turbines in meters, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histograms peak at around 50000 meters with a frequency of 160, then decrease and then raise again to 125 frequency at 30000 meters, after which it decreases — Figure V.1 Histogram of guillemot distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of kittiwake to turbines in meters, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 30000 meters with a frequency of 70, with significant dips at 10000 and after the peak of 30000 — Figure V.3 Histogram of kittiwake distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of fulmar to turbines in meters, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 0 meters with a frequency of 12, it decreases more or less evenly from there with the exception of troughs at 10000 and 40000 meters — Figure V.2 Histogram of fulmar distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of gannet to turbines in meters, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 45000 meters with a frequency of 25, with the frequency before this peak 0 except for at 0, 10000, 25000, 40000 meters where it increases towards 25 (except 40000) — Figure V.5 Histogram of gannet distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of razorbill to turbines in meters, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 0 and 15000 meters with a frequency of 7. There was no pattern to the remaining frequencies, but 35000 and 40000 meters had no frequency. — Figure V.4 Histogram of razorbill distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021

A histogram showing the distance of guillemot / razorbill to turbines in meters, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 10000 meters with a frequency of 3. There was no pattern to the remaining frequencies — Figure V.7 Histogram of guillemot / razorbill distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021.

Figure V.6 Histogram of herring gull distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of Herring gull to turbines in meters, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 30000 meters with a frequency of 8. There was no pattern to the remaining frequencies — Figure V.8 Histogram of great skua distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021.

Survey 2 Histograms

Histograms demonstrate the distribution of distance to nearest wind turbine (m) for each species recorded as flying during survey 2 (July 2021). In July this included nine species and two species groups, including guillemot (n=595), kittiwake (n=435), fulmar (n=70), gannet (n=18), herring gull (n=21), guillemot / razorbill (n=21), great skua (n=6), great black-backed gull (n=3), Manx shearwater (n=1), puffin (n=1) and unidentified bird species (n=1). Histograms were not created where less than three individuals of each species were recorded (Manx shearwater, puffin and unidentified bird species).