Offshore wind - birds on migration in Scottish waters: strategic review

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by Marine Scotland, The Crown Estate and The Crown Estate Scotland. It was overseen by a project steering group including Julie Miller (Marine Scotland), Kate Thompson (NatureScot), Gayle Holland (Marine Scotland), Janelle Braithwaite (Marine Scotland), Kate Bellew (The Crown Estate Scotland), Ed Salter (The Crown Estate), Jessica Campbell (The Crown Estate), Matthew Stone (Natural England), Orea Anderson (JNCC), Neil McCulloch (DOENI) and Michael Bailey (Natural Resources Wales). We particularly thank Julie Miller and Kate Thompson for their valuable discussions over the course of this work.

Data on the timing of migration came from BirdTrack which is a joint project between BTO, RSPB, BirdWatch Ireland, Scottish Ornithologists' Club and Welsh Ornithological Society. Data provided by BTO on behalf of the partners. We thank Steve Pritchard (BTO) for his help extracting these data.

Data describing migration zones were obtained from the British and Irish Ringing Scheme. The British & Irish Ringing Scheme is funded by BTO, JNCC (on behalf of Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, NatureScot and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Northern Ireland), the National Parks & Wildlife Service (Ireland) and the ringers themselves.

We thank all those who generously shared tracking data with us for the purposes of this project, including:

Data for Nearctic Light-bellied Brent Goose, Svalbard and Greenland Barnacle Goose, Icelandic Greylag Goose, Taiga Bean Goose, Pink-footed Goose, Greenland White-fronted Goose, Bewick's Swan and Whooper Swan were supplied by WWT.

The Whooper Swan tracking data were generated during studies made by the WWT, commissioned by COWRIE Ltd and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), for the UK Government's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) programme. Bewick's Swan flight-lines were likewise recorded during a WWT study for DECC and for the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), under contract to Hartley Anderson Ltd. We are grateful to the WWT, COWRIE Ltd, DECC, the BEIS and to John Hartley at Hartley Anderson Ltd for supporting this work.

Thanks also to all those who were involved in the fieldwork, and funding, for GPS tracking studies of geese including: Solway Coast AONB Sustainable Development Fund, National Lottery Awards for All, SNH (as was), NTS, SEPA, BBC, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Orsted, EDF, WWT, Náttúrustofa Austurlands, Arnór Þórir Sigfússon and the Bean Goose Action Group.

The Hen Harrier and Osprey data were supplied by RSPB. Thanks to Steven Ewing for assisting with the Hen Harrier data and The Baxters Foundation for funding the RSPB Loch Garten Osprey Tracking Programme.

The Shelduck, Short-eared Owl and Oystercatcher data were collected by BTO.

Thanks to John Calladine (BTO) for help with the Short-eared Owl data, and to Neil Morrison, Chris Southall, and many others for fieldwork. Funding: Individual donors, Sound Approach, Tan International, Tayside Raptor Study Group, Tay Ringing Group, Henry Robb bequest, Loch Lomond Bird of Prey Centre, Gilman Trust, Aberbrothock Skea Trust, Arran Natural History Society, Newstead Charity, British Birds Charity, J&JR Wilson Trust, AEB Trust, Stirling SOC group, Callander SWT group, Muncaster Castle, NBI Ljubljana, DOPP (Birdlife Slovenia), University of Iceland.

The collection of the Shelduck data work was funded by the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme, and our particular thanks go to John Hartley of Hartley Anderson Ltd for initiating the work, and management of the contract.

For the Oystercatcher data, we would like to thank Natural England (Tracy O'Shea and Richard Caldow) and EIFCA (Ron Jessop and Judith Stoutt) for funding this work. We would also like to thank Natural England and all the landowners who provide permission for the catching activities of the Wash Wader Ringing Group.

We would also like to thank Neil Mitchell, Wim Tijsen and Jonas Waldenstrom for their advice in relation to species accounts.