Turbines 'no risk to farm birds'

Wind turbines pose less of a risk to farmland birds than previously thought, a study has concluded.

Amara Rozgus -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 10/3/2008

A team of UK scientists said their research showed that building new wind farms on European farmland would not adversely affect bird populations. 

Previous studies highlighted how turbine blades were hazardous for waterbird and bird of prey species. 

The findings have been published in the British Ecological Society's (BES) Journal of Applied Ecology. 

"The message on farmland specifically is that, so far, the evidence we have gathered shows that there is little effect on farmland birds," said co-author Mark Whittingham, from Newcastle University's School of Biology. 

The team carried out surveys around two wind farms located in the East Anglian fens, recording almost 3,000 birds from 23 different species. 

Their data showed that the presence of the turbines did not affect the distribution of seed-eating birds, corvids, or skylarks.

That’s lucky for companies like Consulting Engineers Group, Farmington, Minn., which is shifting its focus to design more wind power technologies.