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Behavioural responses of Sandwich terns following the construction of offshore wind farms

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Abstract

Offshore wind farms (OWFs) are a key part of efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change. However, they have the potential to negatively impact seabird species through collisions with turbine blades, displacement from preferred foraging habitat and the perception of wind farms as a barrier to migrating or foraging birds. Whilst the data available to model these impacts are increasing, many data gaps remain, particularly in relation to the impacts of barrier effects. We analyse the movements of Sandwich terns in relation to an offshore wind farm cluster using data collected as part of a multi-year GPS tracking study. Over the course of the study, two additional wind farms were built within the home range of the breeding colony. The construction of these wind farms coincided with a change in the foraging and commuting areas used by breeding terns. Whilst birds entered OWFs when foraging, they appeared to avoid them when commuting, driving an apparent ‘funnelling’ effect to important feeding locations. We discuss if this could be driven by changes to the prey base, subsequent displacement and potentially altered routes reflecting new favourable airflow patterns following OWF construction. Our results suggest that behavioural responses of birds to OWFs may be the result of a complex series of ecological and environmental interactions, as opposed to simplistic assumptions around the perception of the OWF as a barrier to movement.

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Data availability

Enquiries about data availability should be directed to the authors. All tracking data will be published and made available through the Crown Estate’s Marine Data Exchange (MDE) system after completion of the project.

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Acknowledgements

A large stakeholder group supervised the execution of this project: L Burton, T Frayling (both Natural England), A Tegala, V Egan, L Newman (National Trust), M Tierney, M Qureshi (Marine Management Organisation) as well as various people from these organisations as well as the Royal Society of the Protection of Birds are thanked for their interest and participation in our stakeholder meetings. M Grant and A Pharaoh (Royal Haskoning DHV) played an important role throughout the project and particularly in managing these stakeholder meetings. Fieldwork was carried out in nature reserves of Natural England and T Bolderstone, N Lawton and M Rooney are thanked for advice, invaluable help and cooperation, and their hospitality whilst on the island. The authors would like to thank K Bowgen, N Burton, N Clark, G Clewley, G Conway, J Marchant (BTO) and T Boudewijn, E Bravo Rebolledo, B Engels, H de Jong, J de Jong and R van Beurden (Waardenburg Ecology) for their valuable help during preparations, fieldwork and the analysis. L Iliszko and A Grochowska (Ecotone) are thanked for advice on logger deployments. We thank all those who provided comments to improve the manuscript.

Funding

This study was funded by Equinor (18899), with thanks in particular to S Eldøy, C Nunn, M Corney, H Mary Goodlad, R Erland, J Diouma Leyris, P Haslam and M Erikson.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 2PU, UK

    Chris B. Thaxter, Ros M. W. Green, Rachel C. Taylor, Emily S. Scragg, Lucy J. Wright & Aonghais S. C. P. Cook

  2. Waardenburg Ecology, Department of Bird Ecology, Varkensmarkt 9, 4101 CK, Culemborg, The Netherlands

    Mark P. Collier, Robert P. Middelveld & Ruben C. Fijn

  3. RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire, SG19 2DL, UK

    Lucy J. Wright

  4. Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Ruben C. Fijn

  5. The Biodiversity Consultancy, 3E King’s Parade, Cambridge, CB2 1SJ, UK

    Aonghais S. C. P. Cook

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  1. Chris B. Thaxter
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  2. Ros M. W. Green
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  9. Ruben C. Fijn
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Contributions

The study was conceived and designed by RCF, ASCPC and MPC, and manuscript preparation was jointly lead by RMWG, ASCPC and CBT with input from all co-authors giving consent to the final draft. Analysis was led by CBT within input and support by RMWG, RPM, MPC and RCF. Fieldwork data collection was organised by RMWG and MPC, with further lead input from RCT, ESS, LJW and RCF.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chris B. Thaxter.

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Conflict of interest

All applicable international, national and institutional guidelines for sampling, care and experiment use of organisms for the study have been followed, and all necessary approvals have been obtained. Tracking of Sandwich terns in the UK was performed under the appropriate Special Methods Licences (license holders L Wright, E Scragg, R Taylor), and ringing permits from the British Trust for Ornithology, as well as Schedule 1 licences issued by Natural England. The authors have no conflict of interest.

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Thaxter, C.B., Green, R.M.W., Collier, M.P. et al. Behavioural responses of Sandwich terns following the construction of offshore wind farms. Mar Biol 171, 58 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04353-7

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