The Scottish Wind Farm Bird Steering Group (SWBSG)

The Scottish Wind Farm Bird Steering Group logo

The Scottish Wind farm Bird Steering Group (SWBSG) has recently been wound-up and is no longer active. 

The group was convened to bring together the renewables industry, conservation organisations and government in order to learn from the routine monitoring of birds in and around wind farms. Such monitoring is part of the application process for development approval and often comprises both pre- and post-construction monitoring of key species.

The Group had representatives from the Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage/NatureScot, Scottish Renewables and RSPB Scotland, with an independent Chairman and Secretariat.

The Group’s work focused on achieving the following outcomes to develop a clearer understanding of the interactions between birds and windfarms. The information gained by addressing these issues was to provide best practice guidance for industry in Scotland. It worked towards:

  • Providing an independent, scientific assessment of the impacts of wind farms on birds.
  • Better sharing and dissemination of data across the sectors.
  • Making available better data to inform disturbance distances, avoidance rates and other factors relevant to windfarm Environmental Impact Assessments. 
  • Quicker and more accurate consenting decisions.
  • Reduced investment risk.
  • Providing robust data to inform Environmental Impact Assessments for wind farms in increasingly sensitive locations.
  • Reducing the need for survey work when assessing future sites, based on an improved understanding of the interaction of wind farms and birds.

The development of a better understanding of the interactions between wind farms and birds was tackled by drawing on monitoring work and from research undertaken by industry and conservation bodies. The outputs from this work can be found in these pages.

SWBSG reports

  1. Species dossiers and Methods document
    The species dossiers were compiled by BTO and summarise some basic background information about each species, plus that relevant to their associations and interactions with wind farms. 

    Some of this information may now be out of date, including scientific names following taxonomic adjustments: to check basic information, check the BTO’s ‘Bird Facts’ web pages. It is recommended that you read the ‘Methods document’ prior to reading any dossiers, to understand how the information has been compiled. 

    NOTE: the SWBSG is no longer active. If you have any further queries relating to these archived reports, please contact the terrestrial ornithology team at NatureScot via [email protected].
    1. Methods document - please read prior to using the dossiers. 
    2. Pink-footed goose Anser brachyrhynchus 
    3. Greenland white-fronted goose Anser albifrons flavirostris 
    4. Black grouse Tetrao tetrix 
    5. Red-throated diver Gavia stellate 
    6. Black-throated diver Gavia arctica 
    7. Red kite Milvus milvus 
    8. White-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla 
    9. Golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos 
    10. Kestrel Falco tinnunculus 
    11. Merlin Falco columbarius 
    12. Peregrine Falco peregrinus 
    13. Golden plover Pluvialis apricaria  
    14. Dunlin Calidris alpina
    15. Snipe Gallinago gallinago 
    16. Eurasian curlew Numenius arquata 
    17. Common redshank Tringa nebularia
       
  2. SWBSG Commissioned Report 1500 – modelling cumulative impacts of wind farms on birds
    This report compares two principle methods for assessing cumulative impacts of wind farm developments on golden plover and Eurasian curlew, from both displacement and collisions.
     
  3. SWBSG Commissioned Report 1501 – desk based review of the methods used to assess the effects of wind farms on different bird species
    The report provides a brief overview of the problems associated with the use of methods typically used to monitor birds in and around wind farms. This report is complimentary to report no. 1502.
     
  4. SWBSG Commissioned Report 1502 – desk-based review of the methods used to assess the effects of wind farms on different bird species
    This report reviews the methods typically used to monitor birds in and around wind farms and summarises their limitations. It is complimentary to report no. 1501.
     
  5. SWBSG Commissioned Report 1503 – desk based evaluation of wind farms and habitat management in Scotland
    Report 1503 estimates the area and type of land managed on wind farms, and the nature of management activities and their targets.
     
  6. SWBSG Commissioned Report 1504 – Naturel Heritage Zones (NHZ) bird population estimates
    Scotland can be divided into ‘Natural Heritage Zones’ and this report uses existing bird population data from various sources to estimate the numbers of key species found in each of them.
     
  7. SWBSG Commissioned Report 1505 – review of cumulative impact assessments in the context of the onshore wind farm industry
    This report provides a critique of the approach to cumulative impact assessments, comparing various methods from a simple summation approach to various more complex modelling techniques.
     
  8. SWBSG Commissioned Report 1605 – precision and bias of bird fatality estimates from two contrasting carcass detection strategies
    There are two commonly used approaches to searching for carcasses around wind turbines when estimating bird fatality due to collisions. This report compares them and models various factors to explore the strengths and weaknesses of both, and when each would best be deployed.
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