Wind farms threaten the red kite
Conservationists attack the Government's latest environment plans after rare bird's death
Mark Townsend
Sunday January 25, 2004
The Observer
At first, it was dismissed as another routine, if tragic, death. The dismembered body of one of Britain's rarest birds, the red kite, had been found on a remote hillside, its right wing efficiently severed.
Local enthusiasts, saddened by the loss of the bird they had christened Filled Heart, launched an investigation. Now their findings have triggered a rebellion among ornithologists which threatens to derail Tony Blair's attempts to tackle climate change. It could thwart a £1 billion investment in building wind farms across Britain.
The death of Filled Heart is also blamed for a series of impending lawsuits against planned wind turbines, which some believe could reduce bird populations to the extent that internationally recognised nesting sites lose their global importance.
Filled Heart's body was found close to a major Welsh wind farm. A detailed inspection by vets concluded its injuries were consistent with being slashed by a giant turbine blade.
The synopsis offered the first proof that Britain's army of birdwatchers had been dreading: endangered species were being shredded in the 'killer blades' of huge turbines that can travel at up to 300kph.
Now, a year after its death, Filled Heart has also precipitated an unprecedented spat among the green lobby. For conservationists, the red kite has become an unlikely martyr in the fight against wind farms. For the environmentalists who argue the loss of a few birds is a worthy sacrifice if it means reducing the impact of global warming, Filled Heart remains a powerful nemesis.
'It might have been only one bird, but because the red kite is such a rarity it has tended to polarise views and has raised real questions about the siting of turbines,' said Rowena Langston, research biologist for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Wind farms proven potentially to affect birdlife may have to be sited elsewhere or abandoned altogether according to legal experts.
Evidence continues to emerge that thousands of the UK's most well-known birds could be killed in the 40-metre-long blades. Wind farms are currently planned for sites near the habitats of some of Britain's rarest birds, including golden eagles, as well as the red kite, of which there are 500 breeding pairs left. Pressure will mount this week when conservationists warn Ministers they are failing to take the threat seriously.
The story of how the death of a single red kite near Aberystwyth could dent the Government's high-profile pledge to provide 10 per cent of Britain's electricity by 2010 by the wind has stunned the industry.
Last week, its concern deepened when US wildlife experts launched a lawsuit against a San Francisco wind farm known to kill 5,500 birds a year. Now Welsh campaign ers, in a move to save the once-persecuted red kite, are preparing to follow with their own legal action.
In particular, they are targeting 39 massive turbines the size of a 40-storey office block to be constructed deep in the Cambrian mountains, until recently one of the last refuges of the red kite in Britain and a major tourist draw. Plans for a giant wind farm to be built on the estate of the Duke of Beaufort on the outskirts of Swansea, and another key red kite habitat, may follow.
Earlier this year, the RSPB, which has two million members, condemned the proposed £600m siting of hundreds of wind turbines on the Isle of Lewis as illegal because of its standing as an internationally important bird sanctuary.
Yet it is the Government-backed proposals for a huge flagship offshore wind farm at Shell Flats off Lancashire that could prove the test case that threatens Blair's wind energy revolution.
A previously unknown flock of 15,000 common scoter ducks was recently discovered at the site. Now, RSPB lawyers and government officials are locked in discussions over the site's viability.
'There is the very real possibility of legal action,' confirmed an RSPB source.
Elsewhere, opposition continues to mount in the name of Filled Heart. In Dorset, campaigners argue that the country's world heritage coastline will be tarnished if a wind farm at Portland Harbour affects birdlife.
Days ago, Teesside's standing as a globally important sanctuary was thrown into question by a proposed wind farm to be sited off Redcar. Experts claim the fast-moving blades would 'pulverise' thousands of seabirds as they flew offshore off Teesmouth. Famed environmentalist Professor David Bellamy recently demanded wind farms be banned on the grounds they 'chopped up birds'.
So far, 27 major wind farms have been objected to by the RSPB. It has just written to another 30 expressing concerns over the effect on birdlife. Despite this, planning approval has been granted for a 27 turbine farm in the shadow of the dramatic Cuillin Hills on the Isle of Skye.
The move has shocked independent experts who recently observed 55 golden eagles in three days last spring. The endangered birds all flew between 20 and 200 metres above the sea - the precise height at which the blades rotate.
Until the death of Filled Heart, the opposition against wind farms centred primarily on aesthetic grounds. Suspicion began to rise after an allegedly suppressed report claimed thousands of birds were being torn apart each year in the turbines' blades. The first major study into a potential problem, carried out in northern Spain, found 6,000 birds were killed by turbines in a year.
However, the industry and the Government argue that UK studies reveal 'birdstrikes' of less than one per turbine a year. In addition, they maintain, developers consult the RSPB to help them site away from migratory routes with plans modified until there is no threat
'We wouldn't build turbines on a motorway and we don't propose them on the avian equivalent,' said a British Wind Energy Association spokesman.
Experts, however, argue the dearth of detailed research into bird movements raises the potential for costly mistakes. They also argue that bird corpses could easily be removed by foxes or other predators before being discovered. Many in the Government may wish that had happened to the body of Filled Heart.