Seabird flight height data collection at an offshore wind farm: final report

Understanding seabird flight heights and behaviour in and around operational offshore wind farms is a priority knowledge gap. Using aircraft mounted LiDAR technology, this study collected data on seabird flight height and shows the potential for using it in offshore windfarm impact assessments.


Appendix V. Species Specific Histograms for Distance to Nearest Turbine (m)

Survey 1 Histograms

Histograms demonstrate the distribution of distance to nearest wind turbine (m) for each species recorded as flying during survey 1 (June 2021). In June this included eight species and three species groups, including guillemot (n=757), kittiwake (n=261), fulmar (n=53), gannet (n=45), razorbill (n=32), herring gull (n=26), guillemot / razorbill (n=8), great skua (n=3), great black-backed gull (n=2), auk / shearwater species (n=1), and auk species (n=1). Histograms were not created where less than three individuals of each species were recorded (great black-backed gull, auk / shearwater species and auk species).

Figure V.1 Histogram of guillemot distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of guillemot to turbines in meters, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histograms peak at around 50000 meters with a frequency of 160, then decrease and then raise again to 125 frequency at 30000 meters, after which it decreases

Figure V.3 Histogram of kittiwake distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of kittiwake to turbines in meters, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 30000 meters with a frequency of 70, with significant dips at 10000 and after the peak of 30000

Figure V.2 Histogram of fulmar distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of fulmar to turbines in meters, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 0 meters with a frequency of 12, it decreases more or less evenly from there with the exception of troughs at 10000 and 40000 meters

Figure V.5 Histogram of gannet distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of gannet to turbines in meters, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 45000 meters with a frequency of 25, with the frequency before this peak 0 except for at 0, 10000, 25000, 40000 meters where it increases towards 25 (except 40000)

Figure V.4 Histogram of razorbill distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021

A histogram showing the distance of razorbill to turbines in meters, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 0 and 15000 meters with a frequency of 7. There was no pattern to the remaining frequencies, but 35000 and 40000 meters had no frequency.

Figure V.7 Histogram of guillemot / razorbill distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of guillemot / razorbill to turbines in meters, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 10000 meters with a frequency of 3. There was no pattern to the remaining frequencies

Figure V.6 Histogram of herring gull distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021.

Figure V.8 Histogram of great skua distance to wind turbine (m) in June 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of Herring gull to turbines in meters, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 30000 meters with a frequency of 8. There was no pattern to the remaining frequencies

Survey 2 Histograms

Histograms demonstrate the distribution of distance to nearest wind turbine (m) for each species recorded as flying during survey 2 (July 2021). In July this included nine species and two species groups, including guillemot (n=595), kittiwake (n=435), fulmar (n=70), gannet (n=18), herring gull (n=21), guillemot / razorbill (n=21), great skua (n=6), great black-backed gull (n=3), Manx shearwater (n=1), puffin (n=1) and unidentified bird species (n=1). Histograms were not created where less than three individuals of each species were recorded (Manx shearwater, puffin and unidentified bird species).

Figure V.9 Histogram of guillemot distance to wind turbine (m) in July 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of guillemot to turbines in meters in July, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 25000 meters with a frequency of 175. The remaining frequencies build up to and then decrease after this peak in a relative bell curve except for 0 and 5000 meters which are slightly higher than 10000

Figure V.11 Histogram of kittiwake distance to wind turbine (m) in July 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of kittiwake to turbines in meters in July, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 5000 meters with a frequency of 100. The remaining frequencies ranged between 25-60 except for 15000 and 45000 which were less than 15

Figure V.10 Histogram of fulmar distance to wind turbine (m) in July 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of fulmar to turbines in meters in July, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 0 meters with a frequency of 21. The remaining frequencies steadily decreased as the distance from the turbines increased

Figure V.13 Histogram of gannet distance to wind turbine (m) in July 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of gannet to turbines in meters in July, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 5000 meters with a frequency of 6. The remaining frequencies ranged from 4 to 1 except for 25000 and 20000 with no frequencies

Figure V.12 Histogram of herring gull distance to wind turbine (m) in July 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of herring gull to turbines in meters in July, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 20000 meters with a frequency of 6, after which the frequencies steadily decreased. Before 20000there was a peak at 0 meters of 5 and then 1 at 5000 but nothing at 10000 and 15000.

Figure V.15 Histogram of guillemot / razorbill distance to wind turbine (m) in July 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of guillemot / razorbill to turbines in meters in July, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 25000 meters with a frequency of 16,  aside from which the frequencies were 2 at 10000 and 30000, and 1 at 0 meters. The rest had no records

Figure V.14 Histogram of great skua distance to wind turbine (m) in July 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of great skua to turbines in meters in July, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The histogram peaks at around 2000 meters with a frequency of 2, aside from which the frequencies were 1 at 0, 5000, 6000, and 7000 meters. The rest had no records

Figure V.16 Histogram of great black-backed gull distance to wind turbine (m) in July 2021.

A histogram showing the distance of great black-backed gull to turbines in meters in July, with frequency on the y axis and distance to turbine on the x axis. The frequency for 2500 to 7500 meters is 2 whilst the frequency for 7500 to 12500 meters is 1

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