A couple of years ago I was visiting our RSPB Bempton Cliffs nature reserve with my family – a trip we like to make regularly as befits the finest seabird spectacle on the British mainland. On our last visit one of our lovely volunteers asked my son Jack his age and she then took the time to point out a pair of gannets that shared his birth year (yes, we really know our gannets that well).
Jack was delighted, especially when told he could come back in the future and they would still be the same age as he was.
Or perhaps they won’t be there.
Today’s news that a decision has been taken to approve the Hornsea Project Two (Hornsea 2) wind farm will lead to the unnecessary death of hundreds of globally important seabirds including, potentially, Jack’s gannets. Hornsea 2 lies offshore from Bempton's teeming cliffs.
A gannet in close up. Photo credit: Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
Of course climate change has to be combated to achieve a low-carbon future and offshore wind should have a bright future in making that a reality. But it has to be located in the right place. We’ve consistently opposed Hornsea 2 as it poses an unacceptably high risk to seabirds that nest on the Yorkshire coast.
This Hornsea 2 decision is a stark reminder of our long-held concern that offshore wind farm development zones are in the wrong place due to historic under-investment in baseline surveys to get a proper understanding of where the most sensitive sites are for the UK’s marine wildlife.
This is not new, as the recent Scottish cases in the Firth of Forth and Tay show.
This wilful ignorance has meant in that decisions on where to license the major industrial developments in our offshore waters are based on wholly inadequate information. This is compounded by Governmental and industry failure to invest properly in post-project monitoring of the earlier wind farms so that lessons can be learned and a real understanding can be built up around how seabirds and other marine wildlife are affected by these major developments
It was work carried out by the RSPB that showed the importance of this area for seabirds. We submitted data from satellite-tracked birds to show that the proposed site of Hornsea would be directly in the flight path of two threatened species of seabirds - gannets and kittiwakes. This wind farm, in combination with other offshore wind farms in the North Sea, pose an unacceptable level of threat to these species as well as potential effects for guillemots, razorbills and puffins. It is massively disappointing that this scientific analysis has not persuaded the Secretary of State to reject this damaging scheme.
This lack of knowledge means that today everybody is still reliant on mathematical modelling to predict the impacts of offshore wind developments of globally important seabird populations. Here at the RSPB we’ve been strong critics of how some these models are being used to justify developments going ahead – Hornsea 2, like its predecessor, is another example.
We know from our own seabird tracking studies (some funded by the Westminster Government) that some of the wind farm zones are heavily used by the UK’s seabirds, but poor location and lack of investment in understanding the impact of the schemes that have already gone ahead means some of the most sensitive marine wildlife sites are being put under unnecessary – and avoidable – pressure. Rushing ahead with developments in sensitive locations without taking stock of the impacts and developing better understanding of the risks is never wise, be that offshore wind or tidal lagoons. Our need for renewable energy is real and of great importance to all our futures, but as a nation we can and should do better to avoid real harm to our natural world.
Damaging some of our most important seabird colonies by giving consent to poorly located schemes is the worst of all worlds, particularly as we are not convinced by the developers mitigation proposals. Our own analysis, Energy Futures, has given us confidence that a low-carbon, renewable energy future is possible without sacrificing nature.
As summer heads towards autumn Bempton’s seabirds are leaving their towering nesting colonies, to return in the spring. Jack’s gannets will, with luck, be a year older unknowing that the risks to their survival have just increased.