Protecting Scotland’s iconic birds of prey can feel like painting the Forth Bridge – just when you think the job is done, you’re back to the start to do it all again. And the threats we find ourselves coming back to again and again are persecution and wind turbines. Each threat impacts on raptors in different ways and requires a different approach.
We have a huge opportunity to tackle raptor persecution, with a grouse moor licensing bill due to land in the Scottish Parliament this year. Those who oppose our efforts to tackle persecution are feeling the heat. Unsurprisingly, some of the hardcore resistance are busy trying to deflect attention and portray wind turbines as the principal threat.
The reality is the level of illegal raptor killings far outweighs the reported deaths we see from accidental collisions caused by wind turbines. Wildlife crime also impacts whole populations of raptor species.
Hen harriers are among our most heavily persecuted birds of prey. Image credit: Andy Hay.
Between 2019-2022, 63 birds of prey were the victims of deliberate illegal persecution in Scotland. A significant proportion of these occurred on upland heather moorlands being intensively managed for grouse shooting. It’s safe to assume that these detected crimes will represent a very small proportion of the total number being carried out. There’s a lack of witnesses in rural areas and we know that perpetrators often go to great lengths to cover up evidence of their crimes.
A report published by NatureScot in 2017 showed that between 2004 and 2016 almost one third of 141 golden eagles fitted with satellite tags by researchers had either been illegally killed or disappeared in suspicious circumstances – and mostly on grouse moors. This research resulted in Scottish Ministers commissioning an independent review which recommended licensing grouse moors. Ministers accepted the review’s recommendations. We agree with this approach as a meaningful deterrent. It means you lose your right to shoot grouse if Police Scotland and NatureScot confirm involvement in raptor persecution.
Responsible grouse moor owners – of which there are a growing number - should not be concerned by the licensing system that is coming. In most other European countries gamebird shooting is licenced in some form, and in Scotland we already licence other exploitations of natural resources such as the cutting of timber and abstraction of water.
Licensing grouse moors is an essential step in protecting birds of prey. Image credit: Ben Andrew.
But what of the risk posed by wind turbines? Yes, it’s a lesser problem - recent figures from NatureScot indicate that it knows of 33 raptors which have died due to collisions with onshore wind turbines in Scotland since 2019. But we’re about to see a new goldrush of wind turbines, both onshore and offshore. Managing this in a way that helps raptors and other birds and wildlife survive and thrive is going to be a major task.
Scotland’s onshore wind capacity is set to more than double by 2030 to 20 gigawatts as the Scottish Government aims to cut climate emissions and support the energy sector’s net zero transformation.
Offshore, we can see 20 major wind projects in the pipeline, with a combined potential generating capacity of 27.6GW. Altogether, that’s a lot of turbines.
We have long said that we are supportive of renewable energy deployment due to the urgent need to tackle the climate emergency. However, we face an equally important crisis of biodiversity loss, with Scotland one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. The solution to addressing this crisis must not exacerbate the symptoms. A positive signal from the top is that the First Minister has recognised that the “the climate crisis is inseparable from the nature and biodiversity crisis.”
But how do we find the right balance?
The answer is to follow what is known as the mitigation hierarchy.
Think of it along the lines of the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ mantra we’ve come to know as we seek to move from a disposable economy to one where we use the same materials for as long as possible. In the same vein, when you are looking to make the impact on biodiversity from a development less severe, you ‘avoid, minimise, restore, offset’. First, you try to avoid causing losses, then you move to minimise them, and when that’s not possible you find ways to restore on the actual site of the development. As a final line of defence, you find ways to offset the impact.
For a wind farm developer, this would mean finding a location that avoided any impact on birds of prey – we have good data on where raptors breed so let’s use it. They should then minimise the impact – there are various ways of doing this, for example adjusting the layout, design and size of the development, and the scale and height of the turbines. And if those measures don’t sufficiently minimise impact, developers should then be offering ways to compensate on site, such as providing compensatory habitat elsewhere or developing specific measures to help a particular species affected.
Sadly, to date, decisions made by planning authorities and Scottish Ministers haven’t given enough weight to nature in reaching their decisions. This must change.
Wind turbines are important in efforts to attain net-zero, but they must be located in the right places to avoid conflicts with nature. Image credit: Nick Upton.
A glimmer of hope is the new National Planning Framework for Scotland (NPF4), which requires ’significant weight’ to be given to both the global climate emergency and the nature crisis when decisions are made on all development proposals.
The RSPB has always sought to work constructively with developers and decision makers to get the best outcomes for nature. Our approach has helped minimise what could have been major impacts on our wildlife. But with so much more potential development in the pipeline, we cannot pause for breath.
The licencing of grouse moors is within touching distance, and we have recognition from the First Minister and within the national planning framework that nature cannot be viewed as expendable in the race to net zero. The reality is that one dead raptor is one too many, however it is caused. That was, and always will, be our guiding star.
Header image: A golden eagle is standing in a patch of heather. Credit: Ian Duffield.