COWRIE is pleased to announce the release of the above report prepared by BTO.

Offshore windfarms are likely to become one of Europe's most extensive technical interventions in marine habitats. The areas in which windfarms are located often coincide with areas favoured by large concentrations of seabirds. The UK Government has a legal obligation to monitor the impact windfarms might have on seabirds.

This report follows a previous report commissioned by COWRIE (Maclean et al. 2006), in which the extent to which BERR (formally DTI) aerial survey protocol allows changes in bird numbers to be detected, was examined using power analysis. Changes in bird numbers can be hard to detect due to natural fluctuations in bird numbers. Power analysis allows a statistical assessment to be made of the probability that such changes could be distinguished from background fluctuations.

The report can be downloaded here