Abstract
In March 2010, Hartley Anderson Ltd., on behalf of its client the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) contracted the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) to undertake further analysis of Whooper Swan migration data initially collected for a study commissioned by COWRIE Ltd.
The original study reported on the routes and flight heights of 50 Whooper Swans fitted with GPS satellite transmitters, recorded during the swans’ spring and autumn migrations between the UK and Iceland in 2009, in relation to offshore wind farm sites, particularly those in the East Irish Sea and Greater Wash areas.
This extension to the previous work includes analysis of new GPS data from swans that were still carrying transmitters by spring 2010, plus data for five birds fitted with newly refurbished transmitters in spring 2010. Analyses considered onshore as well as offshore wind farm sites. Variation between years in the swans’ migration route is described. The current study also examines existing WWT satellite tracking data, in relation to wind farm location, for three goose species (the Svalbard Barnacle Goose, Greenland White-fronted Goose and East-Canadian Light-bellied Brent Goose) which winter in the UK but follow different migration routes to separate breeding areas