Environmental consultancy APEM has been hired by ScottishPower Renewables to carry out aerial bird and mammal surveys at the up to 800MW East Anglia North 1 offshore wind farm off the UK east coast.
The surveys started earlier this month using APEM’s proprietary camera system, Shearwater II.
The camera allows the company’s in-house ornithology team to identify the species of over 95% of the birds in the images and also provides precise bird flight heights that satisfy the requirements of statutory agencies.
APEM is also conducting baseline surveys of the up to 800MW East Anglia 2 offshore wind zone, building on work carried out last winter.
It said the winter surveys captured over 10,000 high-resolution images that have revealed data on the numbers and distribution of species, such as auks, gannets, kittiwakes and fulmars.
ScottishPower Renewables will use the results of both surveys for the baseline bird and marine mammal data for its environmental impact assessments for the two areas.
Image: sxc
