Scotland’s newest offshore wind farm Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) is launching one of the country’s most comprehensive seabird and marine monitoring studies to gather continuous data on how key bird species behave around operational turbines.
The study places the 450MW project, a joint venture between EDF power solutions UK and ESB, at the forefront of environmental evidence-gathering in UK offshore wind, said the developer.
Two main types of data will be collected over two bird-breeding seasons, added the company.
The international environmental consultancy STRIX has been commissioned to carry out the surveys and complete the analysis.
From March 2026, data collection will take place 24 hours a day with equipment positioned across turbine clusters and at the corners of the site.
Following a period of equipment installation and commissioning in 2025 by STRIX, the systems are now fully installed and have undergone testing at the NnG site.
The monitoring combines Birdtrack-Radar3D, which tracks and classifies birds by combining radars and cameras, and six Collision Detection Systems that use multiple cameras and infra-red illuminators mounted around turbine towers.
They form part of a collaboration between NnG and two other offshore wind farms in the Forth and Tay region, Seagreen 1 and Berwick Bank.
The programme is also a requirement under NnG’s Project Environmental Monitoring Programme set by Scottish Ministers.
This phase builds on seven years of research at NnG, including aerial surveys, tagging breeding seabirds with GPS loggers, visual monitoring, ringing of adult birds and deployment of monitoring cameras and radars.
The wind farm has also invested in marine mammal monitoring through specialist moorings to detect harbour porpoise and dolphin vocalisations and co-funding a bottlenose dolphin photo-identification study.
The findings will help inform the development of future offshore wind projects and how they assess potential impacts on seabird populations.
Polly Tarrant, environment manager at NnG, said: “We are delivering environmental monitoring on a scale not previously seen in UK offshore wind. This programme, a collaboration between a number of different partners, will give us a far clearer picture of how important seabird species behave around operational turbines and will help ensure future projects are designed with the strongest possible evidence base. By working constructively with other partners, we’re building knowledge that supports both Scotland’s and the UK’s renewable energy ambitions as well as the long-term health of the marine environment.”
Erica Knott, head of marine energy at NatureScot, stated: “We welcome this collaborative environmental monitoring programme being led by NnG. The study’s scale and scope for both seabirds and marine mammals will help increase the evidence of how these key species interact with operational offshore wind farms in Scottish waters. This is particularly important given the other pressures they are facing in our marine environment. The results will help assess forthcoming projects as well as the planning and design of offshore windfarms in the future.”