Scottish Approaches to Minimising Impacts of Power Line Developments on Birds

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Scottish Approaches to Minimising Impacts of Power line Developments on Birds

Dr Jessica Shaw Policy & Advice, Ornithology Scottish Natural Heritage jessica.shaw@snh.gov.uk

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Outline • SNH’s role in planning & development • Process of guidance development • Our guidance on assessing impacts of power lines on birds • Next steps

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Scottish Natural Heritage • Public body which advises Scottish Government • Our purpose is to • promote, care for, and improve our natural heritage • help people enjoy nature responsibly • enable greater understanding and awareness of nature • promote the sustainable use of Scotland's natural heritage

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Advice for planning and development • Help Scottish Government and planning authorities deliver a modern planning system that is fast, inclusive and delivers sustainable economic growth • provide environmental data • provide advice on specific sites and topics • develop and share guidance and good practice

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Scottish Natural Heritage

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Need for power line guidance • For consistency of survey approaches and assessment of impacts on birds • Little information available from UK, so difficult to assess • Focus on pre-construction

• Development of guidance • Long process!

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Which power lines?

• Transmission lines (>132kV) usually require an assessment (EIA) for consent under section 37 of the Electricity Act • Distribution lines can also be important in sensitive areas

• Meteorological masts

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Bird species • Scotland has a numerous and varied avifauna • Famous for wintering wildfowl & waders, breeding seabirds

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Which are key?

• Specially protected e.g. Annex 1 of EC Birds Directive, Schedule 1 of WCA, species qualifying as features of designated sites • Conservation concern i.e. Red and Amber listed birds (BoCC4) • Those susceptible to power line impacts e.g. waterfowl, raptors

Scottish Natural Heritage

Which impacts?

• Collision • Electrocution • Displacement • Habitat loss • Disturbance • Barrier effects

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Development of the guidance • Based on SNH bird wind farm guidance • Survey methods • Collision risk modelling

• Consulted with key industry, consultant and NGO contacts • Revised approach • Can’t cover everything

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Collision Risk Modelling • Key part of wind farm assessment • Band (SNH) CRM • Uses vantage point data, avoidance rates

• Same approach for power lines?

• Mathematics more complex • Avoidance rates?

• Can’t account for flocking, weather, flight trajectory • No data to ground-truth

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Guidance: Routeing considerations • Power companies consult extensively to accommodate environment, landscape and local community issues • Holford Rules • Landscape based • Avoid areas of high amenity and conservation value • Chose hill not sky backgrounds • Keep away from smaller lines ‘wirescape’

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Guidance: Pre-survey considerations • Desk study • Collect data on birds, habitats and designated sites • Many sources e.g. SNH, RSPB, Raptor Study Groups • Plan survey work

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Guidance: Survey work • Standard 1 year of survey work • Distribution and abundance, usually for waterfowl, waders, raptors and game birds • Activity – vantage point surveys

• Survey area • Usually 250-500m either side of route for generic surveys • Species-specific can be far wider e.g. black grouse to 1.5km

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Guidance: Environmental Statement • Use data gathered to consider impacts of power line on key populations • designated site, regional or national level

• Qualitative assessment of collision risk – or bespoke models • Thresholds?

• Cumulative impacts

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Guidance: Mitigation • Emphasises importance of pre-construction considerations • Routeing, bird-friendly pylons, undergrounding

• Line marking • Standard mitigation • Recommend minimum of 5-10m placement, contrasting colours • No recommendation on type of marker

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Next steps • Guidance published in July 2016 • Process highlighted challenges of generic advice, but potential avenues of collaboration • Reliance on international studies • Urgently need • • • •

post-construction mortality data (including survey bias studies) to catalogue collision incidents of susceptible species avoidance rates in flight studies to know more about electrocution and disturbance

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Thanks Dr Jessica Shaw Policy & Advice, Ornithology Scottish Natural Heritage jessica.shaw@snh.gov.uk http://www.snh.gov.uk/