Foraging behaviour of large gulls and the implications for offshore wind site selection

影响海上风力发电场空间位置的环境因素很多，但其中许多因素缺乏相关数据，这使得海洋空间规划者和开发商难以对海上风力发电场的适宜性做出准确的风险评估。大型海鸥最近被确定为一种关键的鸟类，它们可能特别容易受到海上风力发电场的碰撞风险。拟议的项目是确定大型海鸥物种的觅食行为，以确定未来海上风能站点的潜在影响。该项目将追踪大型海鸥物种在繁殖季节的觅食行为，并利用现有的环境数据集，确定与海洋栖息地的空间联系，并确定这种行为的模式和驱动因素。还将利用欧洲海鸟在海上的数据进行历史评估。然后将结果应用于潜在的未来搜索区域，以确定海上风电开发的潜在风险。

There are many environmental factors which influence the spatial location of offshore wind farms but there is a lack of data on many and this makes is difficult for marine spatial planners and developers to make an accurate risk assessment of the suitability of a site for offshore wind development. Large gull species have recently been identified as a key bird species which may be particularly susceptible to collision risk from offshore wind farms. The proposed project is to identify the foraging behaviour of large gull species to determine the potential implications for future offshore wind energy sites. This project will track the foraging behaviour of large gull species during the breeding season and, using existing environmental data sets, identify spatial links with marine habitats and opportunistic prospects to identify patterns and the drivers to this behaviour. A historical assessment will also be made using European Seabirds at Sea data. The results will then be applied to potential future areas of search to identify the potential risks to offshore wind development.