Page 120 - Alderney Regional Environmental Assessment of Renewable Energy: Environmental Report
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Alderney
Regional Environmental Assessment of Renewable Energy:
Environmental Report
Range shifts: Changes in the range margins of many bird species are consistent with
recorded increases in temperature and this is set to continue;
Community composition: There have been some shifts in community composition
among birds, consistent with the effects of recent warming and this is anticipated to
continue. Warming has generally been associated with an increase in species
diversity, which reflects the importance of southern species and their preference to
higher temperatures;
Changes in population: Climate change may contribute to bird population declines by
increasing the effects of diseases and parasites; and
Reproductive processes: Many bird species have better breeding performance during
a mild spring.
5.4.1.2
Limitations and data gaps
Breeding seabirds nesting on the Channel Islands are regularly monitored as part of
established colony counts. Dedicated monitoring programmes which describe the abundance
and density of other foraging seabirds at sea, as well as passage and overwintering waterbirds
utilising coastal habitat, is more limited. The use of established seabird at sea and coastal
waterbird monitoring techniques around Alderney would therefore be recommended. Examples
of the specialist assessments which may be required to support the EIA project-level include:
Power analysis of the boat-based seabird survey data;
Collision risk modelling;
OWF collision models and population models;
Impacts of noise on prey species of birds; and
Habitat modelling.
A pilot programme that is being led by the Agence des Aires Marines Protégées and a number
of scientific partners, called Programme d’acquisition de connaissances sur les oiseaux et les
mammifères marins en France métropolitaine (PACOMM
4
) has involved the collection of data
on birds and marine mammals in French waters between 2010 and 2014. This study which is
due to be published later in 2014 evaluates the distribution of seabirds and marine mammals,
as well as human activities, boats, waste and their spatial and temporal variability. This will
therefore complement the existing baseline characterisation of birds undertaken as part of this
REA and should be considered by individual developers at the project-level as necessary.
5.4.1.3
Study area
The study area will need to encompass any pathways which connect the Draft Plan with
receptors. Seabirds can undertake long distance foraging excursions away from nesting
colonies with some species such as Northern Gannet and Fulmar recorded travelling over
600km during the course of two foraging trips (Thaxter
et al
., 2012; BirdLife International,
2012). Given the potential for transboundary effects, particularly for species moving to and
from French waters, but also possibly to and from English waters, it is also important that any
4
metropole
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