Thanks for the reference Bob.
I have been through the Avifauna section briefly. My initial reaction is that, whilst it deals in great detail with seabirds, including those migrating, and resident birds in the area, there is really very little about migrating land birds.
In particular, nothing about migrants passing through the area at night in spring and autumn which I suspect is the largest number. The proposed location could be in the main pathway of night migrants in autumn in particular. Looking at historical radar studies done in the 1970's and 1980's, most birds in autumn were passing through Hong Kong from north east to south west, probably very many along the coastline in line with the proposed location. Many tens of thousands are involved, but we really don't know how many and at what height they are migrating. It may be too high for them to be affected directly, but it may not.
One key question is - what lighting is proposed for the field at night? Will it actually be an attraction to night migrating birds? This could be quite a problem.
One problem with assessment of bird mortality in off-shore farms is that dead birds sink or float away and are not easily counted.
Let me say now, I am in favour of wind farms. But I don't think the current Avifauna assessment has assessed all the risks.
[ Last edited by wgeoff at 17/06/2009 15:44 ]
