Farne Islands SPA
Kittiwake (seabird assemblage component only)
- The source information regarding kittiwake collision mortality from other relevant projects is given in Table 5.122 Open ▸ .
Table 5.122: Kittiwake Collision Mortalities Apportioned to the Farne Islands SPA from Other Relevant Projects
- From this information, the various approaches have been consolidated into a “low” and a “high” estimate for the total in-combination impact. This is presented in Table 5.123 Open ▸ .
Table 5.123: Kittiwake Collision Mortalities Apportioned to the Farne Islands SPA In-Combination Totals
- With a population of 8,804 breeding adults (Burnell et al., 2023), 11.4 to 38.8 additional mortalities represents a 0.130 to 0.441 percentage point increase in mortality rates. Therefore, PVA has been carried out both with and without Berwick Bank Offshore Wind Farm and for the high and low scenarios, to further assess the total in-combination impact.
- The PVA results are summarised in Table 5.124 Open ▸ . Full details are available in appendix 3B.
Table 5.124: Summary of PVA Results for In-Combination Collision Impacts on Kittiwake at the Farne Islands SPA
- The kittiwake population of the Farne Islands SPA has increased slightly from its citation level of 8,241 breeding adults to recent counts of 8,804 breeding adults (Burnell et al., 2023).
- The PVA results show that the kittiwake population is expected to remain relatively stable under the counterfactual (no impact) scenario. Under the impacted scenarios, the CGR is 0.995 to 0.998. This leads to a CPS after 35 years of 0.827 to 0.946 – i.e. the population size would be 5.4% to 17.3% smaller than the counterfactual population size.
- If Berwick Bank Offshore Wind Farm is excluded, the impact of displacement from the Array in combination with other projects is predicted to make no material impact on the kittiwake population compared to the counterfactual scenario, and it can be concluded, beyond reasonable scientific doubt, that there is no potential for an adverse effect on the kittiwake population of the Farne Islands SPA as a result of displacement from the Array in-combination with other developments.
- However, if Berwick Bank Offshore Wind Farm is included, whilst the level of impact is still small, it is no longer considered immaterial and the additional mortality from the Array in-combination with other projects and plans would appear to have the potential to adversely affect the kittiwake population.
Breeding Seabird Assemblage
- Of the components of the seabird assemblage, kittiwake was the only species for which a potential LSE2 was identified for collision. As detailed above, there is expected to be a significant adverse impact on the size of the kittiwake population if Berwick Bank is included.
- However, whilst there might be a negative effect on the kittiwake population, the magnitude of that effect is small. It is not considered a sufficiently large impact that it could be said to adversely affect the probability of kittiwake being maintained as a viable component of the seabird assemblage. Furthermore, kittiwake is the only component of the assemblage for which a potential LSE2 has been identified from collision risk. Kittiwake are a minor component of the assemblage, with a citation population of 8,241 breeding adults out of the total assemblage citation population of 163,819 individuals. Other components of the assemblage have increased in population, for example the guillemot population at citation was 65,750 breeding adults; the recent Seabirds Count estimated the population size to be 85,816 breeding adults (Burnell et al., 2023). Therefore, the overall population of the assemblage will be maintained. Therefore, it is concluded, beyond reasonable scientific doubt, that there is no AEOI to the seabird assemblage feature of the Farne Islands SPA as a result of collision.
Flamborough and Filey Coast SPA
Kittiwake
- The source information regarding kittiwake collision mortality from other relevant projects is given in Table 5.125 Open ▸ .
Table 5.125: Kittiwake Collision Mortalities Apportioned to the Flamborough and Filey Coast SPA from Other Relevant Projects
*Apportioned impacts only presented on an annual basis in source document.
- From this information, the various approaches have been consolidated into a “low” and a “high” estimate for the total in-combination impact. This is presented in Table 5.126 Open ▸ .
Table 5.126: Kittiwake Collision Mortalities Apportioned to the Flamborough and Filey Coast SPA In-Combination Totals
- With a population of 91,008 breeding adults (Burnell et al., 2023), 465.3 to 497.7 additional mortalities represents a 0.511 to 0.547 percentage point increase in mortality rates. Therefore, PVA has been carried out both with and without Berwick Bank Offshore Wind Farm and for the high and low scenarios, to further assess the total in-combination impact.
- The PVA results are summarised in Table 5.127 Open ▸ . Full details are available in appendix 3B.
Table 5.127: Summary of PVA Results for In-Combination Collision Impacts on Kittiwake at the Flamborough and Filey Coast SPA
- The kittiwake population of the Flamborough and Filey Coast SPA has increased slightly from its citation level of 89,040 breeding adults to recent counts of 91,008 breeding adults (Burnell et al., 2023).
- The PVA results show that the kittiwake population is expected to remain relatively stable under the counterfactual (no impact) scenario. Under the impacted scenarios, the CGR is 0.994. This leads to a CPS after 35 years of 0.791 to 0.804 – i.e. the population size would be 19.6% to 20.9% smaller than the counterfactual population size.
- Whilst the population has grown slightly from the citation level, the magnitude of the impact is sufficient that it has the potential to adversely affect the population. Therefore, it is concluded that there is a potential AEOI to the kittiwake feature of the Flamborough and Filey Coast SPA as a result of the in-combination collision impact.