Avian vulnerability to wind farm collision through the year: insights from lesser black-backed gulls (Larus fuscus) tracked from multiple breeding colonies

1. Wind energy generation has become an important means to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and mitigate against human-induced climate change, but could also represent a significant human-wildlife conflict. Airborne taxa such as birds may be particularly sensitive to collision mortality with wind turbines, yet the relative vulnerability of species’ populations across their annual life cycles has not been evaluated. 2. Using GPS telemetry, we studied the movements of lesser black-backed gulls Larus fuscus from three UK breeding colonies through their annual cycle. We modelled the distance travelled by birds at altitudes between the minimum and maximum rotor sweep zone of turbines, combined with the probability of collision, to estimate sensitivity to collision. Sensitivity was then combined with turbine density (exposure) to evaluate spatio-temporal vulnerability. 3. Sensitivity was highest near to colonies during the breeding season, where a greater distance travelled by birds was in con...