ON THE ROCKS

As windfarm development threatens nesting kittiwake populations, mitigation measures are being rolled out

JO CAIRD

STAND ON THE WIDE SANDY BEACH in the Suffolk seaside town of Lowestoft, looking out over the cold, grey waters of the North Sea, and you’ll see a peculiar sight: poking up above the waves, mounted on bright yellow towers, are a pair of structures that look for all the world like yurts. They are not yurts, yet these structures are accommodation – of a sort. The intended residents? Black-legged kittiwakes, mediumsized seabirds that spend most of their lives out at sea but return each year, between March and August, to a few select locations on the British coast to breed. These artificial nesting structures (ANS) were installed in spring 2023 as an ecological compensation measure for a windfarm to be built 160km off the Yorkshire coast. Named Hornsea 3,…

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Bbc Wildlife (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 2024

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