Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the annual number of insects killed in the UK by wind turbines, and what impact this may have on the sustainability of insect populations.

The Government has not made an assessment of the annual number of insects killed in England by wind turbines, nor on the sustainability of insect populations accordingly.

International research estimates that individual turbines in temperate regions may kill millions of insects per year. However, to understand the impacts of wind turbines on the sustainability of insect populations, it is necessary to evaluate them in the context of other pressures. Factors operating at larger scales likely have a greater overall impact, e.g. land management and pesticide use.

The Natural Environment Research Council is funding the DRUID project to understand the drivers and repercussions of UK insect declines.