Abstract
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very pleased to have been invited to open this conference. Increasingly, renewable energy – mainly in the guise of wind farms – is becoming a mainstream issue with both the media and the public. This is to be welcomed. Renewable energy has a key role in a sustainable energy policy that is needed to help tackle climate change. But a truly sustainable energy policy needs to consider and address other concerns, for example the possible impacts on biodiversity of wind farms. I would like to thank the British Ornithologists Union for arranging this conference and Chris Perrins (BOU President) for his welcome.