Abstract
Evidence that wind turbines potentially pose a collision threat to bats has been available from the USA and some European countries since the early 2000s. However the scale of any risk in the UK was unknown. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Department of Energy and Climate Change, Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Natural Heritage, Natural England and RenewableUK therefore commissioned this research project in 2010. It is the first attempt, anywhere in the world, to assess the impact of wind turbines on bats at a national scale through the systematic survey of a representative sample of wind energy facilities.