2020

In 2012, a map of the collision risk between birds and high-voltage power lines – the first of its kind in Belgium and indeed, to the best of our knowledge, anywhere on a national scale – was compiled and delivered to Elia, to enable the company to decide which power lines should be equipped with diverters to reduce the collision risk (DEROUAUX ET AL., 2012). This risk map was drawn up on the basis of the best available knowledge about bird distribution in Belgium. A scoring system was developed to estimate the collision probability: a risk score was calculated for each pylon in the grid of electricity transmission system operator Elia, based on the local abundance of a selection of sensitive bird species. The sensitive species were selected using a combination of each species' susceptibility to collisions (as determined by a literature review), the impact on the conservation of this species of a potential surplus mortality rate due to such events and the gregariousness of the relevant species, leading to potentially mass mortality.

Most of the distribution data used in this study dated from the period 2001-2010. A decade after this first edition, we present an update of this collision risk map.