The threat posed by offshore wind farms' fast-spinning blades to colonies of protected seabirds has been massively exaggerated, new research appears to indicate. A UK government-funded study spearheaded by the Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme (Orjip) combined human observer-based tracking of seabirds in the North Sea with a system that mapped bird movements automatically at a representative area of Vattenfall's wind farm off the coast of Thanet over two years.