Wind farms are far less harmful to birds that first thought, the biggest ever study has shown, because seabirds actively change their flight path to avoid them.

Researchers used radar and video to monitor seabirds flying near the Vattenfall’s Thanet offshore wind farm in the English Channel over a two year period.

They found that birds were present near the turbines in just two per cent of the 600,000 videos shot during the period, and they recorded just six collisions - an average of one every four months.

Previously it was thought the number of birds being killed by wind farms was more than double that figure.

During The Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme (ORJIP) bird collision avoidance study, seabirds were observed to exhibited avoidance behavior and change their flight path to avoid the turbines.