About the Authors

Gareth Bradbury

gareth.bradbury@wwtconsulting.co.uk

Affiliation Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (Consulting) Ltd., Slimbridge, United Kingdom

Mark Trinder

Affiliation MacArthur Green, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Bob Furness

Affiliation MacArthur Green, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Alex N. Banks

Affiliation Natural England, Exeter, United Kingdom

Richard W. G. Caldow

Affiliation Natural England, Exeter, United Kingdom

Duncan Hume

Affiliation Marine Management Organisation, Newcastle, United Kingdom

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: Gareth Bradbury, Mark Trinder and Bob Furness are employed by the consultancies WWT Consulting and MacArthur Green which have recently serviced other contracts for Natural England and the other statutory nature conservation agencies, and also offshore developers, including offshore wind developers. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: GB MT BF AB RC DH. Performed the experiments: GB MT BF. Analyzed the data: GB MT BF. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: GB MT BF AB RC DH. Project conception and management: AB RC DH. Species sensitivity scoring: BF. Density Surface Modelling: MT GB. Data processing: GB. Project delivery: GB.