Wind turbines stopped after eagle death in the Netherlands
Wind turbines stopped after an eagle death in the Netherlands this year, when the regional environmental enforcement agency RUD Zeeland ordered 20 of the 33 turbines at a wind farm near the Kreekraksluizen, on the Zeeland and Brabant border, to stop turning every day. The eagle that died, tagged WN76, was 3 years old and was the first sea eagle chick ever raised at the Markiezaat nature area. It died in late April 2026 after colliding with a turbine blade, the second such death recorded at the same wind farm in 4 years.
Why are Dutch wind turbines being shut off for eagles
Why are Dutch wind turbines being shut off for eagles comes down to a legal duty of care. Dutch law requires wind farm owners to take reasonable steps to protect wild animals, protected species included, from harm their turbines cause. RUD Zeeland found that the owners of this wind farm had not met that duty, and issued what Dutch administrative law calls a last onder bestuursdwang, an enforcement order that lets the agency step in and fix the problem itself, then bill the owner, if the order is ignored. Under the order, the 20 turbines closest to the eagles breeding ground must stay off during the day, leaving 13 of the 33 free to keep running, a figure the enforcement order itself confirms. All 33 may still run at night, because sea eagles do not normally fly then. The daytime shutdown stays in force until the owners install a detection system able to spot an approaching sea eagle and slow the blades within seconds, which the owners have several months to do.
The wind farm has 33 turbines in total. 20, the ones closest to the eagles breeding ground, must stop turning during the day. The remaining 13 may keep running, a figure source 2 states directly.
Show the numbers
| Total turbines | 33 |
| Stopped during the day | 20 |
| Still running during the day | 13 |
A forest ranger at the nature reserve manager that requested enforcement put the contradiction in his own words.
It is very strange that we are generating sustainable green energy, which at the same time is also a major problem for rare birds.
Erik de Jonge, forest ranger at Brabants Landschap, the nature reserve manager that requested enforcement. Source 2.
An unnamed spokesperson for RUD Zeeland explained why these particular turbines matter most.
When they fly to the feeding area near the Oosterschelde, they have to pass the twenty wind turbines. That risk is too great.
An RUD Zeeland spokesperson, not named in either source. Source 2.
Sea eagles have grown from 1 pair to 45 in the Netherlands
Sea eagles disappeared from the Netherlands entirely during the 20th century, killed off by pesticide use, persecution and habitat loss. The first breeding pair returned in 2006, at Oostvaardersplassen. Vogelbescherming Nederland, the national bird protection organisation, counted the population climb in its own year by year record, 3 breeding pairs in 2010, 10 in 2017 and 20 in 2020, then 45 by 2025. That is a 44 pair increase in 19 years since the species first pair returned, arithmetic run here on the organisation own counts rather than a single figure the organisation stated itself. Sea eagles remain on the Dutch Red List of threatened species despite the recovery, and stay legally protected. Vogelbescherming Nederland own list of what kills sea eagles in the Netherlands names wind turbine collisions and high voltage power line collisions specifically, alongside human disturbance.
Vogelbescherming Nederland own count, published 2022, the last year covered by this single source series. A more recent count, 45 pairs in 2025, comes from a different page by the same organisation and is carried in the stat row instead, since a chart can only cite 1 source.
Show the numbers
| 2010 | 3 |
| 2017 | 10 |
| 2020 | 20 |