New solar farms can benefit nature – here’s how

Solar farms like this one at Westmill solar park on the Wiltshire-Oxfordshire border can boost biodiversity if properly managed and supported by appropriate public policies. Hollie Blaydes, CC BY-ND

If you were told solar farms could take up to 0.3% of the total land area in the UK by 2035, would you take up a banner and march to parliament in protest? It’s hard to imagine anyone feeling troubled by such a perceptibly small figure.

Instead, if you were told a solar farm the size of 960 football pitches was to be built just outside your front door, would you join your local community to object it as loudly as possible? That’s easier to imagine.