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Spanish conservationists have for the time being lost their battle against the 10 MW Jandia wind farm on the Canary island of Fuerteventura. They had claimed that an endangered local subspecies of the rare houbara bustard, unique to the island, was severely threatened by the turbines.

According to the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO), the turbines disturb the bird's mating habits, key to its survival. In ruling against SEO's complaint, the Canary Island's High Court pointed out that the wind farm -- made up of turbines supplied by Spanish Made and a Spanish-Danish partnership, ACSA/Vestas -- was financed from a European Union fund for regional development. In agreeing to finance the project, the plight of the bustards must definitely have been taken into account by EU authorities, said the court.

It dismisses environmental information supplied by the government nature organisation ICONA as incomplete and says that since the bustard breeds elsewhere on the island the siting of the wind turbines is acceptable. The SEO is taking its case to the Supreme Court.