After years of barely concealed antipathy, the RSPB and the wind energy industry have today put the symbolic seal on their recent cessation of hostilities with the installation of the first RSPB wind turbine.

The small-scale 15kW turbine has been installed at the RSPB's Rainham Marshes visitor centre in Purfleet, Essex, and together with a solar array already located at the site is expected to provide enough energy to meet the centre's requirements, cutting its carbon footprint by 9,000kg a year.

"The RSPB is often most visual when objecting to wind turbine proposals," he said. "However… wind power has a valuable role to play in contributing towards the UK's renewable energy needs, and can do so without harming wildlife. The wind turbine at Rainham Marshes is an excellent example of this."

The move comes a month after the RSPB released a study calling on the government to accelerate the rollout of onshore wind farms, and urging it to develop a wildlife sensitivity map that it argued would make it easier for wind developers to select sites that pose minimal risks to bird life.

The study was interpreted in some quarters as a declaration of peace to the UK wind energy industry, which has been repeatedly frustrated by the conservation group's opposition to numerous wind farm developments.