The Magic of an IRISH RAINFOREST
• HARVESTMAN
• STARLINGS
• CRAYFISH SPOTTED IN IRELAND:
Chairperson’s Comment
Dear Friends of the Irish Wildlife Trust,
Published
We are deeply moved and profoundly grateful to have received another exceptionally generous donation from Louise’s family. It is clear that Louise was a remarkable person who brought love, joy, and laughter into the lives of all who knew her.
In a heartfelt letter, her parents shared that Louise’s name means “renowned warrior”—a tting tribute to someone who lived her short life with such courage and determination. We are truly honoured to be part of the legacy they have created in her memory. We extend our deepest condolences to Louise’s family during this di cult time. ey have asked if we could, in a gesture of remembrance, take a moment to “look up to Heaven and thank our hero, Louise,” for her extraordinary gi . Please keep her and her family in your thoughts.
As we embrace the arrival of autumn a er what felt like a eeting summer, we re ect on the impact the weather has had on our wildlife. e unusually cold temperatures made life even harder for our already struggling insect populations, with consequences that ripple up the food chain. Fewer bird sightings and reports of emaciated bats from wildlife rehabilitators remind us of how interconnected our ecosystem truly is.
On a brighter note, autumn also brings with it some extraordinary natural spectacles. One of these is the mesmerising display of bioluminescent plankton along the Kerry coast. Inspired by Vincent Hyland’s Wild Derrynane Facebook page, I was determined to witness this wonder myself.
A er two unsuccessful attempts, I nally experienced it on a pitch-dark, star- lled night at Derrynane Beach. As I waded into the water, each step stirred patterns of light, and when I accidentally disturbed a tiny at sh, it darted away in a blaze of shimmering brilliance.
Nature is full of such magical moments, reminding us of the beauty and wonder that is so essential to our well-being. I’m not sure where else in the country this occurs, but If you live near a beach, I encourage you to venture out in the dark and see if you can spot this natural phenomenon. It’s most likely to occur in September and October, particularly here in Kerry and I was also told about Lough Hyne in Cork. Just be mindful of the moonlight—it can obscure the glow. When I returned with friends the following week, the full moon was too bright to see the bioluminescence, but we still enjoyed a magical swim under the moonlight.
In this issue of Irish Wildlife, we report from our National Heritage Week events which were all about our connection with nature and our connections to each other. Our feature article is from author and rewilder Eoghan Daltun who speaks about the magic of an Irish rainforest while in our Citizens’ Assembly Ideas article Katie Smirnova of Hedgerows Ireland examines how we can strengthen protection for Ireland’s hedgerows. We hope you enjoy all the articles from our muchappreciated regular contributors.
We are deeply grateful to Louise’s family for their continued support and faith in the work of the Irish Wildlife Trust. ank you, as always, for your support and dedication to protecting Ireland’s wildlife and natural environment. Together, we honour Louise’s memory and continue our mission to safeguard the natural world for future generations.
We hope you enjoy this season’s edition, and we wish you a happy and healthy autumn.
Anne Hannan Chair of the Irish Wildlife Trust chair@iwt.ie
Pass it on. If you’re finished with your Irish Wildlife don’t throw it in the bin. Pass it on to someone who you think may enjoy it – or ask your local library or doctor’s office to leave it in the reception. You’ll help the environment and the IWT while you’re at it. Irish Wildlife is 100% recyclable, so if you do choose to throw it out, please put it in the green bin.
Contents page credits:
Jewel-toned plumage of a rufous-tailed hummingbird.
View of Morgan Island.
Photo: Dr. Cilian Roden
Eoghan’s woodland at Bo ckil overlooking the Atlantic.
Photo: The Magic of an Irish Rainforest
Native woodland diversity with bluebells and Hart’s-tongue ferns.
Photo: The Magic of an Irish Rainforest
Common Dog-Violet (Viola riviniana) a ower of native woodlands.
Photo: iStockphoto
Lesser spotted dog sh an Irish species of elasmobranch. Photo: Kieran Boyce
Cover Image Credit Red Squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris sitting on a log by Vince Burton / Alamy Stock Photo
BELOW:
HAVE COMMENTS?
Editorial Team: Kieran Flood & Marion Jammet
Magazine queries email: editor@iwt.ie
About Us
e Irish Wildlife Trust was founded in 1979 and aims to conserve wildlife and the habitats it depends on throughout Ireland, while encouraging a greater understanding and appreciation of the natural world.
e IWT is dedicated to creating a better future for Ireland’s wildlife through: Motivating and supporting people to take action for wildlife.
Education and raising awareness of all aspects of Irish wildlife and conservation issues.
Research of the natural environment. Acquiring and managing nature reserves to safeguard species and habitats.
Lobbying decision-makers at all levels to promote policy in Ireland that provides a sustainable future for wildlife and people.
Working in partnership with other organisations to achieve results that matter for conservation.
Irish Wildlife is published quarterly by the IWT.
Supported by
e IWT encourages action at a local level and has a number of branches around the country: Dublin: dublinbranch@iwt.ie; facebook. com/DublinBranchIrishWildlifeTrust
Waterford: Denis, waterfordbranch@iwt.ie
Kerry: Ger, iwtkerry@gmail.com; www.facebook.com/KerryIWT
Limerick: limerickbranch@iwt.ie; https://www.facebook.com/ IWTLimerickBranch
Galway: Dan, iwtgalway@gmail.com; www.facebook.com/IWTgalwaybranch Laois/O aly: laoiso alybranch@iwt.ie Monaghan: monaghanbranch@iwt.ie
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
You, our members, make the IWT what it is. rough your subscriptions and support we can undertake the projects that are bene ting Ireland’s wildlife. If you would like to help more, here’s what you can do:
Snail mail: The Irish Wildlife Trust, 8 CABRA ROAD, DUBLIN 7, D07 T1W2
Web: www.iwt.ie
Social media: facebook.com/IrishWildlifeTrust twitter.com/Irishwildlife instagram.com/irishwildlifetrust/
Registered Charity Number: 20010966
• Make a one-o donation to the IWT.
• Give IWT membership as a gi .
• Volunteer – we are always looking for people to help out. ere are lots of ways to get involved, from helping with important admin work in our o ce to helping us increase membership by volunteering at public events. See our website www.iwt.ie for details or contact the o ce directly.
• Do you have land that you would like used for conservation? We are always on the lookout to establish new sites to enhance wildlife or provide education opportunities.
• Remember us in your will. Why not leave a lasting legacy towards conserving Ireland’s natural heritage? e IWT uses all funds towards our campaigns, managing reserves and our education programmes. Please visit www.mylegacy.ie.
• Set up a branch. Are you passionate about wildlife and are in a county that does not have an IWT branch? Contact the o ce and we can give you the support you need to get up and running.
IMAGES THIS PAGE:
TOP: Garden compost turning waste into an ecosystem.
Photo: iStockphotos
Lesser horseshoe bats are part of Atlantic rainforests biodiversity. Photo: Mike Brown
IRISH NEWS
The latest national and international news from the conservation world, compiled by Emily Nolan, IWT Communications Officer
New Species Discovery In Ireland CONSERVATION NEWS
By DES KENNY
A new, large species of harvestman, species A, has recently been discovered in Ireland by entomologist and citizen scientist Brian Murray. Brian has made signi cant contributions to our understanding of Ireland’s biodiversity, including the rst identi cation of the potter wasp in 2021. Brian has been heavily involved in tracking and identifying invertebrate species for almost a decade, telling us “I was always spotting things, or looking under stones or rocks or logs and all that kind of stu , because I just love doing that and seeing what’s there.” Recently, he developed a fascination with harvestmen, a group of arachnids with 21 native species in Ireland. Brian has seen “all but three of these species”. In December 2023, he spotted an image on the Facebook page "Insects and Invertebrate of Ireland" of a harvestman not previously con rmed as present in Ireland.
A was rst identi ed in the Netherlands in 2004 by Hay Wijnhoven. e image Brian saw matched the description, but due to its poor quality, veri cation was di cult. Determined to con rm the species' presence, Brian decided to visit the site where the photo was taken: Curragh Camp, an Irish army base. Understanding the risks of approaching a military area, Brian contacted the Defence Forces for permission. Despite several attempts, he received no response until April 2024, when a friend with military contacts helped him secure access.
One evening in June 2024, as the sun was setting, Brian visited Curragh Camp. Escorted by Captain Brian Daly, they went to the UN Training Centre. “I had my torch, and I just started shining about underneath the window ledges, and straight away I could see lots of harvestmen”, Brian explained. He found many harvestmen, but they were not fully mature, “juveniles pretty much look exactly the same as native harvestmen up until the nal moult”. is made it di cult
to identify the species on-site. To avoid an inconclusive outcome a er months of e ort, Brian had a decision to make, in the end opting “to take some back to my o ce here and rear them.”
Brian became the caretaker of eight juvenile harvestmen, feeding them gold sh akes, carrots, apples, and the occasional dead y found on the way to his o ce. A er about a month, the juveniles reached their nal moult, nally revealing their species as . Key identifying features included their large leg span of 7-8 inches and a distinctive metallic green sheen with gold accents. Comparing his photographs to those in Hay Wijnhoven's book con rmed the identi cation. To further validate his ndings, Brian sent his images to Hay, who con rmed, “Yes, the beast that is looking at you is in fact .”
Brian’s endeavours are an excellent example of citizen science in action, his e orts leading to a more comprehensive understanding of the current state of biological diversity in Ireland. He encourages others to get involved, suggesting bees as a good "gateway species" but ultimately advising people to start with what interests them. Brian’s own project, microWild, exempli es his dedication to raising awareness of invertebrate life. Launched last autumn, microWild is a biodiversity meadow and educational centre created by converting previously grazed land into microhabitats for invertebrates. rough microWild, Brian hosts workshops and gives talks on bees, ies, crane ies, and harvestmen.
New species to Ireland, Leiobunum sp. A.
Photo: Brian Murray
Social Media Fuels Animal Cruelty and Trafficking
By EMILY NOLAN
Social media has become a doubleedged sword in the ght against wildlife tra cking and animal cruelty. While these platforms o er a way for conservationists to share important messages and raise awareness about wildlife issues, they have also become hotspots for content that normalises the mistreatment and commodi cation of animals. Animals in distress are being exploited for the entertainment of millions online and wildlife tra ckers are using social media to reach potential customers.
e global reach of social media has only magni ed the issue. Over the course of a year, volunteers at the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition (SMACC) documented 840 social media posts that featured at least 97 di erent species. Startlingly, 65% of the animals depicted in these posts were endangered species such as long-tailed macaques and tigers. Orangutans, a critically endangered species, also featured in these viral videos. Collectively, these posts had been viewed over 11.8 billion times.
According to SMACC, platforms like TikTok and YouTube host videos showing everything from subtle acts of abuse, such as dressing exotic animals as pets, to graphic violence like poaching and staged animal ghts, yet reporting mechanisms on social media platforms are inadequate.
DISTRESS IN DISGUISE
e problem with wildlife and animal content on social media is not always obvious. Many videos do not depict explicit abuse, which makes it easier for them to slip through the cracks of social media policies. Instead, they show animals in seemingly
entertaining situations — doing tricks, wearing costumes, or even engaging in anthropomorphised behaviours (ascribing human characters to a non-human being). To the untrained eye, these clips might seem amusing or harmless. But very o en these animals are displaying signs of distress.
For example, a viral video of a rat clenching “a st of rage" has garnered over 6 million views on YouTube to date, and has been reposted on many other accounts across social media. e video is ooded with comments from users joking about how "relatable" the rat’s
behaviour is and funny this cute rat is. However, the behaviour the rat displays in the video are signs of stress or pain — tightened eyes, retracted ears, and clenched muscles. As SMACC warns, such distress is o en misinterpreted or entirely ignored by viewers, resulting in animals being used for cheap entertainment at the expense of their well-being.
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
Despite the disturbing nature of such content, social media platforms are slow
Infographic from SMACC Spotlight Report: Wild animal pets on social media
to act. While reporting mechanisms exist, animal cruelty content doesn’t always t neatly into the "explicit violence" or "abuse" categories. As a result, these videos continue to rack up millions of views. SMACC estimates that 47% of agged content is removed, leaving the rest to inspire more users to post similar videos in the hopes of “going viral”.
In Lebanon, illegal bird hunting provides another stark example. Poachers in the region have taken to TikTok to post videos of themselves shooting migratory birds. Despite repeated reports by groups like the Lebanese Association of Migratory Birds, many of these videos remain
online as TikTok claims they don’t violate its policies. According to Birdlife International, 2.6 million birds are illegally killed each year in Lebanon, a gure anticipated to grow unless platforms take responsibility for the content.
THE HARMFUL CYCLE OF WILDLIFE CRUELTY ON SOCIAL MEDIA
One of the most common trends in animal social media content is the exploitation of wild animals as pets. How o en have you heard someone coo over a baby chimpanzee in a video, wishing they could have one as a pet? Or smiled at a clip of a capuchin monkey in a dress, wondering how "cute" it would be to own one? is growing fascination with exotic animals pets, perpetuated by viral videos, fuels the illegal wildlife trade and normalises the idea that wild animals belong in human homes (see SMACC infographic).
Once sold, the animals endure lives of su ering. Wild animals, kept as pets, o en su er from extreme distress, deprived of their natural habitat and unable to thrive in captivity. eir new owners, o en ill-equipped to care for them, use social media to showcase their "pets”, creating yet more content that glamorises this exploitation. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, animals are poached from the wild or bred in
"THIS GROWING FASCINATION WITH EXOTIC ANIMALS PETS, PERPETUATED BY VIRAL VIDEOS, FUELS THE ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE AND NORMALISES THE IDEA THAT WILD ANIMALS BELONG IN HUMAN HOMES"
cruel, inhumane conditions to meet the increasing demand. is cycle of cruelty not only harms individual animals but also threatens entire species with extinction. Engaging with this content in any way only serves to strengthen this cycle of cruelty.
TAKING ACTION
So, what can be done? Organisations like SMACC are calling for immediate action from social media platforms, urging them to adopt standardised de nitions of animal cruelty and put in place more robust monitoring systems. Additionally, they are asking users to be vigilant: every time you see a video of an animal online, question it. Is this animal a pet? Should it be? Can the animal leave the situation? Is this content truly entertaining, or is it exploiting the animal for views?
Experts also warn against commenting or sharing videos of animal cruelty, even to criticise them, as this increases their visibility. Instead, report the content and encourage others to do the same. SMACC’s website o ers guidance for recognising harmful material and reporting it. Find this and more on www.smaccoalition.com.
Reporting this content, even when it doesn't explicitly violate platform policies, is still essential. It helps push social media companies to re-evaluate their guidelines and prioritise the well-being of animals. While much of the internet can feel like a digital Wild West, collective action can lead to positive change.
It’s equally important to scrutinise wildlife content. Many so-called sanctuaries are fronts for exploitation, where animals are bred for pro t. Ethical sanctuaries focus on conservation and prohibit or greatly limit direct contact between visitors and animals. Staying informed and critical can help avoid supporting cruelty.
SMACC and other NGOs are calling on platforms like Facebook and Google to take meaningful action. You can nd several petitions to lend your signature to on SMACC’s website: www. smaccoalition.com/petitions.
References:
BirdLife International: e Killing - Scienti c Review of Illegal Killing in the Mediterranean, Published August 2015.
Screenshot of the viral video depicting a rat clenching a “fist of rage”. An example of animals in distress being used for entertainment
Screenshot from viral instagram posts depicting juvenile macaques performing in ways unnatural to the species. It is also unnatural for macaques this young to be removed from their mothers
IWT ACTIVITIES UPDATE By
Kieran Flood, IWT Gerneral Manager
Branching out for Heritage Week
National Heritage Week is organised by the Heritage Council. It celebrates Ireland’s cultural, built and natural heritage. This National Heritage Week we delivered 5 fantastic events in counties Carlow, Dublin, Limerick and Monaghan. The theme of Heritage Week was Connections, Routes and Networks. A theme we really delved into for our event at Lisnavagh House in County Carlow. You can read more about that event in this issue's Connecting with Nature article.
Connections and networks are fundamental to the work of the Irish Wildlife Trust. We are committed to building a network of nature activists throughout Ireland with our local branches, our membership base and our broader community. This year our Heritage Week events in Dublin, Limerick and Monaghan were delivered by a key element of this network - IWT local branches. Below are short reports from the four branch run events. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the volunteers who run all our branches and keep our network thriving.
DUBLIN BRANCH
- St Annes Park Bat Walk
On a fine evening in late August our Dublin Branch gathered a group of curious Dubliners at the Tree of Life sculpture on the corner of Watermill and James Larkin Road. This sculpture in itself is a spectacle with the creatures of the Dublin Bay Biosphere skilfully carved into the standing trunk of a dead tree. The group had gathered with a strange purpose. To explore St Anne’s Park in the dark. We hoped to encounter one of Ireland’s most enigmatic nocturnal species - bats. As the moon rose over Dublin Bay, we made our way into the park quietly strolling through an old Yew arbour, past tree-lined playing fields and
"CONNECTIONS AND NETWORKS ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE WORK OF THE IRISH WILDLIFE TRUST"
down to the Naniken River.
Armed with bat detectors, devices that allow us to hear bat’s echolocation in real time, we listened for the call of foraging bats. After some patient observation we were rewarded with the excitement of hearing a pipistrelle bat’s cacophony of clicks, slaps and beats as it flitted by while snatching midges from mid-air. It brings great joy to see these agile little mammals fly just above one’s head while also hearing their complex echolocation calls as they pass. At the event we learnt all about the bats of Ireland, their role in our ecosystem and their amazing insect hunting abilities.
LIMERICK BRANCH
- Public outing to Barnagh Tunnel Barnagh Tunnel is a short spectacular section at a hub of the Limerick Greenway, near to NewcastleWest. It has a cafe and parking, it is wheelchair accessible, so it is a very suitable venue for a publicouting. About thirty participants showed up,
but of course it being summer 2024, we had to shelter from apassing shower before we began! Around the hub area there is a garden and various trees and shrubswhich allowed for a discussion on native and exotics, and while half of our flora is non-native and has settled well into our ecosystems, a few have become invasive. However, the highlight of this venue isadmiring the luxuriant growth of ferns along the edges and walls of the deep railway cutting through therock before it enters the tunnel. We identified
nine species of fern, some small ones on the rocks, but most spectacular are the large fronds of the Golden-scaled Male fern, Lady fern, Broad Buckler-fern andOsmunda, the Royal fern, which grows, along with heather, where water is puddling on the acidic rocks.
MONAGHAN BRANCH
- Presentation of the Dromore Catchment Mapping Project with Mary Kelly-Quinn
The IWT Monaghan branch hosted the first public presentation of the Dromore Catchment Mapping Project. Mary KellyQuinn, (author of Ireland's Rivers, UCD Press) gave a fascinating talk on the biodiversity of river habitats, accompanied by a display of live macroinvertebrates. Historian Brian Mac Domhnaill gave an in-depth bilingual talk on catchment placenames. An overview of the mapping project was presented in exhibition format (printed maps and 3D model) and all took place in the spectacular Ballybay Wetlands Centre with the river appropriately running past outside in the unexpected sunshine. The day started with a kayak tour for local farming families and ended with a guided road tour of the river catchment focusing on cultural heritage associated with the river.
Luxuriant growth of ferns along the edges of the deep railway cutting, Limerick Greenway
Close up of fern from Limerick Branch event
Regal horse chestnut tree at Lough Muckno
Exhibition, Dromore River event
Freshwater biodiversity identification, Dromore River event
This project is a collaboration between the Irish Wildlife Trust Monaghan Branch & the Friends of the Dromore, funded by the Community Heritage Grant, the NPWS National Biodiversity Action Plan 2023-2030 and Monaghan County Council.
MONAGHAN BRANCH
- Lough Muckno Biodiversity Walk with ecologist Billy Flynn
The Monaghan Branch hosted a biodiversity walk through Muckno Park on Water Heritage Day. The walk was led by local Ecologist Billy Flynn from Flynn Furney Environmental Consultants. The walk was an opportunity for people to discover the rich history, habitats and wonderful wildlife of Lough Muckno as well as its connection to people. Always incredibly interesting and entertaining with his wealth of knowledge and sense of humour, Billy kept the group of intrepid walkers well distracted from the odd drop (or two) of rain. It didn't put anyone off and the fresh air and beautiful green spaces were a perfect way to round off the week of Heritage events. The event was supported by the Local Authority Waters Programme under the Community Water Development Fund 2024.
This year the Irish Wildlife Trust received funding from the Heritage Council’s Heritage Organisations Support Fund 2024. This fund has supported the delivery of our community engagement programme including our Heritage Week events schedule. We would like to thank the Heritage Council for this support.
EU POLICY UPDATE
By Marion Jammet
Saving the world’s most species-rich habitat A soil deal for Europe?
Despite being the world’s most species-rich habitat and a largely non-renewable resource, soil hasn’t received the same level of protection at European level as air and water. To address this issue, the “EU Soil Strategy for 2030” was released in 2021. The document set out a vision of ensuring that “by 2050, all EU soil ecosystems are in healthy condition”, highlighting that this would require “very decisive changes in this decade”. Against this background, the Commission committed to put forward a new legislative proposal to protect soils by 2023. In this article, we review the proposal for a Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience, and discuss what is required to better protect and restore our soils.
FOR THE LOVE OF SOIL
Soil is the top layer of the Earth’s crust and is composed of a mixture of water, gases,
minerals and organic matter. Soil is often an overlooked habitat but a key one. Beneath our feet, an eclectic community of soil organisms toil day and night in a remarkable, coordinated effort that sustains life on our planet. More than half of all species live in the soil, but the actual figure could be even higher as soils are so understudied1. It is estimated that one handful of healthy soil can contain up to a billion bacteria and more than one kilometre of fungi essential to plant and animal life2.
Soil is also an indispensable ally for both climate mitigation and adaptation. It is the largest terrestrial carbon pool and stores carbon in the form of dead plants, fungi and animals. In terms of climate adaptation, a high water retention capacity in soils reduces the effects of floods and decreases the negative impact of droughts - two
critical functions as climate change leads to more frequent, extreme weather events. In simple terms, the health of soil ecosystems determines the health of all other parts of terrestrial ecosystems. Degraded soils release carbon, are less fertile, and lose their ability to store and filter water, contributing to flooding, increase in pollution and sedimentation
AN ECOSYSTEM UNDER THREAT
It is estimated that 60 to 70% of EU soils are in an unhealthy condition3, and land and soil continue to be subject to severe degradation processes such as erosion, compaction, organic matter decline, pollution, loss of biodiversity, salinisation and sealing. For instance, every year, about 1 billion tonnes of soil are washed away by erosion in Europe4. Key drivers of soil health degradation are intensification of agricultural and forestry practices, including widespread pesticide reliance, urban sprawl, soil sealing and low land recycling rates, climate change, overexploitation and consumption of natural resources, improper water
management, reuse and irrigation, and industrial activities5.
TOWARDS AN EU SOIL LAW?
Against this background, a first attempt to legislate on soil was made in 2006, when the European Commission proposed a Soil Framework Directive6. However, the proposal was blocked by member states and withdrawn by the Commission in 2014. National governments argued at the time that the costs of soil health monitoring and restoration were too high and the benefits too low, and that the objectives of the Directive could be achieved effectively by the member states themselves without intervention by the Union (subsidiarity principle)7.
Since then, soil protection, conservation and restoration in the EU has been fragmented and merely a by-product of
other legislation such as the Habitats Directive, without clear and effective EUwide rules. The launch of the European Green Deal, i.e. the EU’s strategy for reaching climate neutrality by 2050, in 2019 has provided a new opportunity to discuss actions required to better protect our soils. In 2021, a new EU Soil Strategy was adopted8. It aims to achieve healthy conditions for all EU soil ecosystems by 2050, and to reach no net land take and to reduce soil pollution to levels no longer considered harmful to natural ecosystems by then. It also includes interim objectives, such as the restoration of degraded land and soil, the reduction of nutrient losses and the overall use and risk of chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030.
The strategy pointed out the lack of dedicated EU legislation as a major cause for the alarming state of European soils, and committed the Commission to
"DEGRADED SOILS RELEASE CARBON, ARE LESS FERTILE, AND LOSE THEIR ABILITY TO STORE AND FILTER WATER, CONTRIBUTING TO FLOODING, INCREASE IN POLLUTION AND SEDIMENTATION"
propose a legislative proposal for a Soil Health Law (SHL) in 2023. The strategy stresses that the SHL should ensure a high level of environmental and health protection and mentions a number of actions to be considered to achieve this objective. These included the need to assess requirements for the sustainable use of soil so that its capacity to deliver ecosystem services is not hampered, including the option of setting legal requirements. It also mentioned the need to provide a definition of net land take, and to consider options for monitoring and reporting on progress towards the no net land take targets and the implementation of the land take hierarchy (Avoid - Reuse - Minimise - Compensate). Provisions on monitoring soil and soil biodiversity should be at the heart of the SHL, with the development of a comprehensive monitoring framework to make reporting mandatory and uniform across member states. Finally, it mentioned the need to consider options for proposing legally binding provisions to: identify contaminated sites, set up an inventory and register of those sites and
Soil erosion can impact on food production and pollute waterways.
Photo: iStockphoto
remediate the sites that pose a signi cant risk to human health and the environment.
FROM A SOIL HEALTH LAW (SHL) TO A SOIL MONITORING LAW (SML)
In July 2023, the Commission published its proposal for an EU Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive - the ‘Soil Monitoring Law’9, and an agreement on the general approach to this legislation was recently reached by the Council10. What is contained in the text, and can it in its current form enable the achievement of healthy soils in the EU by 2050?
First, as it can be understood from the name of the Directive, the primary focus of the SML is monitoring. e proposed Directive sets overarching objectives to put in place a monitoring framework, and national registers of contaminated and potentially contaminated sites. Although giving a lot of exibility to member states, the SML should lead to an increase in sampling points, and support more frequent measurements and harmonisation across Europe. e monitoring framework set up by the SML focuses on the more visible aspects of land take i.e., soil sealing and soil destruction. It also provides a list of soil descriptors that member states can use to monitor and assess soil health (annex I). Unfortunately, in the current version of the text, Member States won’t be obliged to consider “loss of soil biodiversity” when assessing soil health. is means measuring soil health while working with an incomplete understanding of it, as the soil biology’s fundamental role in providing and regulating soil ecosystem services is not fully recognised. Furthermore, pesticide residues and other contaminants originating from excessive intentional application and di use pollution are not explicitly mentioned in the current version of the text even though monitoring of these substances seems essential to assess distribution risks and
THE SHIFT AWAY FROM SOIL HEALTH TOWARDS LARGELY SOIL MONITORING, AND THE FAILURE TO PUT BIODIVERSITY AT THE CORE OF THE LAW WILL BE DISAPPOINTING TO ANYONE WHO CARES ABOUT SOIL ECOSYSTEMS.
trends of soil contamination. e biggest aw in the text is probably the lack of legally binding targets. While it is positive that the text reiterates the aim of making all EU soils healthy by 2050 (as per the Soil Strategy), it is only mentioned as an aspirational long-term objective, and it does not include intermediate targets. Likewise, the text does not include any legally or not binding ‘no net land take by 2050’-target, nor endorse the ‘land take hierarchy’ outlined in the Soil Strategy. While the current version of the text lays down a set of sustainable soil management principles that Member States must translate into concrete practices within 5 years, it does not include a minimum set of practices that must be respected,
SOIL ISSUES
SOIL SEALING refers to the covering of soils by buildings, construction and layers of completely or partly impermeable material.
SOIL DESTRUCTION means the temporary or long-term removal of soils.
LAND TAKE is de ned as a process which causes a modi cation of land use and of the characteristics of the soil.
nor does it ban particularly harmful practices. Acknowledging that funding will be vital to support a transition to healthy soils, the text speci es that the implementation of the SML should be supported by existing EU nancial programmes, including those under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
e shi away from soil health towards largely soil monitoring, and the failure to put biodiversity at the core of the law will be disappointing to anyone who cares about soil ecosystems. e text won’t provide soil with the same level of protection as air and water. However, a single piece of legislation (no matter how good it is) won’t be su cient to achieve healthy soils by 2050. Soil health principles must be integrated into all relevant EU policy areas and funding instruments. E.g., without changes in agricultural management, soil degradation will continue to accelerate. With that regard, the discussions on the SML could provide an opportunity to highlight the synergies of nature-friendly land use, and challenge the perception of nature restoration as con icting with and competing against food production and security.
Negotiations on the nal shape of the text are expected to start under the new EU legislative cycle.
Resources
1. Anthony, M. A et al (2023), "Enumerating soil biodiversity".
2. Fortuna, A. (2012), e Soil Biota. Nature Education Knowledge.
3. European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, C. Veerman, T. Pinto Correia, C. Bastioli, et al. Caring for soil is caring for life: ensure 75% of soils are healthy by 2030 for healthy food, people, nature and climate: interim report of the mission board for soil health and food, publications o ce (2020).
4. Panagos P. et al (2015), e new assessment of soil loss by water erosion in Europe
5. European Environmental Bureau (2023). Position paper on the Soil Health Law.
6. Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for the protection of soil and amending Directive 2004/35/ EC. COM(2006)232
7. Chen, Yijia PY (2019). Withdrawal of European Soil Framework Directive: Reasons and Recommendations - Journal of Sustainable Development.
8. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, EU Soil Strategy for 2030 Reaping the bene ts of healthy soils for people, food, nature and climate (COM/2021/699 nal).
9. Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Soil Monitoring and Resilience_COM_2023_416_ nal and ANNEXES.
10. Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Soil Monitoring and Resilience (Soil Monitoring Law) - General approach.
By Grace Carr
A Deep Dive into the Marine Restoration Targets
The EU Nature Restoration Law (NRL) o cially came into force on the 18th August 2024 and Member States have 2 years from that date to submit their National Restoration Plans detailing the measures they will put into place to reach the targets set out in the law. e overarching target is to have 20% of EU land area and 20% of EU sea area restored by 2030 with the aim of having all the speci c habitats in need of restoration restored by 2050. ese targets are then broken down further into thresholds for di erent habitats. By 2030, 30% of the areas of habitats which are not in good condition must be restored. is increases to at least 60% by 2040 and at least 90% by 2050. In this article, we will look at the di erent marine habitats contained within the law as well as the conditions in place for data collection and the protection of o shore sites.
e rst group is seagrass beds. We have two main species of seagrass in Irish waters, the subtidal and intertidal Zostera marina and the intertidal Zostera noltii. ese marine plants are not only an important habitat forming species, they are also a vital asset in climate mitigation. While seagrass covers less than 0.1% of the global sea oor it helps to store around 10-18% of global ocean carbon. Seagrass is a sensitive species needing good water quality to thrive. Some of the main stressors to seagrass are sewage and agricultural runo therefore to e ectively restore Irish seagrass beds, mitigation measures on land and in freshwater ecosystems will need to be undertaken.
e second group is macroalgae which are di erent types of seaweed beds. Irish and UK waters are a hotspot for seaweed biodiversity with around 6% of the world's biodiversity of seaweed found here. is is likely to be because of where we are situated on the globe: Ireland is within the northern limits for some warm water species of seaweed and within the southern limits for some colder water species. Seaweed beds have a number of bene ts, one of them being that they are a safe habitat for sh laying their eggs as well as a nursery area for juvenile sh. is is not only extremely important to
Pink jewel anemones a shallow water species commonly found among several of the habitats included in the law. Photo: Aoibheann Gillespie-Mules
MARINE NEWS By
Grace Carr
conserve from an ecological standpoint, it is also important from an economic standpoint. Juveniles of commercially valuable species will use macroalgae beds as nursery systems and so failing to conserve these areas could have a negative knock on effect on commercial fisheries.
The third group are shellfish beds, a type of biogenic reef which are hard structures formed by living organisms. These shellfish reefs can be made up of different species of bivalve such as oysters, mussels and clams. These beds provide a range of ecosystem services1 like coastal protection and improving water quality through filter feeding.
The fourth group are maerl beds. Maerl is a coralline algae species which deposits lime in its cell walls as it grows and forms a hard spiky skeleton. This is a very sensitive habitat and the best way to protect and restore this species is through passive restoration which is basically removing the
pressures from the area and leaving it alone to regenerate. Fishing gear is one of the main threats to maerl as the lines and nets can get caught in the intricate structures and easily damage them. Even fishing close to maerl can be detrimental to it. Bottom trawling involves dragging weighted nets across the seafloor which causes sediment to rise up into the water column. This can then settle on the maerl which causes damage through sedimentation.
Sponges, coral and coralligenous beds are the fourth habitat included in the law. Over half of the world’s corals are cold water species and many unique and beautiful coral formations and sponge beds have been found in Irish waters. During a recent deep sea expedition, rare deep sea black corals and sponge reefs were discovered, which highlights the importance of effectively protecting offshore waters. Due to a lack of knowledge of reef ecosystems in Irish waters, there has not been
"OVERALL THE NRL OFFERS UP SOME LEGALLY ROBUST OBLIGATIONS TO EFFECTIVELY RESTORE NATURE. IT IS NOW UP TO MEMBER STATES TO PUT TOGETHER THEIR NATIONAL RESTORATION PLANS DETAILING HOW THEY PLAN TO ACHIEVE THESE GOALS"
significant efforts made to protect them but with further legally binding targets within the NRL, hopefully progress will be made.
The fifth ecosystem type included in the law is vents and seeps. These areas change the chemistry of the sediment and water around them and so host a range of species unique to the area. Vast underwater structures can form around these areas whether they are relatively stable cold water seeps or the more volatile hydrothermal vents.
The last ecosystem type included in the law is soft sediments above 1,000m. This is considered a very common and widespread habitat as it covers more than 10,000km squared of the EU and so it is subject to lower restoration thresholds than the other five habitats. The threshold has yet to be set, however it states in the law that it cannot be set so low as to prevent good environmental status being achieved. Good environmental status refers back to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive where eleven qualitative descriptors are indicative of whether good environmental status has been achieved for an area. Some of these indicators include biological diversity, seafloor integrity, commercial fish and shellfish populations and food
Basking shark an Irish species of elasmobranch
Photo: Doug Perine
webs. Currently Ireland has achieved good environmental status for five out of these eleven indicators however, the essential ones we didn’t reach are some of the most integral to healthy, functioning ecosystems such as biological diversity, seafloor integrity and food webs.
FAVOURABLE REFERENCE AREA
Member states not only have to restore habitats which are in a degraded state, they also have to re-establish habitats where they have been lost. This is to help reach what is known as the ‘Favourable Reference Area’ (FRA). FRA is the minimum area needed to ensure long term viability of a particular habitat type along with the species which are found there. A list of species has also been included in the law, adding onto the list of species protected under the Birds and Habitats Directives. This is very welcome as the Bird and Habitats Directive left many important species unprotected.
This new list includes twenty species of elasmobranch (cartilaginous fish like sharks, skates and rays) which are generally long lived species which reach sexual maturity late in life and have few young. This leaves them extremely vulnerable to anthropogenic pressures. Member States will be expected to restore the habitats of the species contained in this list to help conserve them. Some commercially valuable species are also on the list such as sea trout and salmon and as these species spawn in rivers, measures to restore these marine species will have to branch across different ecosystems. This holistic approach to nature restoration has been missing up until now.
DATA COLLECTION
There is an obligation for Member States to collect data on the different ecosystems within the law. A lack of data is not only an issue here in Ireland, it is a problem worldwide. Without sufficient data it is hard to know what ecological state some areas are in and what damage different activities are actually having on an ecosystem. The targets for data collection in the marine space are lower than the targets for land based ecosystems as it is logistically more difficult to achieve. For group 1-6 of marine habitats, the condition must be known for 50% of the habitats by 2030 and 100% must be known by 2040.
For widespread soft sediments, 50% must be known by 2040 with 100% known by 2050. The legal obligation to find out the state of our ecosystems is a great addition to the law and will help us to fight for better environmental protection across numerous fields.
OFFSHORE PROTECTION
One part of the law which we lobbied strongly to ensure was included, is the article which references coordination of marine protection in offshore areas. EU vessels have rights to fish in other Member States’ waters which can cause conflict as well as issues for conservation. If a Member State wants to put in management measures to ensure protection of an offshore site, they cannot do this at a national level. They must initiate what is known as a ‘Joint Recommendation’ (JR) through the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). This process isn’t always successful and Member States haven’t utilised it as much as is needed. The NRL states that if a Member State plans to restore areas in their offshore waters, they must include their intentions for initiating JRs within their National Restoration Plans as well as their timelines for this process. Deadlines have also been included and JRs must not be initiated any later than 18 months before the respective target date. This promotion of JRs by the Nature Restoration Law provides hope that industrial fishing can finally be curtailed in certain areas in order to provide the necessary protection for important marine ecosystems.
Overall the NRL offers up some legally robust obligations to effectively restore nature. It is now up to Member States to put together their National Restoration Plans detailing how they plan to achieve these goals. Keep an eye out for future public consultations on this process as within the law it has stated that the preparation of plans must be ‘open, transparent, inclusive and effective and that the public, including all relevant stakeholders are given early and effective opportunities to participate.’
Food notes: 1. Ecosystem services are the benefits that society derives from healthy ecosystems. Ecosystems, when functioning well, offer such things as provision of food, natural pollination of crops, clean air and water, decomposition of wastes, or flood control.
Lesser spotted dogfish an Irish species of elasmobranch Photo: Kieran Boyce
#RestoreOcean campaign image featuring seagrass
Strengthening
PROTECTION HEDGEROW
IN THIS COLUMN
WE EXAMINE THE RECOMMENDATION OF IRELAND’S CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY ON BIODIVERSITY LOSS. ONE SUCH RECOMMENDATION WAS THE REVIEWING, STRENGTHENING AND IMPROVED ENFORCEMENT OF LEGISLATION REGARDING HEDGEROWS. KATIE SMIRNOVA OF HEDGEROWS IRELAND TAKES A CLOSER LOOK FOR US
IBy KATIE SMIRNOVA
f asked to imagine the Irish landscape, we might picture our rugged coastline, hills painted purple with heather, or a countryside criss-crossed with trees and shrubs. Ireland’s distinctive countryside mosaic is shaped by hedgerows; they capture carbon, slow the flow of water over land, buffer pollution, and help wildlife. The predator protection, nest sites, and food that hedgerows offer to wildlife is vital during the breeding season, when they are used by 55 of the 110 bird species regularly recorded in our Countryside Bird Survey. Healthy hedgerows also speed up water infiltration into the soil, trap pollutants from surface runoff, and are a barrier against strong wind, rain, and sun.
Unfortunately, it’s not all good news. Hedgerows are being mismanaged and
removed for reasons such as convenience, construction, agricultural intensification, and aesthetic values. We can protect our hedgerows with nature-friendly management such as lighter A-shape trimming and rejuvenation through hedge laying. To prevent their removal, we could identify existing hedgerows in Local Area Plans so they are considered as part of the green space in developments. We could also enforce a mitigation hierarchy which emphasises opportunities for translocation where keeping hedgerows in-situ is not possible. To do this, we must change attitudes and strengthen policy and legislation. The latter point was recommended by the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, which noted that “Existing legislation and regulations regarding hedgerows must be reviewed, strengthened and fully enforced, with due regard to public safety.” These may include the Wildlife Acts, 1976 and 2000, EU
Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC, Common Agricultural Policy Conditionality, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) (Agriculture) Regulations 2011, and more recently, the Nature Restoration Law 2024 and proposed Protection of Hedgerows Bill 2024.
The Wildlife Acts, 1976 and 2000, and EU Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC legally protect hedgerows if they contain a bat roost, meaning that a licence from the National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) is required for any disturbance. Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976 should also be familiar to anyone managing hedgerows as it prohibits cutting, burning, or otherwise destroying vegetation between 1st March to 31st August to protect nesting birds. However, work is exempt if carried out in the “ordinary course of agriculture or forestry”, which includes horticulture and garden hedges. Exemptions also apply to construction or road safety, based on Section 70 of the Roads Act 1993. Hedgerows are a human-made habitat planted to delineate field boundaries, as a physical barrier, and for aesthetic or biodiversity purposes. By this logic, all hedgerows fall under the agricultural and
for payments. Farm hedgerows can still be removed under exceptional circumstances for building work or safety issues; though this does not include removing boundaries dividing two fields. Under GAEC 8, hedgerow removal falls under the EIA (Agriculture) Regulations 2011 and requires replanting with double the original length. However, this does not offer sufficient protection as the Regulations’ screening thresholds are too high and a newly planted hedgerow will take many years to become a functioning habitat.
The Regulations apply to farmers and involve an initial screening process followed by an EIA if deemed necessary. The mandatory thresholds for screening are either 500m of hedgerow or the restructuring of 5ha of land. For EIA, these increase to 4km or 50ha, respectively. The Regulations Guide to Farmers specifies that sub-threshold works must still go through screening if they “may have a significant effect on the environment” or if the hedgerows are “important commuting routes or feeding habitats for bat species”. Since all hedgerows are vital for bats, it would seem that any work should be screened by default. However,
and more reviews of approved works to improve the system’s credibility.
A positive development in legislation affecting hedgerows was the adoption of the EU Nature Restoration Law in June 2024. Article 11 sets out targets for Member States to achieve increasing trends in the grassland butterfly index, stock of organic carbon in cropland mineral soils, and share of agricultural land with high-diversity landscape features, such as hedgerows. There are other targets for forestry, aquatic ecosystems, and urban areas. Measures for individual landowners will be voluntary and financially incentivised through various schemes. However, the new law is mandatory for Ireland as an EU Member State, meaning that as a country we have a legal obligation to meet the targets for nature restoration.
Another new initiative is the Protection of Hedgerows Bill 2024, brought before the Dáil by members of the Climate Bar Association in collaboration with Dr Alan Moore and other hedgerow advocates in Co. Tipperary. The Bill proposes additional restrictions on the removal of significant hedgerows, guided by factors from the
"SINCE ALL HEDGEROWS ARE VITAL FOR BATS, IT WOULD SEEM THAT ANY WORK SHOULD BE SCREENED BY DEFAULT. HOWEVER, THE THRESHOLDS MEAN THAT A LOT OF REMOVAL IS NOT SCREENED, AND IF IT IS, THE APPLICATIONS ARE USUALLY APPROVED"
horticultural exemption. There needs to be greater clarity on which hedgerows are actually protected outside of the exemptions. The NPWS is currently reviewing Ireland’s wildlife legislation and must address these faults to adequately protect hedgerows and nesting birds. Maintaining safe sightlines on roadside hedgerows is necessary, but we must cease the out-of-season cutting of internal hedgerows in gardens, parks, and farms. Speaking of farms, a positive development under the Common Agricultural Policy 2023-2027 is that at least 4% of eligible land must be devoted to biodiversity in order to receive the single farm payment. The ‘Space for Nature’ requirement falls under Conditionality and the Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) 8. The direct financial value placed on hedgerows is positive because farmers were previously penalised for these non-productive areas. As a result, hedgerows were removed or managed more intensively to maximise the area eligible
the thresholds mean that a lot of removal is not screened, and if it is, the applications are usually approved. Fortunately, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is currently reviewing the EIA (Agriculture) Regulations 2011. Hopefully, they will integrate recommendations from the consultation and reduce these exceedingly high thresholds. Submissions also requested a clear, standard methodology for assessing applications
Hedgerow Appraisal System 2013. For example, historical and cultural elements, species diversity, structural features, habitat connectivity, and ecosystem services. The Bill is currently before Dáil Éireann at the Second Stage, so stay tuned! As it currently stands, the extent of hedgerow mismanagement and removal is failing both people and our nature. Nevertheless, reviews of the wildlife legislation and EIA (Agriculture) Regulations 2011 indicate that there is an openness to change. It is vital that we all respond to consultations and play our part in strengthening the legislation and regulations that protect hedgerows. By promoting nature-friendly hedgerow management, we can also shift societal norms and people’s attitudes towards this integral part of our landscape, which will eventually reduce the underlying need for enforcement of legislation.
Katie Smirnova is Campaigns Officer at Hedgerows Ireland
Photos: Hedgerows Ireland
THE MAGIC OF AN
IRISH
IN HEALING NATURE, WE HEAL OURSELVES
By EOGHAN DALTUN
In 2009, I sold my small house in Kilmainham, Dublin, and used the proceeds to buy a 73-acre farm near Eyeries on the north side of the Beara Peninsula, West Cork. It was the start of a fantastic journey, and a deep dive into wild nature that has never stopped since.
Many things attracted me to this particular piece of land: the stunning views, looking out over the open Atlantic, Deenish and Scarrif islands, the Skelligs, the Iveragh Peninsula, and the MacGillycuddy Reeks mountains, including Ireland’s highest, Carrauntoohil. The terrain is hugely complex, with towering escarpments, deep gorges, massive erratic boulders, ‘knife-edge slabs’, and many other markers of deep, geological time. All this is traversed by a weave of streams, which become rushing, foaming torrents after heavy rain.
But the most outstanding feature of all is the extensive covering of wild temperate rainforest. In the years after moving to the area, I was able to piece together how this ecological wonderland came to be. Essentially, the family that lived here in the past, the Crowleys, had mostly emigrated to the
"I WAS WITNESS TO THE MOST WONDERFUL EXPLOSION OF LIFE IN ALL ITS DIVERSITY AND ABUNDANCE, AS THE ECOSYSTEM RESPONDED TO THE LIFTING OF ARTIFICIAL GRAZING PRESSURE"
United States in the early 20th century, leaving the land largely unfarmed.
The general absence of grazing livestock allowed surviving pockets of wild native trees to seed themselves back out, recolonising patches of ground in between: a mixture of sessile oak, downy birch, holly, grey and eared willow, hawthorn, rowan, hazel, blackthorn, alder, ash, and wild apple. Equally importantly, the rest of the ecosystem was able to follow: the flowers, ferns, mosses, insects, lichens, microbes, mycorrhizal fungi, and so on.
The first time I saw the place, I was in complete awe of its beauty and wonder, almost to the point of feeling overwhelmed. But I was also aware that something was deeply wrong. The forest floor was stripped entirely bare, as if an army equipped with petrol-driven strimmers was constantly moving through the forest, obliterating all vegetation below head height. In addition, Rhododendron ponticum and many other alien invasive plants were running rampant.
Eoghan’s woodland at Bofickil overlooking the Atlantic. Photo: The Magic of an Irish Rainforest
Native woodland diversity with bluebells and Hart'stongue ferns. Photo: The Magic of an Irish Rainforest
The root cause of the problems wasn’t long in revealing itself: a mob of feral goats, whose central hangout was the forest on the farm. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has a list of the world’s 100 worst alien invasive species, and it’s for very good reason that goats feature on it. They devour almost all native vegetation, including tree seedlings and other important flora, but leave most non-natives like rhododendrons alone.
The result is that ecosystems are unable to regenerate, so over time they simply die away with no younger trees to replace aging elders. The goats had also been peeling the bark from many of the tree trunks, leaving the forest littered with dead trees. Another invasive herbivore, sika deer, brought to Ireland from far east Asia in the 1860s, was also making a significant contribution to this ongoing ecological meltdown. And the severe overgrazing caused by these two species was creating the ideal conditions for a host of invasive plants like Rhododendron ponticum to spread rapidly.
To rectify the situation, I applied for a grant under the Native Woodland Scheme (Conservation element) to fence out the goats and sika from around 21.5 acres where most of the forest was. Meanwhile, in my spare time I set to work eliminating the rhododendron and about 8 other invasive plant species. After 18 months, the grant was approved and contractors spent a couple of weeks putting up
"THERE IS AN INCREASING AWARENESS THAT THE BARE HILLS OF WICKLOW, KERRY, DOWN, AND MAYO ARE NOT A NATURAL STATE"
a 2m-high fence, an extremely arduous job given the rough terrain.
These efforts paid off spectacularly. Over the following months and years, I was witness to the most wonderful explosion of life in all its diversity and abundance, as the ecosystem responded to the lifting of artificial grazing pressure. Native tree seedlings began to pop up everywhere, and were able to carry on growing into what has since become new rainforest. The existing forest erupted with wildflowers and other flora that I had presumed wasn’t present at all: wood anemone, bluebells, herb Robert, primrose, sanicle, yellow pimpernel, dog violet, bugle, and scores of others.
All this floral flourishing created a veritable boom in insect and bird life, and several previously absent relatively rare native mammals have since moved in or started to come by: lesser horseshoe bats, pine martens, and otters in the streams. It has been pure joy to play a part in this renaissance, a process which, over 12 years later still goes on, and which has changed my life profoundly alongside the ecosystem itself. However, it has also brought me deep pain. Why, you may ask?
Experiencing firsthand how rich nature can be in Ireland, means that now, virtually everywhere else I look, I see only empty, biological deserts. From one end of the island to the other, we have turned Ireland into one big farm, predominantly filled with cattle, sheep, or tree plantations. Monocultures of the associated perennial ryegrass, purple moorgrass, or Sitka spruce now dominate where rich, diverse, natural ecosystems once thrived.
Even those few, tiny places whose primary purpose should be to offer sanctuary to wild nature – our national parks – are wrecked. Visit Killarney National Park near me, for example, our most extensive remaining fragment of rainforest (or native forest of any sort), and you’ll find a dying ecosystem, being killed by exactly the same factors that were afflicting my place: sika, goats, and rhododendron. Ecologists have been calling out the situation in the park for over half a century now, yet little changes, even under the current coalition government that includes the Green Party. It’s simply outrageous, not to mention maddeningly frustrating and depressing.
Visit other national parks and pieces of wild habitat across the country, and you’ll generally find the very same scenario. In 2018, the Natural History Museum of London compiled what was called a ‘Global Biodiversity Intactness Index’, which looked at all 240 nations and states on the planet, ranking them according to how nature is faring. Ireland came in thirteenth from the bottom (Northern Ireland is worse, at twelfth). All the other data we have is screaming the very same message: Irish nature is in a desperate state, and getting worse. But now, having thoroughly depressed the reader, I want to tell you I sense that things are starting to shift radically. In September 2022 my book telling the story of moving to Beara and restoring the forest
Lesser horseshoe bats are part of Atlantic rainforests biodiversity.
Photo: Mike Brown
was published. Sales of ‘An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey into the Magic of Rewilding’ exceeded my wildest expectations, becoming a national bestseller and selling copies all over the world. It also won an An Post book award, and has been shortlisted for the Royal Irish Academy’s Michel Déon Prize (the winner of which will be announced in late October). A documentary film is being shot in the forest, for showing to Irish and international audiences.
I’m convinced none of this would have been possible without a real hunger on the part of Irish people for a new relationship with the natural world. There is an increasing awareness that the bare hills of Wicklow, Kerry, Down, and Mayo are not a natural state. That native forest now only accounts for only around 1% of overall land area, down from an estimated pre-farming original of 80%. That most of those surviving bits are in the same dying state as my place was when I arrived. That the invasive sika deer, which are making such a major contribution to the death of our last forests, are still protected by law. That our rivers have been turned from pristine arteries bursting with life into mere open sewers for carrying away excess water and pollution, mostly from farms. And so on, ad infinitum.
I feel a deep shift in consciousness is taking place, with ever fewer people prepared to simply stand by while what’s left of Irish nature continues to be flushed down the tube as though it were worthless. There is a palpable awakening in the form of curiosity about our natural heritage, and huge anger at how it has, and is being, annihilated, mostly to line the pockets of an already rich few. Is this change happening fast enough? I don’t know. All I can say is that this is the most important fight in human history, perhaps in the history of Earth itself: to preserve the communities of life – ecosystems – that have taken hundreds of millions of years (billions, in a sense) to evolve.
All the scientific knowledge we have now tells us the same thing: our planet is only habitable because the sum of its natural ecosystems, known as the
Common Dog-Violet (Viola riviniana) a flower of native woodlands Photo: iStockphoto
The sum of our planet's natural ecosystem is known as the biosphere. River and woodland ecosystem at Cladagh Glen Fermanagh. Photo:The Magic of an Irish Rainforest.
biosphere, make it so. By frenziedly killing off nature, we have been killing off a future for our own children and theirs, to say nothing of the millions of other species with every bit as much right as us to live out their lives without being driven to extinction, to continue their evolutionary paths.
Yet I am hopeful. Despite all the vested interests that are fighting tooth and nail to be permitted to continue to get rich by plundering nature. Despite all the remaining public ignorance and inbuilt aversion to change, I am hopeful. I believe the majority of people are waking up to what’s at stake, to the fact that we live in a miracle world of breathtaking beauty and wonder, and that it’s being annihilated, fast. There’s a rapidly increasing understanding of the need to start valuing and protecting nature, and allowing it to return through mass rewilding. My prediction is that in five or ten years, this new awareness will be starting to assume physical form, with a wilder Ireland taking shape.
But perhaps the thing that gives me the greatest hope is seeing, over the last 15 years, the sheer power of nature to heal itself of the damage we have done to it, with only a little human help. I experience this every day in my patch of wild Atlantic rainforest.
And as I have also found, in healing nature, we heal ourselves.
About the Author: Eoghan Daltun is a sculpture conservator, a farmer, an author and, above all, a rewilder. Eoghan is a Trustee of the Irish Wildlife Trust and a leading advocate for rewilding in Ireland.
Eoghan’s second book, ‘The Magic of an Irish Rainforest: A Visual Journey’ (Hachette), a photographic exploration and celebration of rainforests across Ireland, from west Cork to north Antrim, was published this September. See our competition page for a change to win a copy.
"ALL THE SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE WE HAVE NOW TELLS US THE SAME THING: OUR PLANET IS ONLY HABITABLE BECAUSE THE SUM OF ITS NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS, KNOWN AS THE BIOSPHERE, MAKE IT SO"
By BILLY FLYNN
A WHOLE HEAP OF
DIFFERENCE
COMPOSTINGONE OF THE BEST THINGS YOU CAN DO FOR THE ENVIRONMENT RIGHT NOW
Last weekend, an unusual thing happened as I was doing the dishes. It wasn’t the fact that I was doing the dishes (this isn’t in any way unusual), it was what I saw. Our kitchen window looks out onto a largeish patch of concrete which is often colloquially referred to as ‘the street’ (it’s a Monaghan thing1) and crossing this was a rather big Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus). The most unusual aspect of all this was that it was the middle of the day. I pointed out our visitor to my beloved and to our youngest. Both ladies ran outside to get a
closer look and a photo. The Hedgehog was largely unbothered by the attention and mooched around until the squealing got a bit much and then waddled off into the long grass. Our cat dashed over to see what was going on but wisely decided to give pursuit a miss this time.
My wife is thrilled at how our laissez-faire2 approach to gardening has paid off in terms of the diversity of species we’ve had either residing in or visiting our patch of semiwilderness. Later in the week she asked me if the Hedgehog would feed on the compost heap in the corner. I mansplained3 that no, they are pretty much carnivorous but they would find ample bugs, slugs and other moving things that they would like to eat. Thinking about it a bit longer, I said that it was also not uncommon for Hedgehogs to burrow under a dryish compost heap and hole up there as these
"THE WHOLE COMPOSTING PROCESS IS ALIVE, IF YOU LIKE. IT’S A WHOLE RAFT OF LIVING THINGS THAT WORK TOGETHER "
of driving or becoming an overnight vegan, composting can be started at any time of the year and starts doing good straightaway. Also, very little expertise or know-how is required. On this note, this article won’t bore you with the very few details that you need to be aware of to get started on your composting journey. There’s masses of information online on this4. All you need is a bit of space outside or even in your shed or garage if you don’t have your own ‘street.’
Garden compost turning waste into an ecosystem. Photo: iStockphotos
Garden compost turning waste into an ecosystem. Photo: iStockphotos
can be toasty warm. Gosh, said my much better half, compost is pretty great really, when you think about it. I did think about it (after a few minutes mulling over that this is where middle age has brought us and will it get any worse?), then I decided to write about it, which brings us to here. Composting is indeed pretty great. In fact, with little risk of hyperbole, I think that it’s fair to say that composting is one of the very best things that you can do for the environment right now. The ‘right now’ bit is key, as you don’t need to delay this bit of environmental valour. Unlike tree-planting, planning to walk or cycle to work instead
To understand just why composting is so good, I’d recommend that you zoom back out from your potato peels to the bigger picture. Our world is powered by the sun. More correctly, green plants are powered by the sun and they turn this light energy into organic material that we can consume. We often choose to discard the bits of the spud we don’t want and for years householders just threw these away to end up in landfill. In a world without human intervention like black bin bags, unconsumed organic material would break down and the nutrients therein would return to the soil from whence the spud (or whatever) had grown. Effectively recycling them for the next wild crop. Composting simply brings us back to this good place, albeit with some human tweaks added to make it handy or work more quickly.
Before it became as common as it is now, the thought of composting used to instill fear into the hearts of those that dreaded a compost heap attracting or even housing unwanted 4-legged visitors. While not impossible, this is rare. The author has been involved with dozens of household and school composting projects and has seen this only once. The perceived lack of knowhow has also held some people back. It shouldn’t. All the complicated science that makes it work doesn’t need to be understood, it’ll happen. My parents’ foray into the world of compost involved my mother gradually filling paper potato sacks with peels and cores etc. and giving them to my father, who thought this was all just hippy madness and simply chucked them in a pile underneath the trees. The result was (eventually) excellent compost. What makes composting such an environmental ‘good’ then? Well, everything about it. You are recycling nutrients, water and minerals. You are diverting material away from landfill where it would be entirely wasted, and indeed could become harmful. You are saving carbon from the atmosphere, saving water from being wasted, recycling without any need for transport or energy use, and on top of all that, you are creating habitat and indeed ecosystems! The whole composting process is alive, if you like. It’s a whole raft of living things that work together and in series to break down the peels and other things we don’t want into more readily digestible bits for the next bacteria, bugs and beasties that work on it and pass it on. The end result? A humus-like material that is incredibly useful and versatile in the garden. This in turn saves on purchasing commercial compost that may be peatbased and is extremely harmful to the planet to produce.
Perhaps best of all, once you start the compost ball rolling, it’s just about effortless to continue. The promise of having exciting wildlife in the garden is nearly enough to get the children taking the buckets of organics out to the heap themselves. Nearly enough!
1. Seriously, it is. If you don’t believe me, check out The Most Beautiful Villages of Ireland by the amazing Dr Christopher Fitzsimons.
2. If you’ve ever wondered the etymology of the word ‘lazy,’ there you go. You are welcome.
3. I was dismayed to find that this word-processing package didn’t try to tell me that this isn't a real word.
4. See for example www.mywaste.ie (for general info) or www.untamedscience.com for the science of composting.
5. You know the ones. They have strings at the top that are meant to magically unravel but never do and you end up cutting the whole top of the bag off with big scissors.
AN ISLAND Exploration
"WALKING INTO THE OAKWOOD ON MORGAN’S ISLAND WAS LIKE WALKING INTO A MEDIEVAL FOREST"
IBy GORDON D'ARCY
t was one of those pet days – sunny, warm, windless – when a team of four naturalists, Cilian Roden, Carl Wright, Bob Ludgate and I, set o from Oughterard pier on the west side of Lough Corrib. Our quest was to investigate the ora and fauna of some uninhabited islands that are sprinkled across the upper part of the lake. It is said that this lake -second largest in Ireland – has an island for every day of the year. As with Clew Bay in Mayo (which also claims 365 islands!) they are ‘drowned’ drumlins, deposits from the last Ice Age. North-east to south-west trending mounds, mainly oblong in shape, they punctuate the watery expanse like a otilla of battleships.
Our visit, organised by botanist Dr. Roden, was stimulated by ecological curiosity and a certain sense of mystery which o en
accompanies isolated locations. Could these islands support species that are nowadays scarce or even absent from the mainland? Could they provide an historical window into our more ‘tamed’ contemporary environment? Were they worthy of special consideration for conservation? ough the largest of the archipelago, Inchagoill, is an early Christian site, for centuries a place of veneration for pilgrims, most of the islands have undoubtedly received little attention, other than from occasional shermen and campers. An aura of abandonment to nature, a sense reinforced by the absence of formal landing places (despite the lowering of the Lough by a metre in the 1850’s), nevertheless emanates from the archipelago.
ough barely 2.0 acres in extent, walking into the oakwood on Morgan’s Island was like walking into a medieval forest. Here, eleven native tree and shrub species and dozens of native plants were recorded by plantsmen
Cilian and Carl. Scarcities encountered included alder buckthorn but not bitter vetch, an ‘indicator’ species, (found previously by Cilian on one of the other islands). A carpet of woodrush, a ground-cover plant present on all four islands visited, however, consolidated the ‘feel’ of old woodland. The primeval atmosphere was interrupted by the presence of a single sycamore, reflecting the capacity for the areal seed dispersal of this naturalized species. Nor could we ignore the stark visual impact of ash dieback (noted on several of the islands). As expected, insects were prolific. Clouds of midges and blackfly hovered above the willow fringes and hapless stonefly and mayfly struggled to be airborne from the watery shallows. Birdlife was understandably scarce given the island’s location; only six common songbirds revealed their presence in the luxuriant canopy. Though none was seen, an excavated burrow on higher ground, pointed to the presence of otters.
Departing Morgan’s island the conversation turned to the islands’ names. Who, for instance, was Morgan? Some had Irish names that were translatable like Illaun Dá bhreac (Island of the two trout) and Oiléan an Iolra (Eagle island). Nor was there any issue with Inis beitheach (Birch island) or Oileán na bhFraochóg (Bilberry island). Others, however, Illaunacleha and Illaunanroor were enigmatic. Bilberry island was canopied with oak and a variety of other hardwoods. Woodrush comprised a monoculture at the island’s periphery and here, indeed, was bilberry. Bob informed us that the white-tailed eagle had been seen a number of times on the upper lake and that there were hopes that it might return one day to nest, perhaps on the island named for it.
The availability of fish would be a vital determinant not only for the successful return of the eagle but also for the continuing reputation of Oughterard as an angling mecca. According to Bob, the number caught on rod and line has been declining alarmingly and Oughterard, once the angling capital of the west, was no longer attracting large numbers of anglers. What was the cause? Our boatman was in no doubt: agricultural run-off and pollution from a number of domestic sources were to blame. Birdlife was also not what it once was. Once famous for its breeding scoters, mergansers and other wildfowl, their decline has been put down to disturbance from increased “boat traffic”, rather than pollution. Though we did see both species and also breeding common gulls and terns, as we returned to the quay and its moorings, we were conscious of their vulnerability. On one
of the islands visited an abandoned grey-lag goose nest contained broken eggs and signs of depredation by mink.
The lake encompasses fourteen habitats listed for conservation under the EU Habitats Directive. Ostensibly its waters are pristine but eutrophic algal accumulation could be detected in a few places. Anglers rail against the cavalier introduction of non-native fish as bait and the dreaded uncontrolled spread of the zebra-mussel.
Lough Corrib’s islands, like all our habitats, reflect the constancy of change. While they represent microcosms of Ireland’s wooded past, harbouring scarce and declining species, they also support invasives.
As we returned from our exciting islandhopping expedition conservation became the subject of lively conversation among the opinionated quartet. ‘Nature could not and should not be ‘freeze-framed’: the islands’ biodiversity should not be ‘interfered with’ and should be monitored rather than managed; It’s impossible to halt the inexorable degradation of human influence… Another opinion, based on the concept of non-anthropogenic circumstance giving rise to nature’s composition (on the islands as elsewhere) posited ‘biogeographical processes should be protected and maintained; long-standing resident species should be favoured over newcomers; invasives, with their capacity to radically alter the status quo, should be controlled’…
Naturally, consensus proved elusive.
"LOUGH CORRIB’S ISLANDS, LIKE ALL OUR HABITATS, REFLECT THE CONSTANCY OF CHANGE. WHILE THEY REPRESENT MICROCOSMS OF IRELAND’S WOODED PAST, HARBOURING SCARCE AND DECLINING SPECIES, THEY ALSO SUPPORT INVASIVES"
Shore of Morgan Island.
Photo: Dr. Cilian Roden
View of Morgan Island,.
Photo: Dr. Cilian Roden
A BIRD’SEYEVIEWOFTHEWORLD
ON A DIFFERENT WAVELENGHT
By ANNE SUNDERMANN
In winter, Ireland’s skies feature the mass flight or murmuration of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). These impressive clouds of starlings form and re-form into dynamic patterns across the sky. Individual starlings, however, seem fairly nondescript. According to Birdwatch Ireland, “Adults in summer plumage have a glossy all dark plumage with a green and purple sheen and the bill is yellow. In the winter, adults are heavily spotted in yellowish white and the bill is dark.” That’s what humans see.
How starlings see themselves is much different, more akin to the jewel-toned plumage of a hummingbird with deeper purples, russets, a blue bill, and a scattering of reflective ultraviolet (UV) spots and patches.
This super-saturated view of the world is in large part due to the ability of starlings to see beyond the visible spectrum. Many creatures, including most humans, see the world in trichromatic
vision, with three ocular cones offering visuals in a limited spectrum of red, green, and blue (and combinations thereof). However, a host of bird, reptile, fish, and occasional insect species have developed a fourth ocular cone, making them tetrachromatic. There is one species of shrimp (the mantis shrimp) that has 12 types of ocular cones.
ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE
On either side of the visible spectrum (between 400 nanometre [nm] and 700 nm) lies non-spectral light, largely undetectable to the trichromatic eye. Bracketing the visual spectrum, ultraviolet light has a shorter wavelength, between 10 and 400 nm, whereas the wavelength of infrared light is between 700 nm and 1 mm. Some (long wave) ultraviolet can induce chemical reactions and cause fluorescence.
Light, both spectral and non-spectral, is processed by the avian brain to inform and direct behavioural tasks. Put simply, external light is converted by photoreceptors (rods and cones), specialized cells in the retina. Rods are in charge of distinguishing
"HOW STARLINGS SEE THEMSELVES IS MUCH DIFFERENT, MORE AKIN TO THE JEWEL-TONED PLUMAGE OF A HUMMINGBIRD"
Jewel-toned plumage of a rufous-tailed hummingbird
European Starling as seen through the human eye
general shapes. Cones play an important role, determining colour vision and finer detail.
The photoreceptors convert ambient light into electrical impulses, which are uploaded to the brain as colour images. How much colour depends on the absorbency of the cone cells, and how they interpret the wavelength of the various components of the spectrum (short waves are red, medium are green, and long are blue).
Bird lenses and other ocular media (such as the cornea and vitreous humour) transmit UV, which enables processing and use of UV light. To amplify the advantage of the extra ocular cone, each cone cell contains a small amount of oil, which helps the brain compare and distinguish between colours, as well as detect UV light.
VISUAL CUES
This advanced tetrachromatic palette serves birds well, including intraspecies communication and social interaction. Tetrachromacy affects many aspects of individual avian existence, particularly finding food, asserting dominance, attracting mates, and signalling alarm. The enhanced visual spectrum provides information involving circadian control, magnetic orientation to the north and south poles (for migrations), and light-sensitive movement. For example, researchers discovered that the urine of certain rodent species emits UV light, making it easier for avian predators to locate prey in a field.
Bird species like the murmurating starlings use UV colour, pattern, and reflectivity signals in their feathers to indicate their status and fitness to others in the flock. Behavioural research shows how UV information is used by birds to make foraging and signalling decisions. It has been noted that desirable or dominant birds may have more UV-reflective plumage or reflective patches. Ultraviolet signals may also be used to reinforce social bonds and establish roles within a specific group of birds.
TRY TO SEE IT THEIR WAY
Tetrachromacy is a popular and effective evolutionary adaptation seen in bird species as well as reptiles, fish, and insects. Elevated visual perception provides an advantage in feeding, mating, and other tasks. When removed, the lack of UV wavelengths has been shown to affect the mating process. Urbanization and pollution may alter the UV landscape and potentially disrupt birds’ visual cues, leading to problems in feeding and navigation. Habitat destruction can eliminate or alter the availability of UV-reflective plants, impacting birds' ability to find food and recognize suitable breeding sites. As more research is completed, the extraordinary scope of the avian visual world will unfold and we can better learn how to cause less disruption to their environment.
Resources
Innes C. Cuthill, Julian C. Partridge, Andrew T.D. Bennett, Stuart C. Church, Nathan S. Hart, Sarah Hunt, Ultraviolet Vision in Birds, Eds: Peter J.B. Slater, Jay S. Rosenblatt, Charles T. Snowdon, Timothy J. Roper, Advances in the Study of Behavior (2000) 29, 159-214
Almut Kelber, Bird colour vision – from cones to perception, Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, (2019) 30, 34-40
Olle Lind, Almut Kelber, Avian colour vision: Effects of variation in receptor sensitivity and noise data on model predictions as compared to behavioural results, Vision Research (2009) 49(15), 1939-1947.
Jay Withgott, Taking a Bird's-Eye View…in the UV: Recent studies reveal a surprising new picture of how birds see the world, BioScience, (2000) 50(10), 854–859.
CRAYFISH PLAGUE
Ireland’s
most concerning invasive species?
By TIM CLABON
Cray sh plague caused by a fungal disease (Aphanomyces astaci) is perhaps one of Ireland's most concerning invasive species. is pathogen was rst reported from the Midlands in 1987, but not seen again until 2015 when A. astaci caused a mass mortality event in the River Erne catchment. Since then, the disease has spread, infecting 18 river catchment areas between 2015 and 2018. e presence of A. astaci was con rmed
through the examination of dead cray sh and environmental DNA sampling of watercourses.
A. astaci is of major concern as it causes 100% mortality to the internationally threatened White-Clawed Cray sh (Austropotamobius pallipes), the only cray sh species native to Ireland. How the disease arrived in Ireland is not clear. ree distinct genotypes identi ed through laboratory testing indicate that perhaps there were three separate introductions.
It is believed that cray sh plague reached Ireland through the introduction of nonnative cray sh or via contaminated
equipment moved between water bodies. However, in Ireland surveys carried out within water bodies where A. astaci has been detected showed no evidence of nonnative cray sh being present. To mitigate the risk of further transmission legislative changes were made. S.I. No. 354/2018— European Union (Invasive Alien Species) (Freshwater Cray sh) Regulations 2018 (SI 354/18) banned the possession, sale, breeding and use of ve cray sh species that are well established in Europe. e legislation could have gone further to ban all freshwater cray sh species. e Department of Agriculture, Food and the
White - clawed crayfish in Ireland and beyond are threatened with extinction due to the crayfish plague
Sporulation - Aphanomyces astaci; crayfish plague, sporulation. ©BRAM KOESE/VIA WIKIPEDIA – CC BY-SA 4.0
Marine (DAFM) and Irish Customs were asked if any unauthorised species had been intercepted. Irish Customs re-directed the question to DAFMt, which at time of writing have yet to reply.
Research on the transmission of A. astaci was carried out at the University of Munich to investigate the transmission of the disease via fish skin or via the gastrointestinal tract. Transmission via skin was not observed during the experiments. Fish fed with cuticles infected with A. asaci showed that the disease was still viable after passing through the gastrointestinal tract of fish. This does raise concerns for the movement of fish between watercourses as there is a risk of transmission via infected fish faeces.
All fish imports come with a harmonised fish health certificate certifying they are free from diseases listed in Annex II of the regulation on transmissible animal diseases (EU) 2016/429. A. astaci is not a listed disease and so there is no requirement to test for this disease before entry. However, data from the Marine Institutes Fish Health Unit showing the import of fish for restocking around the time of crayfish plague outbreak in the Erne catchment don’t support this as a means of transmission.The only import of fish before the outbreak was from Northern Ireland, which was free of crayfish plague at the time. So the finger of suspicion points at contaminated equipment.
Given that no non-native crayfish have been found in Ireland, and transmission by fish imports seems unlikely, the most likely cause of transmission was contaminated water equipment. When the disease was reported extensive press releases and information posters were made to highlight the presence and severity of the disease. Voluntary bans on movement were implemented and a voluntary code of “check, clean, dry” when moving equipment between watercourses was launched. However, the disease continued to spread, casting doubt on the effectiveness of this campaign, and the voluntary campaigns were criticised by many at the time. However, as with most diseases once introduced into the environment the spread can be difficult to control, highlighting the importance for prevention. Irish watercourses are an important tourism destination for water-based
"AS WITH MOST DISEASES ONCE INTRODUCED INTO THE ENVIRONMENT THE SPREAD CAN BE DIFFICULT TO CONTROL, HIGHLIGHTING THE IMPORTANCE FOR PREVENTION"
activities. Pre-pandemic figures of angling tourism (2014 - 2018) estimated that around 150,000 overseas anglers visited Ireland annually. Likewise, I believe many Irish anglers take trips abroad for fishing tourism. The figures for other water-based activities are not known. While some users may hire equipment at their destination, many are likely to bring their own equipment. If the equipment is used in crayfish plague infected waters abroad it is very likely that the disease could have been inadvertently brought over on contaminated equipment. Lack of sufficient warnings at entry points such as ports and airports may have contributed to the transmission of the crayfish plague, as well as a lack of awareness among users of water bodies.
As seen with the spread of other invasive species such as Zebra Mussels (Dreissena polymorpha), Asian Clams (Corbicula fluminea) and curly waterweed (Lagarosiphon major) we need to do better with biosecurity measures. The control of crayfish plague only relied on voluntary bans on activities within infected watercourses and awareness campaigns. No active measures were taken to control the spread.This disease has the capability to wipe out all populations of white-clawed crayfish and shows how fragile our ecosystems are. It also underlines the
importance of being vigilant in preventing the spread of unwanted invasive species and reporting any concerns.
Reports of invasive species can be made at https://records.biodiversityireland.ie/ record/invasives#7/53.455/-8.016. However, informing the Inland Fisheries, National Parks and Wildlife Service can also help speed up the process of investigating the presence of invasive species or diseases.
In the December 2023 issue of Irish Wildlife, Crayfish Plague was said to be present in the Grand Canal (Kildare/ Dublin area). Re-testing for the presence of A. asaci by the Marine Institute’s Fish Health Unit showed the disease is not present, the initial result being a false positive. However, this raises the question about where all the crayfish have gone in this area.
Our native crayfish are 100% susceptible to the impact of crayfish plague. Hopefully some populations of crayfish will remain unaffected. Once water bodies are confirmed free of the disease (through sampling and eDNA assessments), can we look at the possibility of restocking with native crayfish?
Reference
Brady, Daniel J., Rossa Meade, Julian D. Reynolds, Andreas Vilcinskas, and Kathrin Theissinger. 2024. "The Crayfish Plague Pathogen Aphanomyces astaci in Ireland" Microorganisms 12, no. 1: 102. Oidtmann B, Heitz E, Rogers D, Hoffmann RW. Transmission of crayfish plague. Dis Aquat Organ. 2002 Nov 22;52(2):159-67. doi: 10.3354/ dao052159. PMID: 12542093. https://www.woah.org/fileadmin/Home/ eng/Health_standards/aahm/current/2.2.02_CRAYFISH.pdf
Connecting the Dots at
LISNAVAGH HOUSE
By KIERAN FLOOD
Today our society's consciousness has grown apart from nature to the point where our leaders and decision makers place more value on the economy than on the very thing that makes both our society and the economy possible - the biosphere. The biosphere is the sum of all life on earth. It is the plant, animal, fungi and bacterial life that make it possible for humans to thrive on this planet. In this column we look at ways to reconnect with nature and once again recognise this network of life that supports us.
Connections and networks are fundamental to the work of the Irish Wildlife Trust, so we were delighted to learn that the theme of National Heritage Week 2024 was Connections, Routes and Networks. To honour this theme, we took to the woods to explore the woodland food web as well as the connection between spending time in nature and human creativity. Staying on theme we decided to branch out and make connections with a new collaborator in order to deliver this ambitious event. And so, on the second Saturday of Heritage Week the team from the Irish Wildlife Trust worked alongside artist and lecturer Gareth Kennedy, of NCAD FIELD and the postgraduate diploma in Art and Ecology, to deliver our “Connecting the Dots” event with Lisnavagh House in County Carlow.
The attendees were greeted in the historical farmyard at Lisnavagh House, from where they were led on a tour of some of the broadleaved woodland on the Lisnavagh estate. A woodland is greater than the sum of its parts. It is a community of living organisms connected with each other through a network of networks. Even one mature oak tree hosts a diverse and complex community of organisms on its branches, leaves and roots. The epiphytic
"A WOODLAND IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS. IT IS A COMMUNITY OF LIVING ORGANISMS CONNECTED WITH EACH OTHER THROUGH A NETWORK OF NETWORKS"
plants, such as ferns and moss, growing on its bows are home to a great diversity of insects and invertebrates. The oak in turn is connected to the rest of the woodland through the mammals and birds that feed on these insects. All these connections make the woodland possible and allow for a rich thriving expression of life.
On this sunny august afternoon we made our way through the woods, stopping to learn about the ecology of the woodland
and meeting some of the ancient trees living there as well as picking up signs of other woodland creatures such as the pine marten and badger. We encountered wych elm, ash and oak, as well as naturalised species such
Noticing the changing light of the woodland canopy
Charcoal expression
"THIS AFTERNOON HELPED GALVANISE OUR COMMITMENT AT THE IWT TO RECONNECT PEOPLE WITH NATURE AND WITH EACH OTHER"
as beech and horse chestnut. Pausing to appreciate the colours, light and sound of a woodland in late summer we slowly made our way to a woodland encampment set up in a clearing by Garath Kennedy and Mairéad Holohan from NCAD. Here participants handled, crafted and worked with woodland materials, exploring their histories and potentials while using them to gently connect their head, their hands and their hearts with the woodland habitat. We gathered around in the dappled, slanting sunlight while Gareth introduced us to woodland crafts like charcoal making
and green woodworking. Gareth was in the process of making charcoal from dead ash, converting the loss we experience from ash dieback into an opportunity for creative expression. The group split in two - one group, with Mairéad, using the fresh charcoal and natural dyes to draw and paint in response to the woodland walk, and the other group with Gareth using the Japanese art of Hapa Zome to create leaf pressings inspired by the trees they spent time with on the woodland walk. Hapa Zome involves hammering fresh leaves on cotton to create a beautiful and delicate leaf pressing.
Hammering to create leaf pressings
Charcoal expression
Leaf pressings
Using dyes with Mairéad
All Images by Emily Nolan
An hour and a half easily slipped by as all were busy in the woodland clearing - painting, drawing and creating leaf pressings of fern, oak and ivy. As the afternoon faded we made our way reluctantly out of the woods and finished off the day with tea and cake back at the farmyard, where further connections were made and strengthened through the age-old art of having the chat. This event was an attempt to spend an afternoon with a group of people exploring the connections that make up an Irish woodland ecosystem but also the connections between the human and non-human parts of our natural heritage. Creativity is one of the many ways we interact with nature and it's a powerful tool for healing the damaging disconnect between ourselves and the rest of the biosphere. This afternoon helped galvanise our commitment at the IWT to reconnect people with nature and with each other.
Thank you to Lisnavagh House for kindly hosting our event in their grounds and to the Heritage Council for funding our work. You can learn more about the work of NCAD FIELD and the postgraduate diploma in Art and Ecology on the website of the National College of Art and Design.
MU RM UR AT IO NS
"IN THE DUSK HOURS OF A NOVEMBER EVENING IN 2020, JAMES CROMBIE SET OUT FOR THE SHORE OF LOUGH ENNELL, CO. WESTMEATH WITH NO GOAL EXCEPT TO FIND A BRIEF REPRIEVE FROM THE CHAOS OF MODERN LIFE"
or this issue of Creativity and Nature we are sharing work by the photographer James Crombie. A sports photographer by profession James was inspired by an encounter with the starling murmurations of Lough Ennell, Co. Westmeath to create beautiful photography such as the image seen here capturing the starlings movement in front of a lone tree. Nature has long been a source of creative
inspiration for people from all walks of life and we hope James' work will help others value the biodiversity of Co. Westmeath. e story of the work unfolded as follows.
In the dusk hours of a November evening in 2020, James Crombie set out for the shore of Lough Ennell, Co. Westmeath with no goal except to nd a brief reprieve from the chaos of modern life. One of Ireland’s most lauded sports photographers, Crombie had spent months each year travelling the globe, snapping glimpses of sporting glory amid roaring crowds. Once the pandemic arrived however, he found himself suspended in an unfamiliar moment of stillness, where his focus could roam beyond the pitch. When a close friend came to him in a moment of grief, the pair made for the lake.
What Crombie found on the shore that evening
- an undulating murmuration of starlings, dancing above the surface of the water - would change his life forever. Desperate to capture the beauty of the murmurations, and to better understand this phenomenon and the surroundings of the lake itself, Crombie began a four year journey, travelling to lake shore for over 100 days per year. In his e orts to capture the formations of the magical birds, Crombie managed to chart the stunning natural cycles of the lake and the surrounding countryside. James is publishing his photography in a new book entitled MURMURATIONS. His book blends narrative and photography, and includes an introduction by ornithologist Seán Ronayne and writing by John Fallon.
MURMURATIONS is published on 24 October by e Lilliput Press
"CROMBIE MANAGED TO CHART THE STUNNING NATURAL CYCLES OF THE LAKE AND THE SURROUNDING COUNTRYSIDE"
1. Majestic Kingfisher by Joe Duffy
2. Cormorants on Ireland's Eye by Eamonn Paul Coyle
3. Hooded Crow in Meath by Megan Gilchrist
1. Soldier beetle on Meadowsweet in Tipperary by Marie Bishop
5. Vixen at River Dodder by Gerard Connell
For this season’s member’s only competition you have a chance to win a copy of The Magic of an Irish Rainforest or one of our organic IWT t-shirts! We have 5 copies of “The Magic of an Irish Rainforest” to give away.
The
Magic of an Irish Rainforest. A Visual
Journey
BY EOGHAN DALTUN
In 2023, environmentalist and rewilder Eoghan Daltun travelled the length and breadth of Ireland photographing areas of temperate rainforest, in a bid to illustrate their beauty and immense ecological value, and to document, in almost all cases, their state of decline.
The resulting collection of stunning images, combined with deeply illuminating nature writing, charts that exploration, beginning with the author’s own thriving wild rainforest on the Beara Peninsula, West Cork, and taking us through the four provinces of Ireland - places such as Killarney National Park, Kerry; The Gearagh, Cork, The Burren, Clare; Old Head Wood, County Mayo; Glenveagh National Park, Donegal; Correl Glen and Cladagh Glen, County Fermanagh; and Wicklow’s beauty spot of Glendalough.
From close-range to wide-lens, luscious forest imagery and landscapes are captured, unimaginably rich in native flora and fauna, offering us a deep insight into rare and priceless ecosystem fragments that we still have but are losing fast, alongside a compelling treatise for how that could so easily be changed for the better.
To win on of these great prizes just answer this question: Is human vision tetrachromatic or trichromatic?
Entry instructions
Send your answer, name, address and prize preference (the book OR a t-shirt) to magazinecomp@iwt.ie by 30th November 2024..
If you choose the t-shirt, tell us the size, colour and design preference. You can view our t-shirt selection on https://iwtclothing.com/
