As Chair of the Irish Wildlife Trust, it is with a mixture of deep gratitude and heartfelt sorrow that I address you in this edition of our magazine. Recently, we received an exceptionally generous, anonymous donation from a family in memory of their beloved daughter, known to us only as “Beautiful Louise”. is remarkable act of kindness in the midst of their grief is a testament to the profound impact she had on those around her.
On behalf of the Irish Wildlife Trust, I extend our sincerest condolences to Louise’s family. We are profoundly moved by your generosity. Louise’s donation will signi cantly bolster our e orts to protect and restore Ireland’s natural habitats and the diverse species that call them home.
In the letter we received, Louise’s family told us that Louise had an “infectious sense of humour” and that she had “so, so much courage and determination”. ese are exactly the qualities needed for our advocacy work.
In the Spring edition, I prematurely celebrated the passing of the Nature Restoration Law, only to have defeat snatched from the jaws of victory a few days later in an unprecedented move by a handful of member states. ankfully, the law was nally passed on June 17th this year. ese are the highs and lows of advocacy work. Our team kept the pressure on, meeting with politicians until the last minute. Green politicians also deserve credit as they continued ghting and got the Law over the line.
In other good news, Ireland has a new national park and our rst marine national park in Co. Kerry. Our Marine Advocate, Grace Carr’s article will explore what National Parks really mean for nature protection in Ireland.
Also in this edition, we hear from our General Manager, Kieran Flood, on our summer activities so far, including National Biodiversity Week while Marion Jammet reviews the progress on the EU Green Deal over the last 5 years.
In our Conservation News, Emily Nolan and Des Kenny report on our new Killarney woodpeckers and new fungi nds. We feature Ireland’s bats and explore our wealth of bat species with Bat Conservation Ireland. In our Citizens’ Assembly column we learn about the idea of reforming the legal mandates of Coillte and Bord na Mona. In Connecting with Nature we encourage everyone to take time to stop and observe nature.
Gordon D’Arcy reports on the wildlife of the Spanish Pyrenees while Billy Flynn focuses on what declining bird numbers tell us about the state of nature. In A Closer Look, Anne Sunderman helps us understand the importance of soil ph to nature. Tim Clabon exposes issues with tree disease in Ireland in our Wild Ideas column. We are delighted that our Biodiversity Research article features our own Monaghan Branch with an exciting new project to map the biodiversity of the Dromore River Catchment. We check out a new Irish album of ambient nature sounds in our Creativity and Nature column. We hope you enjoy these articles from our much-appreciated contributors.
We are always seeking new board membersenvironmental and legal expertise are skills we are currently recruiting for. We welcome applications from our membership. If you know of someone suitable for the role please pass on the details.
ank you again to Louise’s family for your support and trust in the Irish Wildlife Trust. Together, we can continue to champion the protection of Ireland’s wildlife and natural environment, honouring the memory of Louise with every step forward.
We hope you enjoy this season’s edition and we wish you a happy and healthy summer.
Anne Hannan Chair of the Irish Wildlife Trust anne@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:
Common crane, Grus grus, group of birds in early morning, Sweden. Photo: iStockphoto Golden eagle in the Pyrenees. Photo: Alamy Stock Photo
Sceilig Michíl. Photo: iStockphoto
Great spotted woodpecker - male (Dendrocopos major). Photo: iStockphoto Big Puma Fungus. Photo: Catalina Infante, Fungi Foundation Swallow nest. Photo: Mike Brown
Emerald Damsel y Photo: Alamy Stock Photo
Published by Ashville Media Group www.ashville.com
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:
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:
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: Dragon y on hawthorn. Photo: iStockphoto
BELOW: Beautiful china mark moth. Photo: Sinéad Hogan
ACTIVITY UPDATE
By Kieran Flood, IWT General Manager
National Biodiversity Week
Our summer issue of Irish Wildlife is arriving later than normal. We hope you’ll think it was with the wait. Early summer was a busy time at the IWT and since the last issue of this magazine our sta and volunteers have continued our work of biodiversity advocacy and engaging communities with nature. ankfully we have some success to report in both areas.
On the advocacy front, the Nature Restoration Law was nally adopted a er a contentious and hard-fought vote at the EU Environment Council. An alliance of ENGOs, including IWT, campaigned tirelessly to help get this important law over the line, a process that was helped by Irish Environment Minister Eamon Ryan playing a lead role in seeking support from other EU states. e next step is the production of a nature restoration plan for Ireland over the coming two years and the task of securing public support for the plan. A task in which IWT will continue to lead.
IWT Monaghan Branch was successful in winning grant funding from the Heritage Council and the Monaghan
Biodiversity O ce to run an innovative community biodiversity mapping project.
e Branch has developed a project to map the Dromore river catchment and its remaining rich habitats, in order to illustrate its potential as a biodiversity corridor and to connect the network of volunteers active in caring for the river.
e project will produce a website where all mapping outcomes will be freely
available and linked through signage along the river. It will also produce a ‘howto-guide’ for any other community who would like to map their catchment in a similar manner. We wish our Monaghan Branch best of luck with this exciting project. Find out more in our Biodiversity Research article.
In May we ran free in-person nature events across Ireland for National
The dragonfly and botany gang at Curraghchase, Co Limerick.
Photo: Lyn Nolan
Learning about bees at the National Botanic Gardens.
Photo: Emily Nolan
ACTIVITY UPDATE
By Kieran Flood, IWT General Manager
"AS
ALWAYS THE BROAD SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FOR NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY WEEK WAS ONLY MADE POSSIBLE THANKS TO OUR LOCAL BRANCH VOLUNTEERS SHARING THEIR TIME AND KNOWLEDGE TO RUN EVENTS IN THEIR COMMUNITIES. THANK YOU TO ALL THE VOLUNTEERS THAT MADE THIS POSSIBLE".
Biodiversity Week. Biodiversity Week is a great celebration of nature and a change to get outdoors and engage our community with the wonders of Irish wildlife. e week unfolded as follows. We began with a woodland bee walk. Woodland is not where one normally seeks bees, but we were delighted to be running this event in conjunction with the NPWS Knocksink Woods nature reserve education team and we managed to spot plenty of bees in Enniskerry village on the periphery of the woods. On Tuesday our Waterford Branch ran a bat walk along the Waterford Greenway. anks to bat detectors that allow us to hear the high pitched bat echolocation, the group spent an evening strolling along the banks of the river Suir listening to the batsong.
On Saturday we ran our annual Bees at the Bots event in which the National Botanic Gardens hosted us for a wild bee ecology and identi cation workshop. is event taught attendees about the life cycle and habitat needs of our solitary bees and bumblebees, as well as how to identify the species you’ll nd in most parks and gardens. To close the week, we had two events in one day delivered by our Monaghan and Limerick branches. Our Monaghan Branch ran a biological recording workshop at Muckno in Castleblayney. is event brought together local community members with an interest in biological recording. Attendees were from a variety of backgrounds such as tidy towns groups, water protection groups and general interest. We had a great
discussion on the importance of recording and monitoring local biodiversity and how to share these records with the National Biodiversity Data Centre. is was followed by a fun eld trip to Muckno orchard.
Meanwhile across the country, our Limerick Branch ran a botanical and dragon y expedition at Curraghchase Forest Park. e branch distributed insect nets purchased with a grant from the NPWS to attendees and are happy to have boosted attendees' con dence at becoming citizen scientists and for
looking out for our wonderful dragon y species. As always the broad schedule of events for National Biodiversity Week was only made possible thanks to our local branch volunteers sharing their time and knowledge to run events in their communities. ank you to all the volunteers that made this possible. In person community engagement with nature is extremely valuable. Building communities with an interest in nature protection and restoration is a keystone of the work required to save nature in
Ireland.
In the orchard with the Monaghan Branch. Photo: Monaghan Biodiversity Office
Damselfly identification with the Limerick Branch. Photo: Lyn Nolan
Bats on the river Suir with the Waterford Branch. Photo: Andrew Cox
Grace Carr
Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara
On the 22nd of April, Irish Ministers announced Ireland’s rst Marine National Park, Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara. is will be Ireland’s largest National Park covering more than 70,000 acres of land and sea. is is an inspiring vision and it is encouraging to see public money being used to acquire land for nature; however the National Park designation itself doesn’t enhance the environmental protection of these areas. As always, management and resourcing is the key.
What does it cover?
e National Park is situated in Co. Kerry and the newly acquired sites include the Conor Pass, the Owenmore River, Mount Brandon and sand dune sites at Inch Peninsula. Other sites within the park include Little Skellig and Pu n Island, both managed by BirdWatch Ireland as well as several areas managed by the O ce of Public Works (OPW) such as Derrynane House, historic park and beach, Sceilig Michíl and land on Great Blasket Island. An Tiaracht Nature reserve, managed by the Commissioners of Irish Lights is also within the park as well as Valentia Tetrapod Trackway. e marine aspects of the park include the waters around the Blasket Islands and Kerry Head Shoals which host ecologically important limestone reefs.
Sceilig Michíl. Photo: iStockphoto
MARINE NEWS
DOES THIS MEAN MORE PROTECTION?
By Grace Carr
ere are no additional regulations or restrictions being added to these sites now that they are under National Park status. Some of the sites already have some management plans in place with sites like Pu n Island and little Skellig being monitored by BirdWatch Ireland. While it is encouraging to see these ecologically important areas being recognised as a National Park, without setting aside money and resources to appropriately manage these areas, the title doesn’t mean a lot in regards to protecting biodiversity. Some of the areas within the new National Park are already designated under other forms of environmental legislation but still fail to have appropriate management in place to protect biodiversity.
Worryingly for nature, Ministers reassured landowners that no changes to their farming practices would be required in the new National Park. If this is the case for farmers on land then it will likely be the case for shers working in the marine sites of the park. If no regulations are in place and it is business as usual, then the announcement and National Park designation seems slightly redundant.
IRELAND’S OTHER NATIONAL PARKS
Ireland now has six National parks and unfortunately none of these areas have an active management plan in place to ensure e ective protection of nature. All National Parks have a Category II Protected Area rating from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). is means they should apply management plans in the area ‘to protect large-scale ecological processes, along with the complement of species and ecosystems characteristic of the area.’ is rating also allows for ‘a foundation for environmentally and culturally compatible, spiritual, scienti c, educational, recreational, and visitor opportunities’. Let's have a look at the other National Parks in Ireland.
Glenveigh National Park hosts protected areas such as Cloghernagore Bog and Derryveigh and Glendowan Mountains Special Protection Area (SPA). An Annex I habitat ‘blanket bogs’ is found within the park and unfortunately has been subject to illegal mechanical turf cutting in recent years which goes against the National Peatland Strategy 2017. Ireland has also
WHILE IT IS ENCOURAGING TO SEE THESE ECOLOGICALLY IMPORTANT AREAS BEING RECOGNISED AS A NATIONAL PARK, WITHOUT SETTING ASIDE MONEY AND RESOURCES TO APPROPRIATELY MANAGE THESE AREAS, THE TITLE DOESN’T MEAN A LOT IN REGARDS TO PROTECTING BIODIVERSITY.
been taken to court by the EU Court of Justice over its failure to e ectively designate and manage its protected areas under EU law. Blanket bogs and freshwater pearl mussels (critically endangered and also found in Glenveagh National Park) were two of the habitats and species used in the case against Ireland to show that we were not reaching our conservation obligations under the EU Habitats Directive. In 2023, 2,000 native Scot’s pines were planted in the National park as part of a broader scheme to improve the native woodland habitat within the park. is is the largest plantation established in Ireland to date and we hope to see a continuation of measures such as these into the future.
Wild Nephin National Park has the
Owendu /Nephin complex Special Area of Conservation/ Special Protection Area within it. It was famously paired up with Yosemite National Park in America in November 2023, which doesn’t o er any conservation bene ts but twinning with such an iconic area would inevitably increase footfall to the area. e area consistently has signi cant issues arising from invasive rhododendron and non native conifer plantations.
Killarney National Park - which has both Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas within it, has many well documented ecological problems. Some of the main issues are overgrazing by deer, goats and sheep resulting in a lack of regeneration of the native woodland,
destruction from res, mismanagement of the native Red deer population and a spread of invasive rhododendron. e current management plan for Killarney National Park expired over 15 years ago.
Connemara National Park has many protected areas within it including Twelve bens/Garraun complex Special Area of Conservation. In 2018, the IWT complained to the Government about the removal of highly biodiverse native woodland from the National Park. Native woodland is rare in Ireland (only around 1% of our land area) and broad-leaved woodland of any kind is of signi cant ecological value. e woodland was transferred to Galway County Council without public consultation which highlights the poor levels of protection for this National Park.
Wicklow Mountains National Park has undergone controlled burning which (while preferable over wild res) is extremely harmful to the peatlands and shows a failure
labels are applied to areas even when there are no plans or actions in place to actually protect the environment. One could argue that some of the money that was spent purchasing new land could have been put to better use through allocating more resources to protecting the biodiversity in existing National Parks and protected areas.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE?
of proper land management. e latest management plan for the area expired over 15 years ago. Wicklow Mountains National Park is currently Ireland’s largest at 23,000 hectares but it is still smaller than the UK’s smallest National Park and there is currently a petition to get the park extended. Sheep grazing is prevalent here which prevents the natural regeneration of woodland and in the past farmers have been assured that ‘nothing will change’ for them in regards to farming practices in the area.
Burren National Park has been recognised as an area of international conservation interest due to its ‘priority’ EU habitats including limestone pavements and orchid rich calcareous grassland. At around 1,500 hectares it is Ireland’s smallest National Park and it is probably the most successful of all the parks when it comes to the management and conservation of nature.
Unfortunately, we have a history of greenwashing in Ireland and environmental
In regards to the marine aspects of the new National park, enacting strong and ambitious marine protected area legislation will go a lot further when it comes to conserving and restoring these areas into the future. At the time of writing, we are currently still waiting on the government to release MPA legislation and we hope that it will include Fair Seas’ key asks1 as this will ensure the legislation is t for purpose and will bene t marine ecosystems, coastal communities and other stakeholders.
It is very positive that the State has recognised the important ecological value of these sites with this designation. For it to be worthwhile for nature it’s vital that there is engagement across government sectors and stakeholders and that money is now spent on proactively managing the areas.
1 Fair Seas’ key asks are available at https:// fairseas.ie/2023/08/01/ten-key-asks/.
Connemara.
Photo: Pádriac Fogarty
Map of Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara
POLICY UPDATE
By Marion Jammet
The European Green Deal five years on: A review of its Impacts on Nature The European Green Deal?
Approved in 2020, the European Green Deal is a set of policy initiatives aiming at setting the EU on a path to a green transition. It led to a review of existing legislations and to the introduction of new laws on climate action, circularity, but also biodiversity. At the time of its introduction, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the Green Deal would be Europe's "man on the moon moment". Five years onwards, and as a new Commission will be appointed this year, this article looks at the impact of the Green Deal on nature.
A core part of the Green Deal, the EU’s biodiversity strategy for 2030 was published in 2020. Its overall objective was to put Europe's biodiversity on a path to recovery by 2030. e strategy includes speci c actions and commitments to establish a larger network of protected areas, introduce measures to tackle the global biodiversity crisis, as well as to ensure better implementation of existing policies, improve nancing mechanisms, and better respect nature in public and business decision-making. More speci cally, the strategy aimed at legally protecting at least 30% of the EU’s land and sea area by 2030, a third of it (10%) having to be strictly protected. To support the long-term
sustainability of nature (and farming), it included targets to halve the use of chemical pesticides, bring back at least 10% of agricultural area under high-diversity landscape features, and farm at least 25% of the EU’s agricultural land organically by 2030. Furthermore, the strategy included speci c actions to better protect soil, increase a orestation and green urban spaces, and reduce pollution. Building a whole-society approach, and mobilising public and private investment to better protect nature, were also at the heart of the plan. It’s under this strategy that the Commission proposed the EU’s rst Nature Restoration Law. As of June 2024, the EU Biodiversity Strategy Actions Tracker indicates that 49 actions had been completed, 47 were in progress and 8 were delayed (1), but the devil is o en in the details. Let’s focus on some of the most positive developments, before looking at the more contentious areas.
In the previous issue of the magazine, we talked about the adoption of the Nature Restoration Law (NRL) as a fait accompli. e law is at the heart of the EU’s biodiversity strategy for 2030. Although imperfect, it includes an overarching restoration objective for the long-term recovery of nature in the EU’s land and sea areas, with
binding restoration targets for speci c habitats and species. At the time of writing for the Spring issue of the magazine, the European Parliament had just passed a compromise position reached with the Council in the autumn. However, in a very unusual move, several countries, led by Hungary, subsequently switched from supporter to opponent. ey e ectively deprived the text of the necessary support in the Council, leading to huge concern among environmental NGOs and nature enthusiasts. anks to the tireless work of NGOs, citizens, businesses, scientists and supportive politicians from all across Europe to get it over the line, the Nature Restoration Law was nally passed by the EU Council of Environmental Minister in mid-June. Despite six countries having opposed the text - Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Finland, Sweden and Hungary, and one abstention - Belgium, this is a monumental moment for nature. If the le had to be opened up for renegotiation, it would have needed to go through the legislative process again - e recent swing to the right of the European Parliament making it extremely challenging for the proposal to be adopted.
Approximately one-quarter of all living organisms live in the soil. However, it has
European union flag against parliament in Brussels, Belgium. Photo: iStockphoto
been largely overlooked in EU legislation until now, and 60 to 70% of soils in Europe are currently in an unhealthy state. e biodiversity strategy acknowledges that soil is a hugely important non-renewable resource. Against this background, the Commission adopted a proposal for a soil health law in 2023. e proposal sets strong targets for Member States to bring all soils to healthy status by 2050 and prevent further deterioration. It also introduces strong soil health monitoring obligations, as well as the ‘polluter pays’ principle to the decontamination of soils. e Directive was backed by the European Parliament in April, and the Council in June, and will now go to trilogue negotiations between the Parliament, the Commission, and the EU Council. All going well, it is expected that the nal proposal will be voted on early in the next Parliament mandate. Progress was also made in tackling the EU global footprint. is is critical as although the EU only represents 7% of the world’s population, it uses almost 20% of the global biocapacity. Our consumption has a signi cant ecological footprint outside of the EU and leads to nature loss in other regions around the world, including in most major biodiversity hotspots. e EU Deforestation Regulation's (2023/1115) goal is to tackle global deforestation. It aims to do so by prohibiting certain products containing co ee, cocoa, soy, cattle, palm oil, rubber, and wood which were produced from deforestation land or degraded forest. Under this Regulation, from the end of this year, companies that place these commodities on the EU market, or exports from it, will have to ensure that these are not produced on land that was deforested or degraded since December 2020. ey will also have to ensure that these were produced in accordance with the laws of the country of production, including on human rights, and that the rights of a ected indigenous peoples have been respected.
Important pieces of legislation also came through to better respect nature in business decision-making, and drive investment
towards more sustainable activities. ese include the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), and the EU Taxonomy for sustainable activities which all require reporting related to biodiversity. For instance, the CSRD now obliges all larger companies to furnish comprehensive information regarding their sustainability practices, including their environmental impact. is includes disclosures on their supply chains, which o en account for a signi cant part of biodiversity impact. e EU Taxonomy outlines the key criteria to be met for an economic activity to be regarded as “green”, with a view to tackling greenwashing. In simple terms, the more environmentally friendly an activity or a project is, the easier it should be to access funding at a lower interest rate. e Taxonomy Regulation dictates that for an economic activity to be deemed environmentally sustainable, it must make a signi cant contribution to one or more of the six environmental objectives. Among these objectives are the sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, and the preservation of healthy ecosystems and biodiversity.
Despite these positive developments, we can’t write an article on the impact of the Green Deal on nature in June 2024 without mentioning all the challenges and controversies faced in recent months, and the results of the recent European elections. When it comes to protecting biodiversity, the European Green Deal remains an un nished project: Many proposed laws and policies have been undermined, and the results of the European Parliament elections are a source of concern.
"WITH THE WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY TO AVOID IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE TO NATURE RAPIDLY CLOSING, WE CAN NO LONGER AFFORD TO PIT ECONOMIC PROSPERITY AGAINST ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION"
e Nature Restoration Law is a huge win for nature, and its adoption was extremely uncertain when we started working on this article. However, there have already been casualties of the recent backlash against the EU Green Deal. For instance, the proposed regulation on the sustainable use of pesticides was withdrawn in March. Amid continuing protests in Europe, certain previously basic good agricultural and environmental conditions (GAECs) that farmers must ful l to receive funding under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) were recently turned into voluntary practices. ese include requirements for farmers to leave part of their farm fallow to promote biodiversity (GAEC 8) and ensure good practices such as soil cover (GAEC 6) and crop rotation (GAEC 7). It also exempts all farms below 10 ha from any conditionality rule or controls. e legislative process was simply fast-tracked with the text being approved by the European Parliament and the Council within 2 months.
Close to a hundred Green Deal-related laws were passed in the last 5 years, but, while signi cant progress has been made in sectors such as energy e ciency and renewable energy - partly driven by external circumstances such as the war in Ukraine and the need to improve Europe’s security of supply, the adoption of ambitious policies and laws to protect nature has been more challenging. With the window of opportunity to avoid irreversible damage to nature rapidly closing, we can no longer a ord to pit economic prosperity against environmental action. A strong political will is more than ever needed to develop ambitious national Nature Restoration Plans and to implement and enforce existing legislation, but also to ensure important les that remain open go through.
While the EU has put in place a solid legislative framework to protect and restore its natural capital over the years, having the best legislation cannot lead to transformation without proper implementation. Stronger implementation and enforcement must be at the heart of the biodiversity strategy.
Learn more
(1) e EU Biodiversity Strategy Actions Tracker can be accessed at: https:// dopa.jrc.ec.europa.eu/kcbd/actionstracker/
IRISH NEWS
Breeding Great Spotted Woodpeckers in Killarney National Park CONSERVATION NEWS
The latest national and international news from the conservation world, compiled by Emily Nolan, IWT Communications Officer
in 2006 in Tollymore Forest Park in Co. Down. Additionally, in 2008, seven occupied nests were discovered in Wicklow. By 2015, there were 35 occupied nests, and breeding had spread from County Wicklow to include counties Wexford, Kilkenny, Dublin, and Monaghan. Based on sightings submitted to the Biodiversity Data Centre, since 2020, Great Spotted Woodpeckers are now believed to be rapidly colonising deciduous and mixed woodland throughout the West of Ireland, except Co. Mayo.
Killarney National Park has recorded its rst con rmed breeding pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers. is landmark event highlights the remarkable resurgence of this species in Ireland, especially since this woodpecker species was rst recorded in the park's Tomies Wood area in 2013.
THE DISCOVERY
e initial clue came from walkers who reported hearing the distinctive woodpecker drumming amongst the trees this year. e sound led conservation ranger Sam Bayley to investigate further, con rming breeding activity as part of a bird-ringing project under the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) scheme. Soon a er, excited bird watchers spotted vocal chicks preparing to edge, signalling a successful breeding season.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND RECENT RESURGENCE
e Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) is common in Britain and continental Europe, and according to BirdWatch Ireland and the National Biodiversity Data Centre, its numbers and range are increasing across Ireland in recent years. Historically, woodpeckers were welldistributed across Europe, but the Great Spotted Woodpecker was a rare winter visitor to Ireland, arriving occasionally from Scandinavia and Northern Europe during
irruption events - An irruption event is a phenomenon where large numbers of birds or other animals move outside their usual range or migration patterns.
Archaeological evidence indicates that Great Spotted Woodpeckers may have historically bred in Ireland. Femurs from two birds discovered in the Edenvale cave complex near Ennis, Co. Clare, in the early 1900s were carbon-dated to the Bronze Age.
e exact timing of the complete disappearance of the Great Spotted Woodpecker from Ireland remains uncertain, but extensive deforestation during the 17th and 18th centuries is believed to have led to their extinction here. However, recent years have seen a signi cant resurgence in numbers.
From 1989 to 2004, woodpecker sightings were sporadic. But post-2005, sightings surged, with numerous drumming reports in 2008 indicating a potential recolonization. In 2008, Dick Coombes, then coordinator of the Countryside Bird Survey with BirdWatch Ireland and a member of the Irish Rare Birds Committee (IRBC), observed a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers exhibiting courtship behaviour in a woodland area in Wicklow. Although he lost track of them, that year saw around 23 woodpecker sightings, with 14 occurring during the breeding season from April to August. e rst con rmed breeding pair of the recent resurgence was
WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?
e unexpected return of the Great Spotted Woodpecker prompts the questions - where did they come from? In 2011, McDevitt et al.* published research indicating that the Irish population descended from multiple locations across Britain, this is good news for the genetic diversity of the emerging population in Ireland. Great Spotted Woodpeckers typically don’t travel such great distances, however, over the past four decades, Britain's woodpecker population has grown by over 400%, pushing young birds from the western coast to seek new territories, including Ireland.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS DISCOVERY
Breeding in Killarney National Park is an encouraging development for conservationists, suggesting a growing and potentially sustainable woodpecker population in Ireland. ese birds thrive in deciduous and mixed woodlands with mature trees. e expanding population reminds us of the importance of protecting and expanding native, mature woodlands to provide the necessary habitat for these birds and other species. Without these habitats, existing species struggle to survive, and opportunities for range expansion in response to ecological pressures, like this case, could be lost.
Great spotted woodpecker - male (Dendrocopos major)
Photo: iStockphoto
The Search for Lost Species
By DES KELLY
e Search for Lost Species, an initiative by the NGO Re:wild aiming to rediscover lost species of animals, plants and fungi which have no documented sightings in more than a decade, has recently made history. is comes as the rst species of fungi sought out by the organisation, the Big Puma Fungus (Austroomphaliaster nahuelbutensis) was rediscovered in the temperate forests of the Nahuelbuta Mountains, Chile, in May, 2023.
e Nahuelbuta National Park is situated in La Araucanía Region of Chile’s Coastal Mountain Range, covering a total of 6,832 hectares. It is famous for its monkey puzzle trees, while also being home to mountain lions, the pudú (the world’s smallest deer), and the Darwin’s fox. ese species are easy to recognise, and have made the park their home since long before its o cial creation in 1939. ere is however one species whose presence in the park had not been con rmed since 1982, having only been scienti cally documented once in history.
e Big Puma Fungus, is the sole member of the Austroomphaliaster fungal genus, making it a monotypic genus, which is a classi cation in biological taxonomy where the genus contains only a single species. Until recently, the species had not been seen for over 35 years. In May of 2023, a mycological expedition conducted by a team from the Fungi Foundation, supported by Re:wild, set o to Nahuelbuta National Park in an attempt to rediscover the lost fungus.
of the mushroom to guide them in their search. Although the expedition was conducted on foot in a National Park, it was going to be no walk in the park. ey knew it was a grey coloured mushroom, which would blend seamlessly into the leaf litter of the region. e criteria the researchers sought to nd in a specimen of Austroomphaliaster Nahuelbutensis were as follows; umbilicate (i.e. sunken towards the centre), clear greyish gills, and a stem which thickens toward the base. A er a week of scouring the forest oor for a fungus that matched these characteristics on the nal
Re:wild works to bring together local communities, indigenous peoples, governments, nongovernmental organisations, in uential leaders and the public to protect biodiversity and support global rewilding e orts. e organisation works with over 500 partners in more than 80 countries. In collaboration with experts from the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s specialist groups Re:wild has compiled a list of over 2,200 species which have been lost to science for at least 10 years. From this list, a subset of the most wanted lost species was developed, with the Big Puma Fungus emerging as a key target for rediscovery.
In their attempts to rediscover the Big Puma Fungus, researchers retraced the steps of the mycologist Norberto Garrido, the only person in history to have previously laid eyes upon the elusive fungi. Garrido noted in his thesis that the Big Puma Fungus was an ectomycorrhizal, meaning it forms an underground association with certain roots, speci cally Southern Beeches, common in the National Park. is gave the mycological researchers their rst pointers as to where to search.
Following Garrida’s journey through the National Park, using his thesis and drawings of the mushroom ( no photograph of the Big Puma Fungus existed), the researchers formulated a summary
RE:WILD WORKS TO BRING TOGETHER LOCAL COMMUNITIES, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, GOVERNMENTS, NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS, INFLUENTIAL LEADERS AND THE PUBLIC TO PROTECT BIODIVERSITY AND SUPPORT GLOBAL REWILDING EFFORTS.
day of the expedition, four mushrooms were found that t the description. Technical photographs were taken, the mushrooms were carefully collected (ensuring the mycelium was le in the ground), and the samples were transported to the lab for Analysis. Following analysis of the samples, they were found to align both macro and microscopically with the characteristics described by Garrido. A er the initial analysis, the samples underwent molecular analysis at the Munich Herbarium, a process which took months, requiring gentle and sophisticated handling of the original specimen. In the end, it was conclusively found that two samples of the Big Puma Fungus, previously assumed to be extinct, were found by the team, recon rming its presence in Nahuelbuta National Park a er 35 years.
Big Puma Fungus.
Photo: Catalina Infante, Fungi Foundation
BATTY CITIZEN SCIENCE and IRISH BATS with BAT CONSERVATION IRELAND
By NIAMH ROCHE
NIAMH
Many of you have probably seen a bat or two in ight, but their nocturnal habits and the fact that their calls are high pitched and mostly inaudible to our ears means that they are very easy to miss.
In the summer, females gather in nursery colonies and give birth to a single pup. In Ireland nursery roosts are o en, but not always, in buildings – sometimes in attic spaces or behind so ts and fascia boards since these places heat up nicely in the summer sun and increase the chances of babies surviving their rst year. e young are fed with their mother’s milk for six or seven weeks and are usually weaned and able to y by August at which point the nursery roosts disband. Mating takes place in autumn and bats then hibernate through the cooler winter months.
Despite being a relatively small island in the northwest of Europe we are lucky in that we have nine resident bat species in the country. Most of these are distributed widely, although some are more common than others. e species with the most restricted distribution here is the lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros). is bat has very unusual folds of skin around its nose that look somewhat similar to a horseshoe – hence the name. Unlike our other bat species that make their highpitched echolocation calls through their mouths, the lesser horseshoe bat focuses the sounds it makes through its nose! is bat has undergone serious declines in many parts of Europe and is Ireland’s most strictly protected bat species. Its larger summer roosts and winter hibernation sites here are designated as Special Areas of
Conservation. It is found in the west in Counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Clare, Galway and Mayo. It tends to forage in woodland and scrub and makes a fantastic warbling sound on a tuneable bat detector, but this is only audible if you are very close to the bat as the frequency is so high at 110kHz. Higher pitched sounds get lost into the air much more quickly than low pitched sounds – the best way to imagine this is to think about what you can hear from an outdoor concert from a distance – the low-pitched bass drum can be audible from many kilometres away but guitars or high voices not so much. Prior to the 1980s, relatively little was known about bats in Ireland. Compared to mainland Europe where winter hibernacula counts had been ongoing for nearly a century, in Ireland we thought we had seven bat species. However, by
"PRIOR TO THE 1980S, RELATIVELY LITTLE WAS KNOWN ABOUT BATS IN IRELAND"
the time the 1990s rolled around and there were more bat workers with bat detectors to hand, we discovered that our most frequent species, the tiny common pipistrelle, was really two species (common pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus and soprano pipistrelle P. pygmaeus). ese two species look very similar, they are both very small and weigh only around 5g. Luckily, they are easy to distinguish using a bat detector because the peak frequency for the common pipistrelle is at around 45-46kHz. On a tuneable detector you might hear a fast chichi-chop-chop sound at that frequency. Its sibling species the soprano pipistrelle echolocates at a higher frequency, making similar sounds on a bat detector, but at around 55kHz. ese two species are very adaptable – they are the bats most o en found roosting in attics of
Juvenile lesser horseshoe bat. Photo Daniel Hargreaves
"IN IRELAND, LEISLER’S BAT IS USUALLY FOUND ROOSTING IN BUILDINGS BUT ON CONTINENTAL EUROPE IT IS MOST OFTEN FOUND ROOSTING IN TREES"
dwelling houses and even in unusual places like the roofs of public toilets or pump houses! ey can o en be seen itting around in gardens and along hedgerows in summer. If you spot a bat in your back garden that is ying erratically along a hedge or a tree line, it is most likely to be one of these two pipistrelles.
Another new discovery in the 1990s was Nathusius’ pipistrelle (P. nathusii) which was rst found roosting in Northern Ireland. e discovery of Nathusius’ pipistrelle was interesting because in the rest of Europe this species is known as a long distance migrator, leaving Russia in Autumn to travel to central and southern Europe to hibernate in winter. is species’ rapid spread into Northern Europe has been linked to increasing minimum air temperatures caused by climate change. We have no evidence, as yet, of long distance migration of Nathusius’ pipistrelle to and from Ireland but we are recording it more frequently around the island, particularly in areas with lots of lakes and waterbodies. It is likely to be just a matter of time before the Nathusius’ Pipistrelle Working Group which is composed of volunteers who ring bats to research this very question – nd a bat that has originated in the European mainland, or an Irish bat turns up across the Irish Sea.
Ireland’s largest bat – Leisler’s bat (Nyctalus leisleri) is another bat species that you might spot when you are outside on a summer’s evening. Unlike the tiny pipistrelle that its around trees and hedgerows, Leisler’s bats tend to y high and fast and can sometimes be seen ying high up with swi s around sunset. Leisler’s have long narrow wings with a wingspan of around 30cm. Ireland is considered an international stronghold for Leisler’s bats which are rare or infrequent in the rest of Europe. Leisler’s bats are frequently found in parks and green campuses. While most of our bat species are quite intolerant of arti cial light at night and tend to avoid it, Leisler’s bats can be attracted to street lights and regularly snack on the invertebrates swarming around them. In Ireland, Leisler’s bat is usually found roosting in buildings but on continental Europe it is most o en found roosting in trees. Leisler’s bats have very lowpitched echolocation calls that peak around 22-25kHz.
If you like to walk along a river or canals in the evening, or if you do any shing, chances are you will have come across Daubenton’s bat (Myotis daubentonii). is bat is sometimes known as the water bat because of its habit of ying over the surface of still water and ga ng
Leisler's bat. Photo Paul van Hoof
small insects from the surface with its large feet. It tends to emerge from the roost quite late, when it has gotten very dark. Bridges and stone structures are favoured roosting locations for this species. e echolocation calls of this bat sound a little bit like a machine gun on a tuneable detector – they are loud and repetitive, best heard when you tune in at around 35kHz. Brown long-eared bats, so-called because their ears are about the same length as their bodies, have fantastic hearing and broad wings that are great for hovering. is bat includes a number of non- ying invertebrates in its diet – it is able to hover alongside vegetation and pick spiders, harvestmen and other species o leaves and branches. Brown long-eareds are o en associated with churches and barns because they like to roost in buildings with large roof spaces. Picking it up on a bat detector can be quite di cult –because its hearing is so good it's echolocation calls are very quiet and it is sometimes described as the whispering bat.
e two remaining Myotis species, Natterer’s (Myotis nattereri) and whiskered (M. mystacinus) bats are di cult to distinguish using detectors. ere are relatively few roosts of these species recorded, and those that are known are usually from old buildings or stone bridges. ese species tend to favour foraging in woodlands. We have some concerns that their populations may be decreasing in Ireland and we are currently setting up a new woodland bat monitoring scheme to try to track their population trends.
Bat Conservation Ireland manages the Irish Bat Monitoring Programme with the help of many volunteers and National Park and Wildlife Service (NPWS) sta every summer. ese schemes are funded by the NPWS and Northern Ireland Environment Agency in the North, along with some additional funding from Local
"WE HAVE SOME CONCERNS THAT THEIR POPULATIONS MAY BE DECREASING IN IRELAND AND WE ARE CURRENTLY SETTING UP A NEW WOODLAND BAT MONITORING SCHEME TO TRY TO TRACK THEIR POPULATION TRENDS"
Authorities. We now coordinate ve schemes that aim to track annual trends in eight of our bat species. e Lesser Horseshoe Bat Roost Monitoring Scheme is carried out mainly by NPWS sta who count bats at their summer sites and underground winter sites. Our other schemes are volunteer-led and are: the Car-based Bat Monitoring scheme which started in 2003 and tracks trends in three species (common and soprano pipistrelle, and Leisler’s bat), the All Ireland Daubenton’s Bat Waterways Scheme that started in 2005, the Brown Long-eared Bat Roost Monitoring Scheme that began in 2007, and most recently the Woodland Bat Monitoring scheme which began last year with a pilot study. For our monitoring schemes we provide training and the equipment needed to carry out the survey. If you are interested in getting involved please contact us via our website www. batconservationireland.org. e Daubenton’s waterways surveys involve walking along a river or canal twice in August while detecting Daubenton’s bats and are a great way to dip into the world of bats.
Another way to learn more about Irish bats is to check out our free online training. Course 1 – Introduction to Bats and Using Detectors, is available to all at training.batconservationireland. org. Once you register on the training platform, you can complete the two modules of this introductory course in your own time. In it, you will learn about Irish bats and how to use a tuneable detector to identify the most common species. We will be adding more courses to this platform in the coming months.
Other work we do at Bat Conservation Ireland involves helping to counter the negative associations people sometimes have around bats. We do this through education and events. For primary school-aged children and their teachers we developed a website called www. learnaboutbats.com which has stories, illustrations and resources for batty STEM-based activities and reading. As well as acting as an umbrella organisation and providing resources to local Bat Groups, we also support a panel of bat educators who are available to provide bat walks and talks across Ireland. To book a bat talk or walk for your community or area see this link: www.batconservationireland.org/getinvolved/request-bat-walk-talk-event .
In 2024 we are celebrating a signi cant birthday - Bat Conservation Ireland turns 20! We have a suite of anniversary events and celebrations lined up that include online talks, quizzes, an autumn swarming event, and a very special event currently being planned for November – keep an eye on our social media pages for details.
We are also starting a new project on Gardening for Bats this year. We will be creating lots of new materials and resources with videos, lea ets and more for all you keen gardeners out there!
Soprano Pipistrelle. Photo Noel Marry
Its time was managed in the PUBLIC LAND PUBLIC INTEREST
THE ENVIRONMENTAL PILLAR, THE CITIZENS ASSEMBLY ON BIODIVERSITY LOSS AND THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE ACTION, HAVE ALL CALLED FOR REFORM IN THE LEGAL MANDATES OF COILLTE AND BORD NA MÓNA. THE GOVERNMENT’S FAILURE TO DO SO REQUIRES JUSTIFICATION
By FINTAN KELLY
The hastening pace of biodiversity collapse and climate breakdown and the sheer scale and complexity of the challenge can sometimes feel like we are standing still facing an oncoming tsunami, bracing ourselves for impact. e challenge of revolutionising our economies and societies and reimagining our relationship with nature is immense. Why then do we constantly nd ways to compound our labours by hindering nature's ability to heal itself and in the process restore balance to this creaking ship we call home? Nature doesn’t need a saviour, it just needs a cease re.
One of the most evocative illustrations of this is the edging of Common Cranes chicks in O aly over the last two summers, a er an absence from our shores of over 300 years. Like the return of the Common
"NATURE DOESN’T NEED A SAVIOUR, IT JUST NEEDS A CEASEFIRE"
Buzzard, the Great Spotted Woodpecker, Marsh Harrier and Osprey this conservation marvel demonstrates that given a sliver of an opportunity and sometimes a helping hand, life will nd a way. Our raised bogs had been a tapestry of life at the heart of our island, slowly growing in size, complexity and bio-abundance since the end of the ice age. We fell upon them with all our energy and industry, draining, digging and burning them, and when there was nothing le worth taking we withdrew. Nature needing no invitation has begun the salvage operation on some bogs, reforming habitat mosaics of wetlands, bogs and woodland and by doing so halting the degradation of peat, preventing the emission of vast amounts of greenhouse gases and water pollution. is spring pairs of Common Cranes again danced, throwing their heads back and trumpeting in synchrony on what had been the postindustrial wasteland of a Bord Na Móna cutaway bog. e Common Crane is just one thread in this reweaving tapestry of life. is is a powerful lesson if we have the wisdom to learn from it.
When challenged to answer the question of “where should we make space for Nature in Ireland?”, the Environmental Pillar, the Citizens Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, and the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action have come to the same conclusion. Public Land covers around 11% of the land owned in the State. is is mostly made up of 1% owned by Bord Na Móna and 9% public forestry, mainly owned by Coillte. e untapped potential of Bord Na Móna and Coillte’s land holdings presents an unprecedented opportunity to restore nature at scale, delivering essential ecosystem services to society such as biodiversity restoration, climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as employment and public amenity. At a time when we are asking more and more of private landowners it is critically important that the State is seen to lead from the front. Public land must be utilised in the public interest and the Irish people should have a greater say in how that is achieved. Reforming land use on public land managed by Coillte and Bord Na Móna is not only desirable but necessary to achieve international targets to reduce green-house gas emissions and to restore nature.
"WHEN
CHALLENGED TO ANSWER THE QUESTION OF “WHERE SHOULD WE MAKE SPACE FOR NATURE IN IRELAND?”, THE ENVIRONMENTAL PILLAR, THE CITIZENS ASSEMBLY ON BIODIVERSITY LOSS, AND THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE ACTION HAVE COME TO THE SAME CONCLUSION"
BORD NA MÓNA
Bord na Móna’s landholding is constituted of a network of 130 bogs covering around 80,000 ha. Only a small percentage of this is composed of semi-intact bogland with the rest being active industrial or postindustrial cutover bog. Natural and cutover peatlands together contain just under half of the national peatland carbon stock. Degraded peatlands are a signi cant source of emission nationally estimated at around 860,000 tonnes of carbon per year. Restoration of peatlands and organic soils has the potential to reduce carbon losses in a relatively short time following rewetting; while rewetting and restoring peatlands can deliver carbon storage and sequestration and co-bene ts such as biodiversity, improved water quality and water regulation. Rewetting and rehabilitation targets for industrial peatlands therefore play an important role
in Irish climate policy. Bord Na Móna are obliged by EPA licensing to rehabilitate sites post production and under Ireland’s Climate Action Plan they are committed to the enhanced rehabilitation of 33,000 ha of peatlands. However, this is well shy of the 70,000 ha of exploited peatlands that the EPA say need to be rehabilitated if Ireland is to achieve net-zero across the agriculture and land use sectors by 2050. When it comes to peatland conservation, protection is always better than restoration and more clearly needs to be done to halt domestic and industrial peat extraction on public land, needless to say working in collaboration with communities.
COILLTE
Coillte is the largest landowner in the State, managing a landholding of 440,000 ha, 84% of which is forested. Ireland’s unnatural and industrial model of forestry
A vision of restored Boad na Mona peatlands by Jacek Matysiak
A vision of restored Coillte woodlands by Jacek Matysiak
is arguably the least sustainable in Europe. For example, within the EU Ireland has the highest share of forest area dominated by introduced tree species and the highest level of plantation forestry. is is in stark contrast to Europe as a whole where 87% of forest area is semi-natural. Coillte developed this blueprint for Irish forestry and drove national a orestation up until the mid-1980’s. Coillte landholding remains dominated by low diversity nonnative plantations which are clear-cut, with many being replanted on peatlands despite new rules banning the a orestation of deep peat. is is a serious issue considering Coillte are also the largest peatland owner in Ireland. Coillte report that they have 137,000 ha of a orested peatlands and at least 30,000 ha on deep peat, which they admit “present a carbon emission risk, that should be redesigned by either rewetting or rewilding”. e legacy issues associated with the a orestation of peatlands have been largely ignored until recently when the Climate Change Advisory Council called for the rewetting and rehabilitation of a orested peatlands and the revision of relevant legislation.
Coillte also own internationally important sites for biodiversity. ese include approx. 96,000 ha of protected sites, including Special Protection Areas (SPA) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC). According to Coillte’s own assessment, their landholdings support a number of rare, threatened or endangered ecosystems. is includes a large proportion of the six SPA that were designated for the protection of breeding Hen harrier (Circus cyaneus). is species is at crisis point as breeding numbers have declined by a third since 2015 and 59% since the rst national survey 1998/2000. A key driver of this collapse
has been the loss of upland peatland and grassland habitats with a orestation being the primary driver of habitat loss. Coillte’s land holdings also encompasses many nationally important high-status water bodies which support Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) and Freshwater Pearl Mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera). e prospects for many of these populations are in doubt as plantations approach the point where many are due to be clear-felled, which will result in a potentially terminal spike in pollution without intervention.
While Coillte have committed to increasing the area of their estate managed primarily for nature to 30% by 2025, this commitment is scarcely credible given that they claim that protected sites which are currently managed primarily for commercial timber production already fall within the 20% of their estate being ‘managed primarily for biodiversity’. While Coillte Nature are driving welcome restoration projects, the scale of these projects and the questionable prioritisation of restoration sites means the level of ambition falls well short of addressing the systemic issues previously outlined. Coillte have no targets or timelines to restore a orested peatlands and up until relatively recently they advocated for further a orestation within Hen harrier SPA sites.
A NEW MANDATE FOR PUBLIC LAND
Given the high biodiversity value and restoration potential of Bord na Móna and Coillte landholdings and the importance of peatlands, wetlands and woodlands in Ireland’s e orts to tackle climate change, both public bodies must play a leading role in restoring nature. Both bodies have signi cant expertise when it comes to restoration having been involved in
numerous EU LIFE projects. While the value of these public lands is obvious there is no clear framework in place to identify which sites should be prioritised for nature restoration. is has led to a situation where key sites such as Derryadd Bog in Longford and the Common Crane supporting bogs in O aly, are threatened by renewable energy developments. Contrary to the rebranding and public communications campaigns, the use of public land continues to be driven by commercial interests while a ected communities remain peripheral gures in an opaque decision-making process. A pivotal contributing factor to this is that the operation of both semi-states remains underpinned by outdated commercial mandates, which in turn informs everything from the composition of their boards to how they operate on the ground.
e Environmental Pillar is strongly of the view that these legal mandates must be brought in line with societal expectations and the stark realities of the States declared biodiversity and climate emergency. e review should be informed by the relevant recommendations of the Citizens Assembly on Biodiversity Loss. Such a review is already long overdue considering the Programme for Government already committed to review the remits of both bodies. is is a rational rst step to reform the narrow economic focus that has directed the mis-management and governance of public lands. To paraphrase Rachel Carson, we are a part of nature, and our war against nature is inevitably a war against ourselves. Let’s choose to end the war within and the war without, public lands are a good place to start.
About the Author: Fintan is Agriculture Policy O cer at the Irish Environmental Network (IEN). Fintan has a MSc in Environmental Biology from Utrecht University and a BSc in Environmental Science from NUI Galway. He specialises in Environmental Policy, Advocacy and Planning and has been working within the Irish eNGO sector since 2012, having previously worked for BirdWatch Ireland, An Taisce, SWAN and the Irish Wildlife Trust.
"THE OPERATION OF BOTH SEMI-STATES REMAINS UNDERPINNED BY OUTDATED COMMERCIAL MANDATES"
Illustration have been created by Jacek Matysiak
Common crane, Grus grus, group of birds in early morning, Sweden. Photo: iStockphoto
I10 minutes can...
By KIERAN FLOOD
n the Creativity and Nature article of this magazine we mention the inspiration people nd in the natural world and how this can fuel the artistic process. However you don’t have to be a celebrated artist to nd solace and inspiration in nature. Most of us feel a sense of belonging and joy when we spend time in nature. is is sometimes referred to as biophilia and it is commonly recognised to be bene cial for our wellbeing.
One way to create a regular opportunity for yourself to spend time in nature is to partake in nature recording citizen science. is will help you to stop and really look at or listen to what is around you. Our feature article by Bat Conservation Ireland covers some volunteering options for citizen science bat surviving. is is a unique way to engage with nature as when bat surveying one spends time outside at dusk and a er dark - a magical time when nocturnal animals are more active and our ears tune into noises in the dark. In this article we will look brie y at an important daytime citizen science action you can easily carry out in your back garden or local park – the Flower-Insect
Timed Count or “FIT Count”.
e FIT Count is a survey designed to monitor changes in abundance of pollinating insects by recording the number of insects visiting owers. Pollinating insects are dependent on owers as their source of food. For example bees take both the sweet nectar and the protein rich pollen of owers to feed themselves and their young back in the nest. One of the best ways to spot pollinators is to stop and look at the owers themselves. e plant-pollinator relationship is one that evolved slowly over time and while observing pollinating insects you will invariably learn more about their relationship with plants, getting a glimpse into the connectedness of the networks making up our biosphere.
e FIT Count survey is being run by the National Biodiversity Data Centre, who also run the All Ireland Pollinator Plan. FIT Counts are very simple to do, you just watch a patch of one of the target species of owers for 10 minutes and count how many insects visit. e target ower species are Dandelion, Buttercup, Hawthorn, Bramble, English Lavender, Common Knapweed, Heather, Hogweed, White Clover, Red Clover, Ragwort, istle, Buddleja, and Ivy. In one way it is a simple and enjoyable experience in
observing nature but it is also a powerful data collection method helping us learn about changes in pollinating insect numbers over time. Below are some instructions on how to engage.
• FIT Counts are open to everyone
• You can do a 10-minute FIT Count at any time between the 1st April and the 30th September
• Your location can be anywhere e.g., garden, farm, park, school, business site
• You don’t need to identify the insects to species level, but only to tally within broad groups e.g., bumblebee, butter ies & moths, wasp, beetle
You can record your nding using an app or paper form. For access to the app and form and for more details visit the survey webpage here https:// biodiversityireland.ie/surveys/ t-counts/ Why not take ten minutes to step outside and connect with nature while helping important conservation research.
A
By GORDON D'ARCY
Pyrenean HIKE
The golden eagle in the Pyrenees Mountains, Spain.
Photo: Alamy Stock
Spain is a ‘grand’ country, ve times the size of Ireland and radically di erent topographically, particularly, in its arid south, which in places is more like north Africa. Its verdant north (Galicia, Asturias and the Basque country) however, exhibits many of the landscape characteristics of Ireland. e extreme consequences of climate change (drought and oods resulting in agricultural devastation) have been felt more strongly in Iberia than in Ireland –though who knows what is yet to come here. ese extremes are increasingly manifest in the mountain range of the Pyrenees, extending for approximately 500 kilometres across the north of the country, separating it from France. Nowadays these high mountains have less snow in winter than formerly and retain it for a shorter period into spring.
A glorious hike on a spring day in 2024 provided opportunities for great wildlife-watching in the montane meadowland and spruce forest, beneath the spectacular backdrop of the still snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees. Information material indicated that this montane hinterland was also the habitat of formidable large mammals such as wild boar, wolves and brown bears. Undaunted, however, my wife and I headed o along a trail beside a rollicking mountain river.
"NOWADAYS THESE HIGH MOUNTAINS HAVE LESS SNOW IN WINTER THAN FORMERLY AND RETAIN IT FOR A SHORTER PERIOD INTO SPRING"
Clusters of dazzling blue gentians ‘like broaches pinned to the closecropped sward’ (per Stephen Mills) decorated the meadowland, reminding me of the Burren at this time of the year and tiny yellow rock-roses glittered in the grass as they do in parts of the west of Ireland. However, most of the comparison involved ordinary species – stonecrop, navelwort, thistle, hawkweed and even dandelion – common to both geographies. ere were exotic species too. Clumps of green hellebore and dog’s-tooth violets with spiky owers and spotted leaves showed unexpectedly at intervals. We were, however, too early for the highly publicised orchid display and the iconic edelweiss. Familiar butter ies – small tortoiseshells, peacocks, and orange-tips - uttered in the windless glades among the spruce trees while brocade-skinned lizards (more abundant than their Irish counterparts) dashed into cover as we strolled along. Wild boar had been busy too. Here and there on the forest edge the turf had been torn up by the animals foraging for fungi, nuts and invertebrates. By rotovating the ground in this manner, they bring a vital ecological dynamic to the habitat: their numbers do have to be controlled, of course, naturally by wolves, but also, seasonally, by human hunters.
It soon became evident that despite the elevation, c 1,500 metres, there was much more birdlife than that to be found in Ireland’s uplands. Ireland’s overgrazed mountains are generally avian-species
poor; open-country birds such as hooded crows, ravens, meadow pipits and skylarks dominate. ere are others – red grouse, golden plover, and wheatears but they are by no means ubiquitous. Here, in the course of our 10km hike we encountered more than 20 species including choughs, carrion crows, mistle thrushes and in the conifer trees, siskins and crossbills. ere were surprises too; woodpeckers darted between the dead tree-boles and a pair of crested tits, delightfully beige and white with upright crests, courted unconcernedly within a few metres of the trail. ough we did not see any, these woods have resident capercaillies, reminding me of its former status as an Irish bird before the nal removal of its native Scots pine habitat in the early modern period. Of all the birds, however, it was the raptors that demonstrated di erence. Birds of prey are much more in evidence throughout Spain than in Ireland. In the Pyrenees we saw red kites, buzzards, peregrines, kestrels, hobbies and in the precipitous regions, vultures. At one time a similar range of raptors (minus the vultures) were found in Ireland; thankfully, with more widespread, enlightened attitudes, many are making a comeback. Well into our hike a golden eagle suddenly appeared above the spruce forest, harassed by a pair of kestrels.
Watching the amazing aerial antics of the raptors against the backdrop of the snowy peaks I was aware of human presence in the region. Long lines of cable chairs extended from below the treeline to high up on the slopes. Now they lay dormant and still but within a few weeks the slopes would be alive with skiers and others enjoying the recreational potential of the snow. All is not perfect, however. e future of skiing in the Pyrenees is under threat due to climate change. According to Earth Org., rising temperature and decreasing snowfall over recent decades are jeopardising the future of skiing in the Pyrenees where the snow also serves as a vital resource for the environment, acting as a natural reservoir for the summer months, hydrating animals and plants.
It might be argued that it is unreasonable to compare the Pyrenees with Ireland’s (much lower, ‘ski-free’) mountain ranges, human impact being more to do with sheep-farming and forestry than from recreation. However, we know from early literary references and zooarchaeology that Ireland once supported a much greater extent of natural forest and a richer montane fauna including bears, wolves, wild cats and boar and spectacular birds such as the capercaillie. While there is clearly no case for the reintroduction of large mammals into our ‘tamed’ landscape, the successful return of large birds of prey, woodpeckers and others into our stillwild upland areas have shown that ecological enhancement is possible.
By BILLY FLYNN
This year saw the publication of the 30th United Kingdom Breeding Bird Survey (BBS)[1]. is is a multi-agency undertaking that rst began in 1994. e BBS is a joint e ort of the British Trust for Ornithology, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). e BBS tracks the population trends for 119 widespread breeding birds and 28 specialist waterbird species and thus provides a key dataset for monitoring the health of the UK countryside. On this island, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency employs professional eldworkers to undertake breeding bird surveys. e overwhelming majority of the survey e ort (as is the case with Birdwatch Ireland’s Countryside Bird Survey) is given by volunteers with a love of birds and their habitats. Around 9,000 voluntary surveyors cover over 7,000 squares throughout the UK year in and year out.
On the Wing the ongoing struggles of aerial Wildlife
ere’s more to this than just bird stats though. e BBS is an evidence base that helps to guide conservation policies and e orts for a range of countryside species and their habitats. It also provides something of an early warning system if things aren’t right. is is especially so when placed into context with other datasets, providing initial insights into species declines. It can also assist agencies in understanding whether and how nature recovery mechanisms like agrienvironment schemes are actually working. One of the early warnings that we might be receiving from this 30th report is a grave one. UK Swi (Apus apus), Swallow (Hirundo rustica) and House Martin (Delichon urbicum) numbers have all declined, some by as much as 40% or even more. ese beloved migrants are clearly in trouble. Stark declines in the numbers
THE DRAMATIC AND ALARMING DECLINES IN INSECT SPECIES POPULATIONS OVER THE LAST FEW DECADES HAVE BEEN FLAGGED BEFORE. NOW IT APPEARS THAT WE ARE SEEING ONE OF THE KNOCK-ON EFFECTS OF THIS EROSION OF A PIER OF THE ECOLOGICAL PYRAMID"
of Pied Flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) and Spotted Flycatchers (Muscicapa striata) have also been recorded. e dramatic and alarming declines in insect species populations over the last few decades have been agged before. Now it appears that we are seeing one of the knock-on e ects of this erosion of a pier of the ecological pyramid.
e causes of this have also been well signposted – the use of agrochemicals, the reduction in habitat and urbanisation of the countryside are all undoubtedly responsible. Added to this, the spread of avian u in wild populations is also apparently playing a part, according to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). A recent report on the di cult lot of migrant species has highlighted the challenges that birds such as our familiar Swallows and House Martins face. ese show no sign of easing. But there are things we can do. Having fewer insects to feed upon takes its toll on the energy budget of our arriving summer migrants. By installing arti cial
nest sites we can save them some of the energy that they would expend on site location and nest building. ese are readily available and easily installed measures that many householders could add to their homes at little cost. e Birdwatch Ireland and RSPB websites have ample information on these.
On a bigger scale, local authorities can also incorporate habitats into their plans and developments. A recent Kildare County Council project that saw the massive former land ll site at Kerdi stown turned into an amazing parkland that includes a wall of Sand Martin nesting holes. is is a tried and tested technique. In Colorado, where Western Cordilleran Flycatchers were initially absent from areas, adult numbers increased following the introduction of ‘platforms’ – banks with pre-created tunnels – in suitable areas[3].
We now have a National Biodiversity Plan and most local authorities have up to date local Biodiversity Action Plans. We as citizens, volunteers and NGOs should
ensure that these plans are used to incorporate as many nesting sites as possible when developments are planned or approved. Again, there are many examples of this already in place. Forwardthinking local authorities, o en in conjunction with local groups such as Tidy Towns, have incorporated Swi and Swallow nest sites into new builds and have built them into designs of re tted and refurbished buildings.
e Local Biodiversity Action Plans should also make provision for the planting of pollinator-friendly species into landscaping of parks, public areas and curtilage of new builds. We as individual householders can also play our part by following the excellent guidance o ered by the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and leaving portions of our gardens to nature and planting insect attractive species.
As this is going to print, the local and European election campaigns are drawing to a close. We should make our candidates aware how concerned we are about our beloved bird species, what problems they face and what we want our representatives to do about them. While the issues are huge, we mustn’t let go of the fact that we can still take action. is might be lobbying our MEPs on the banning of destructive biocides or ensuring our new parks and greenways are managed for the maximum bene t of pollinators. Our wild species don’t get a vote but we do. If we want to continue to enjoy the beautiful songs of our migrant birds, we must make sure that our voices are heard too.
References
[1] e BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey is a partnership jointly funded by the BTO, JNCC and RSPB, with eldwork conducted by volunteers. e Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) now incorporates the Waterways Breeding Bird Survey (WBBS)
[3] Journal of Field Ornithology. https://doi. org/10.5751/JFO-00417-950105
Swallow nest. Photo Credit Mike Brown
DIGGING DEEP INTO SOIL BIODIVERSITY pH and
ESOIL BIODIVERSITY AND THE ROLE OF PH IN IRELAND’S SOIL HEALTH
By ANNE SUNDERMANN
very hydrangea-loving gardener knows that pH can change that plant’s appearance: blue owers indicate acidic, or low pH, soil; pink blooms thrive in alkaline soil. Like hydrangeas, most lifeforms have an optimal pH, where they can live comfortably and absorb nutrients readily. row the pH out of kilter and it will certainly a ect an organism’s ability to thrive. pH, which indicates the concentration of hydrogen (that is, potential hydrogen) on a scale from 0 (most acidic) to 14 (most alkaline), is a common and consistent measure to determine soil health. e higher the amount of hydrogen in the soil, the lower the soil pH — or the more acidic—it is.
Soil pH measures the acidity or alkalinity of soils, and is associated with organic content, microbial communities, and other soil properties. Most plant life thrives within a slightly acidic to neutral range of 6.0 to 7.0. Bacteria prefer more alkaline soil, while fungi prefer a lower pH, around 4.5. So how does this garden-variety chemistry play out on a wider scale?
IMPORTANCE OF SOIL BIODIVERSITY
Ireland has more than 40 di erent soil types, re ecting landscapes ranging from the mountains in the West, the karst formations
"WHEN NATIVE FORESTS ARE DISTURBED, RESEARCH HAS SHOWN THAT THERE IS HIGHER BACTERIAL DIVERSITY BUT A LOWER NUMBER OF SPECIES WORKING TOGETHER IN BENEFICIAL SYMBIOSIS. THESE REDUCTIONS HAD CASCADING EFFECTS, INCLUDING A REDUCTION IN DECOMPOSITION RATES, CARBON STORAGE, AND NUTRIENT CYCLING"
organisms can be fragile and easily disrupted.
Some of the most diverse soil components are bacteria and fungi. Recent research by Qu et al., has shown the e ects of land use practices on soil biodiversity, speci cally in the conversion from native woodlands to managed forestry plantations, cropland, and pasture. e conversion of native forests to manmade uses resulted in the greatest increase in bacterial richness, which, in turn, has a negative e ect on fungi diversity. e researchers note that “soil fungal diversity and functioning in warmer and wetter native forests is especially vulnerable to deforestation.”
When native forests are disturbed, research has shown that there is higher bacterial diversity but a lower number of species working together in bene cial symbiosis. ese reductions had cascading e ects, including a reduction in decomposition rates, carbon storage, and nutrient cycling. According to Qu et al., “Responses of the microbial community to deforestation, including bacterial and fungal diversity and fungal guilds, were predominantly regulated by changes in soil pH and total phosphorus.”
As Ireland’s weather patterns are altered with the ongoing impacts of climate change, its soil biodiversity may su er. Qu et al. noted that fungi species were lost a er deforestation, while potentially pathogenic bacterial forms ourish in such a disturbed environment, especially those with higher temperatures and increased rainfall.
in the Burren through to the peat bogs in the Midlands and the alluvial soils near our coastal communities. e quality and composition of the soil varies with local geology and climate, and in turn, contributes to the diversity of local ecosystems.
Of all the things on the planet, one of the most fundamental is the relatively thin coat of organic and mineral matter, liquids and gases, that lay atop the earth’s crust - the soil. Approximately one-quarter of all living organisms live in the soil. In addition to providing habitat, soil serves as a lter for water and pollutants, o ers storage for carbon, and provides a platform for life as we know it.
According to Teagasc, soil health “emphasises the soil biological community as a key driver of soil’s capacity to deliver multiple functions. Soil health has been de ned as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals and humans.”
Finding the Balance
“Microbial interactions are key to maintaining soil biodiversity,” notes Liu et al. eir study highlights the powerful positive associations among bacteria, protists, fungi, and invertebrates as they work together to form a diverse ecological network. Invertebrates, such as earthworms, help soil creation while fungi help connect plants to the soil system exchanging nutrients and minerals with plants via fungal laments called Mycorrhizae. e stronger these various associations, the more support is found for soil biodiversity. But the connections among these
Unpredictable weather patterns, and more frequent and ashier weather extremes will likely a ect Ireland’s long-term soil health. According to Tibbett et al., soils with higher biodiversity show better resistance to change. e ability of soil to function, as well as its capacity to respond and recover from disturbances is a ected by decreases in soil biodiversity, o en indicated by tracking changes in soil pH, among other indicators. pH plays a role in helping landowners, farmers and gardeners monitor local soil health and determining the best practices for healthy and diverse ecosystems.
Resources
Liu, X. , Chu, H., Godoy, O., Fan, K., Gao. G.-F., Teng Yang, T., Ma, Y., & Delgado-Baquerizo, M. (2024) Positive associations fuel soil biodiversity and ecological networks worldwide, Proc Natl Acad Sci 121(6), https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/ pnas.2308769121
Qu, X., Li, X., Bardgett, R. D., Kuzyakov, Y., Revillini, D., Sonne, C., Xia, C., Ruan, H., Liu, Y., Cao, F., Reich, P. B., & DelgadoBaquerizo, M. (2024). Deforestation impacts soil biodiversity and ecosystem services worldwide. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 121(13), https:// doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2318475121
Teagasc Daily. Soil Health Series: Soil Physical Quality Indicators 19 July 2020
Tibbett, M., Fraser, T.D., Duddigan, S. (2020) Identifying potential threats to soil biodiversity. Peer J. 2020 June 12;8:e9271, https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7295018/
Mycorrhizae of woodland soil fungi.
Photo: Kieran Flood
IBy TIM CLABON
n this article we look at two diseases that have had an impact on our trees and hedges, what is currently being done to try to prevent pests and diseases, and what more can be done.
Biosecurity is becoming a bigger issue in Ireland where higher temperatures and ooding have the potential to increase the incidence and spread of invasive species as well as the establishment of new pests and diseases, all of which put our native wildlife under threat. Changes in weather causing a mix of ooding, drought and extreme temperatures also increase the stress on plants and trees, making them more vulnerable to pests and diseases and less able to ght them o .
WHILE BIOSECURITY MEASURES ARE IN PLACE, ARE THEY ENOUGH TO PREVENT THIS?
e trade and movement of plants and plant products into and within the EU is governed by the 2016 “EU Plant Health Regulation 2031” and 2017 “O cial Controls Regulations 625”. ese Regulations also harmonise rules in other areas, including surveillance for pests of
Protecting our preciousTREES
"FOR HEDGEROW AND NATURE RESTORATION ONLY PLANT STOCK OF IRISH ORIGIN SHOULD BE USED. THE CONTINUED SUPPORT AND FUNDING OF NATIVE TREE NURSERIES WILL ALSO REDUCE OUR RELIANCE ON IMPORTS"
plant health and actions to be taken in the event of the con rmation of the presence of speci c plant pests.
From December 2019, all plants (including living parts of plants such as seeds) need to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certi cate to enter into the EU, unless they are listed in Annex XI, Part C, of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072. is includes the use of plant passports. Plant passports are o cial statements that plants being moved into and within the EU comply with plant health requirements. e regulations also de ne Protected Zones, which are areas within the EU where a serious pest (established in other parts of the EU) is not present despite favourable conditions for it to establish. Plant passports must be valid for the Protected Zone showing that the import is free from pests that are not present in the Protected Zone. All companies trading or selling plants must be registered with the national authority of their country -
Irish traders must be registered with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (DAFM).
FIRE BLIGHT
e most recent disease to raise concern in Ireland is Fire Blight, a bacterial infection caused by Erwinia amylovora. Fire Blight was found at seventeen locations across eleven counties in 2023 and it is believed to have resulted from the importation of infected hawthorn plants. It is widespread in Northern Ireland, and it has been established in Galway City since 2014. is is not the rst time this disease has occurred. Fire Blight was rst recorded in 1987, being found on cotoneaster plants. Since then outbreaks have been reported in 2006 where 15 cases were detected out of 2,000 samples, the majority being on imported material. In 2009, Fire Blight was detected in 21 locations, along roadsides, private gardens and public parks, and only on cotoneaster. e disease was deemed to
have been successfully eradicated by deep burial and burning. Sites where there was an occurrence were extensively monitored.
Fireblight is transported on imported plants with no evidence or symptoms of infections. e presence of the disease only becomes evident if plants are under stress. e DAFM conducts annual plant health surveillance for plant pests and diseases, including the protected zone pest, Erwinia amylovora (Fire Blight). ere is no cure for Fire Blight. Infected plants have to be destroyed. At con rmed outbreak locations, a 500m infested zone and a 5km bu er zone are established, and further intensive surveys and sampling are carried out to determine the extent of the outbreak. Under EU rules, a 24-month period from the o cial con rmation of the presence of the pest is permitted to complete surveillance and achieve eradication, where possible.
Host plants of Fire Blight include most of the plants within the Maloideae subfamily including apples, pears, cotoneaster and hawthorn. To mitigate risk host plants for the disease Erwinia amylovora (Fire blight) are subject to import requirements. ese include notifying the DAFM of new imports from other EU states within 48 hrs; notifying the department in advance of the arrival of plants from outside the EU; and all plants must have a plant passport certifying that requirements for entry into protected zones have been ful lled.
BRINGING BACK THE ASH (MAYBE A PHOENIX REGENERATION)
Since 2013, the DAFM has been supporting research e orts to identify, select and breed disease-tolerant trees. Teagasc is leading this research in Ireland, which is being carried out with funding from the DAFM, and in collaboration with Coillte, Forest Genetic Resources Trust, Irish universities as well as research partners across Europe.
A ve year project was carried out in England to identify individual trees which show signs of tolerance,and to use them for breeding and DNA screening. Young shoots/cuttings from trees showing early signs of tolerance have been returned to Ireland to be used in Teagasc’s research. Separately Teasgasc started a project with researchers in Lithuania and France to screen Irish material under high disease pressure. Two gene banks of Ash in Kilkenny and the Phoenix Park were established from this research, and these sites will be monitored to assess how these hold up to exposure to Ash Dieback.
Funded by the DAFM in 2023, a new Teagasc research project ‘AshForFuture’ will build on previous work and will identify, select, propagate and screen healthy tolerant ash of Irish origin. It will establish progeny testing of seed collected from tolerant trees for early stage selection of genotypes. It will use existing, and develop new, molecular and biochemical markers to screen the selected tolerant ash genotypes, while studying the genetic structure of selected tolerant ash genotypes to maintain high genetic diversity.
Tree breeding is a long-term process. It will therefore be some years before ash plants which have been selected in Ireland as tolerant to disease will be available for planting. While we are watching the loss of our ash forests, maybe our children will once more experience forests of ash and hopefully hear the clash of ash once more.
Legislation, checks carried out by the DAFM and the best of e orts has not been enough to prevent the introduction of diseases, and the fear is that with a changing
WHAT CAN WE DO:
environment our wildlife as well as commercial crops are put under increased pressure. Controlling such pests is destructive and results in loss of precious wildlife. As we can see with Ash Dieback, the disease has been devastating. While it will take many years to re-establish a resistant population of Ash trees, we may never get back to pre-disease levels, and species endemic to ash trees may be lost. Like with Ash Dieback and Fire Blight, it is likely that imports within the EU that spread the disease. We should limit the risks of introducing these diseases by restricting imports of potentially infected plant material. For hedgerow and nature restoration only plant stock of Irish origin should be used. e continued support and funding of native tree nurseries will also reduce our reliance on imports.
Biodiversity both in terms of genetic variability as well as species diversity is also instrumental in building resilience to the incidences of disease outbreaks as well as a changing environment.
• Report any signs of diseases such as Fire blight, or pests such as Oak Processionary Moth to plantandpests@agriculture.gov.ie.
• When coming back from abroad, do not bring any plant, soil or animal back.
• Insist on buying Irish grown plants.
• Learn how to recognise potential new pests and diseases - be vigilant.
• Avoid moving diseased plants from one area to another and practise good plant hygiene such as cleaning gardening tools a er use.
Nature likes to hide’ is an observation from the philosopher Heraclitus (500 BC), better known for the more o en quoted ‘no one steps into the same river twice’. However, that wonderful tendency to slip by unnoticed, to leave just a trace or a track, can in current circumstances be its very undoing. Whether it is microorganisms in the soil and water, or evasive species that keep an understandable distance from us, or those simply active at night when we pay no attention; if we are not aware of what is there, we can destroy without even knowing that we are having such an impact.
e Dromore River catchment is a headwater source for the River Erne. e river starts as rain falling on the clusters of glacial drumlins in the centre of Co. Monaghan. With multiple steep hills, the rainwaters tend to run quickly over compacted soil that forms the basis for the network of wetlands, fens, streams, rivers and interlinked lakes around the Ballybay area. It moves then, at a gentle pace west, to form part of the Cavan-Monaghan boundary. Joining the Annalee River just south of Cootehill in Co. Cavan. e waters then become part of the larger cross-border Erne system, eventually reaching the sea between Aughrus Point and Kildoney Point at Ballyshannon in Co. Donegal.
As with the majority of our rivers and streams in Ireland now, the Dromore river system has been
allowed to degrade to the point of being categorised as ‘poor’ in terms of water quality and, in the language of EPA reports, ‘is At Risk of not achieving environmental objectives under the Water Framework Directive’.
Intact and thriving riparian zones and wetlands provide both highly biodiverse environments and e ective protection for waters from multiple pollution threats. Riparian zones, native woodland and wetland areas are also the most marginal of lands, ‘not much use for anything productive’ and therefore tend to be considered of little economic value. Surrounding lands that would have, until relatively recently, consisted of multi-species or semi-natural grasslands and hedgerows, supporting small-farm foodproducing cultures and practices, have given way to ‘improved’ land. As with most of the country, the Dromore waters are now surrounded and dominated by the monocultures produced by (o en grant-aided) intensive, industrial approaches to factory-production agriculture; single-species sward grassland, spruceforestry, urbanisation and associated road systems and drainage. It is the peripheral riparian zones of the river and other ‘useless spaces’ that provide residual habitats and refuge for wildlife and a biodiversity of plant species. Protection, restoration and, crucially, enhancing the connectivity of these areas may be the most achievable, immediate and e ective thing we can do. e marginality of these areas may be becoming their strength and value.
Dromore River. Photo: Sinéad Hogan
The Beautiful China Mark. Photo: Alamy Stock Photo
Knot Grass Moth. Photo: Sinéad Hogan
e nature of the Dromore river, like other meandering, low-lying inland waterways, is somewhat hidden. It is not an area that would be associated with dramatic and spectacular scenes of wildlife, until you look closely and spend some slow time there. en the complexity and spectacular diversity of the insect, bird, animal, sh and plant species shows itself and their dependencies on the quality of aquatic and semi-aquatic habitats becomes evident. en there are also the diverse micro-organisms that remain deeply hidden to us and are working away in the background.
One of my favourite examples of hiddenness and interdependence in the biodiversity of the Dromore catchment are the China Mark moths. e Beautiful China Mark (Nymphula nitidulata) has a semiaquatic larval stage which, as a host-plant specialist, is dependent on feeding o the Burr-reed (Sparnuim).
e Brown China Mark (Nymphula nymphaeata) whose fully aquatic larvae has tracheal gills, feeds on pondweed and water-lily and its caterpillar cuts out two leaf sections and folds these over itself to form a oating cocoon. In winter, when there is not much wildlife to be seen, I o en think of these larvae, and others, hiding away safely in the stems of the aquatic riparian plants under the protection of the river waters.
"IF WE ARE NOT AWARE OF WHAT IS THERE, WE CAN DESTROY WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING THAT WE ARE HAVING SUCH AN IMPACT"
e IWT Monaghan branch (set up in 2021), has developed a project to map the Dromore river catchment and its remaining rich habitats, in order to make it visible as a potential biodiversity corridor and connect the network of volunteers that have been concerned and active in caring for the river. We have been working on this project with advice from Dr. Ainhoa González del Campo in the School of Geography, UCD, an expert in environmental planning and sustainability. rough the support of Dr. Patricia McCreesh, Monaghan Co. Council’s rst Biodiversity O cer, the project is funded by the National Parks & Wildlife Service under the National Biodiversity Action Plan (2023-2030) and by the Heritage Council under the Community Heritage Grant Scheme 2024. We are also working closely with the Local Authority Waters Programme, LAWPRO.
One of our main collaborators, the Stranooden Group Water Scheme (SGWS) takes its drinking water resource from White Lough, one of the larger lakes in the Dromore catchment, to supply over 1,800 homes. e associated Friends of the Dromore community group, in collaboration with the SGWS Source Protection O cer Ross McDonald, have been building strong relationships and trust with local landowners, farmers, householders and others in the catchment area representing di erent interests connected to the river system. ey have been doing great work, over many years, in developing a practical, community-led and nature-responsive source
protection plan, addressing the challenges facing a surface-water source. ey are now a pilot location for the EU Interreg project ResiRiver, a project focusing on enhancing the resilience of European river systems through nature-based solutions. ese actions include targeted riparian restoration and bu er zone management as mitigation measures to address elevated levels of nutrients, herbicide, pesticide, sediment and waste pollution in the waters. A broad-based community awareness is now emerging of the real value of direct actions to protect and enhance the quality of our raw or ‘wild’ source waters. ese restorative actions bene t all, as they lead to a signi cant reduction in the chemical treatment measures that are necessary to make our water safe to drink - treatments which are necessary in every drinking water treatment plant, rural and urban. Nature-based solutions to restore riparian zones can dramatically reduce the related costs (economic, environmental, health etc.) and therefore produce mutual bene ts for all in the catchment community including the species that make up the biodiversity of our wetland areas. So why mapping? While most people can bring an image of the shape of our county and its road system to mind, it is less likely that we have an image of the topography of our catchment and the network of rivers and streams it forms. is makes it di cult to have a holistic sense of how the waters operate in the landscape. So we will be hiring two research assistants (one in Geographic Information Systems and one in Visualisation techniques) to assist us in producing di erent mapping tools: An interactive digital database, a printed map and 3D topographical model. ese tools will enable us to develop our community’s spatial and visual awareness of the catchment and identify where the riparian zones are intact or in need of restoration. e mapping will look for where the river and streams already act as connectors, or where targeted actions could in future connect the riparian zones with other key biodiverse-rich habitats in the catchment. e project is gathering biodiversity and habitat data as key environmental indicators and will also map pressure points of run-o where heavy rains tend to bring nutrients and pollutants to the waters before they can be soaked up and ltered by natural processes. ese mapping tools will be multifunctional, informed by science and will provide aids for the most e ective targeted action on the ground for the restoration and mitigation measures. We will be producing a publicly available website where all mapping outcomes will be freely available and linked through signage along the river. We will also nally produce a ‘how-to-guide’ for any other community who would like to map their catchment in a similar manner.
Our volunteers will be active this summer, in a process of ‘ground truthing’, where local people who know their area intimately, will be able to make corrections to the initially gathered data and contribute other key information (such as names of streams and place names).
We will be encouraging the development of a practice of citizen science recording which is not particularly active in our area. We have noticed in our initial research that, while the current National Biodiversity Data Centre records for Co. Monaghan are ‘proof of concept’ that the riparian zones of the river and wetlands act as a biodiversity refuge, these records are mainly also evidence of where biodiversity recorders have been at work. erefore, we need to address this situation, as it can look like there is little biodiversity of interest in some overlooked areas of the catchment, leaving these open to further negative developments.
"A BROADBASED COMMUNITY AWARENESS IS NOW EMERGING OF THE REAL VALUE OF DIRECT ACTIONS TO PROTECT AND ENHANCE THE QUALITY OF OUR RAW OR ‘WILD’ SOURCE WATERS"
We want to show that by tapping into the already existing network of river, streams and marginal riparian zones, an economically viable and achievable model of connectivity corridors could become established as an e ective means to protect and enhance biodiversity and that this in turn will enhance our water quality. We consider this development of a ‘biodiversity corridor’ may be a practice and model of co-existence more e ective than one focusing on special, separated and isolated pockets reserved for ‘nature’. In a society managed unfortunately by surveillance and data, if elements of nature are hidden, if they don’t ‘appear on the map’, they can be overlooked and not get a fair representation in decision-making processes. So, while we respect that ‘nature has a right to love to hide’, we aim to protect that right, by making its hiddenness visible and creating a viable space for it to keep hiding and thriving.
About the Author (optional):
Dr. Sinéad Hogan is one of the founding members of the IWT Monaghan branch and is co-director of the MA program in Art and Research Collaboration (ARC) in IADT. Her research and lecturing has a speci c focus on the relationship between philosophy, art, technology and the environment.
Beautiful china mark moth
Photo: Sinéad Hogan
WILD SILENCEby Seán Ronayne
In this issue of Creativity and Nature we highlight a new Irish album of ambient nature sounds released this year by SEÁN RONAYNE
By KIERAN FLOOD
Humanity, our society, and our economy exists within the biosphere i.e. the web of living ecosystems covering this planet. It is understandable that this fact is not always to the fore of our minds because today we spend more and more time separated from nature. Many of us live in cities, most of us spend hours and hours working at a computer, and we watch digital screens, large and small, for our entertainment. is disconnect with the non-human elements of the biosphere seems to be part and parcel of modern life but there is still a whole world of sounds, sights, smells and experiences that exists beyond our screens. e natural world we evolved in is a place within which we still feel a sense of belonging.
e biosphere beyond our screens is a constant source of inspiration for human creativity. is is certainly the case for Seán Ronayne.
“AN ALBUM OF IRISH WILD SOUNDSCAPES, RECORDED IN A VARIETY OF HABITATS, FREE FROM SOURCES OF ANTHROPOGENIC NOISE"
Seán has been on a journey to capture a recording of the song of every species of irish bird. Along the way he found time to release an album too. As you may expect the album features bird song but many other sounds from the natural world are found here too. Below is the album description from Seán’s bandcamp page - we’ll let him describe it for you.
“An album of Irish wild soundscapes, recorded in a variety of habitats, free from sources of anthropogenic noise (hence the title Wild Silence). is was created as a result of my longing to be out in nature,
for a period of my life where I had no choice but to work a deskbased job. e intention is for the listener to use this album to escape into nature, when the real thing is not possible. For use as a sleep aid, a mediation aid, a stressbuster, a study/work companion, or to just bring some joy to your ears.”
e album includes tracks such as “Starling Murmuration” which captures the breathtaking sound of thousands of starlings swirling through the air over Lough Ennell. It is a moving piece of audio art communicating the power of nature to the listener. “Iceland to Ireland” shares the cacophony of sound as a family of Whooper Swans arrive on the Irish coast during a thunderstorm in the middle of
the night. Possibly the most moving track on the album is “Extinction Here and Now”. is features the sound of the last known pair of Ring Ouzel in Ireland. eir song is pleasant and simple yet the track is a record of extinction in action. is bird, an inhabitant of the uplands, has plummeted in numbers and is on course for extinction from Ireland.
is fantastic album is a testament to the rich diversity of sound woven through the natural world and the inspiration it can bring us if we stop and listen. It can be found at Seán’s Bandcamp page: irishwildlifesounds.bandcamp.com/ album/wild-silence
Wild Silence album cover. Graphic Design by Steve O'Connell.
IWT PHOTOS OF THE MONTH
1.Turnstone by Sean Whelan
2. Spider by Kealan O Connor
3.Shorteared owl by Joe Duffy
4. Dandelion in the Rain by Jolene Coady
5.Dragonfly by Sally O Reilly
COMPETITION
Your chance to win a digital copy of Seán Ronayne’s album Wild Silence or one of our organis IWT T-shirts! We have three copies of “Wild Silence” to give away.
Wild Silence by Seán Ronayne
An album of Irish wild soundscapes, recorded in a variety of habitats, free from sources of anthropogenic noise (hence the title Wild Silence). This was created as a result of my longing to be out in nature, for a period of my life where I had no choice but to work a desk-based job. The intention is for the listener to use this album to escape into nature, when the real thing is not possible. For use as a sleep aid, a mediation aid, a stress-buster, a study/work companion, or to just bring some joy to your ears.
To win on of these great prizes just answer this questionWhich bat species has the most restricted distribution in Ireland?
Entry instructions
Send your answer, name, address and prize preference (the album OR a t-shirt) to magazinecomp@iwt.ie by 31st July 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/
