Irish Wildlife - Winter 2021

ISSN - 1649 - 5705 • WINTER ’21

IRISH MAGAZINE OF THE IRISH WILDLIFE TRUST

S AND’ IREL

SLIT BIE FE LD E W

AZIN MAG

Precious Peatlands SPOTTED IN IRELAND: • AN MEANTÁN GORM • MOUSETAIL FERN • RED KITE

COTTONWEED

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BLUE CARBON

REWILDING THE PYRENEES

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Introducing the new Irish Wildlife Trust membership card.

Please fill in your name, cut out and keep your new membership card to present at talks and other events.

Membership Card 2022

Individual members, please fill in your full name. Family members, please fill in your family name. Card valid until end of 2022.

Cards valid until the end of 2022.

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WELCOME

Chairman’s Comment

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Cover credit: R Shucksmith Contents page credits: Owenduff Bog, Ballycroy: Mike Brown Peeping Fox: David O’ Brien Meantán Gorm: Pádraic Fogarty Red Squirrel: Chris Martin Marsh Fritillary: Mike Brown Brown Trout: Paul Colley/ istock

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All articles © 2021 No part of this publication including the images used may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.

Opinions and comments expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publisher. While every effort has been made to ensure that all information contained in this publication is factual and correct at time of going to press, Ashville Media Group and the Irish Wildlife

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Trust cannot be held responsible for any inadvertent errors or omissions contained herein.

Please recycle this copy of Irish Wildlife

reetings from all in IWT! In October we held our 2021 AGM (remotely) and I thank those who attended and participated. I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge some changes to our board of directors. Ruth Canning and Joy Davis decided to not seek re-election to the board. I would like to thank them both for their commitment to the IWT and their input over the years into our governance and decision-making processes. Joy has been a volunteer with the IWT for many years and has served as a director since 2014. Joy also has served as the IWT Treasurer for the last six years. As someone who always went beyond what was required, her enthusiasm and dedication will be missed.

I want to formally welcome four new directors to our board: Claire Walsh, Ann Hannan, Liam Murtagh and Eoghan Daltun. All four bring an abundance of skills, knowledge and innovation to the board and will contribute to the ongoing growth and reach of the IWT. In addition, we have been expanding our branch network with two new branches: Limerick and Monaghan, which are currently in the process of getting up and running.

If you live in either county and wish to get involved with the IWT at a local level, please get in touch with them. Their contact details are monaghanbranch@ iwt.ie and limerickbranch@iwt.ie.

This year, the IWT attended the COP26 conference in Glasgow and our campaigns officer, Pádraic Fogarty, brings you up-to-date in this edition with our views and thoughts on the negotiations to tackle the various crises and also those issues that urgently require more prominence, such as the biodiversity crisis. Large, global scale gatherings such as COP are often viewed as nothing more than talking shops with attendances by world leaders and as staged political stunts. Whilst such criticism is justified to an extent, it is important that we understand that major political, economic and societal decisions, involving leaders or delegations from over 190 countries, will not be made in a two-week period.

The hope is that the serious work on addressing these crises are tackled domestically and regionally over the coming months and years. The stark situations facing the planet, biodiversity and humanity are now

universally acknowledged (albeit reluctantly by some quarters) and overwhelmingly backed by science.

No country can feign ignorance or denial any longer.

This winter edition of our magazine brings you a variety of articles and I would like to thank all our contributors. An article about one of our rarest native wildflowers, cottonweed, contributed by Tony Murray, Mike Wise Jackson and Noeleen Smyth, highlights the vital conservation work to protect critically endangered species in Ireland that is happening on the ground. I visited the coastal site of this eye-catching species a number of years ago and I was struck at how vulnerable this sole surviving Irish population was. To learn about the ongoing success of the efforts to increase its population is uplifting and a positive conservation success story.

Also, Dr. Jean-Luc Solandt of the Marine Conservation Society in the UK has contributed an article about Marine Protection Areas and how they should function. As you know, the IWT is heavily involved in campaigning for increased MPA designations in Irish waters with our ‘Bigger and Better’ campaign.

Finally, can I thank you all for your ongoing support throughout yet another challenging year.

Without tempting fate, it does look like the situation with COVID-19 will be more controlled next year and hopefully the IWT will be able to get our public events and engagements back up and running. In the meantime, stay in touch by following us on social media and through our website www.iwt.ie. Also, check out our online shop on our website for some great Christmas gifts for the nature lovers in your life, or indeed for yourself!

I wish you all a safe and peaceful Christmas and all the best for 2022.

Nollaig shona daoibh

Seán Meehan, Chairman, Irish Wildlife Trust

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 has a new cover to make it 100% recyclable, so if you do choose to throw it out, please put it in the green bin.

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CONTENTS

Contents 04 ABOUT US

Discover more about the work of the IWT and how you can get involved.

07 CONSERVATION NEWS

Tim Cabon compiles the latest national and international news from the world of conservation.

10 ACTIVITY UPDATE

Updates on the campaigns and research of IWT

16 UNDER THE BOARDWALK

A new book explores the wonders of peatlands in Ireland and Britain

20 COTTONWEED

Saving one of Ireland’s rarest plants

22 A GREAT IRISH FOREST

A historical glimpse into our native wooded past

24 RED ALERT FOR EUROPE’S BIRDS

A new report shows birdlife under more pressure than ever

26 FIADHLÚRA

Garraíodóireacht gheimhridh

30 WOLF AT THE DOOR?

Steve Cracknell on the rewilding of the Pyrenees in France and Spain

32 MONAGHAN WETLANDS

Monaghan County Council is drawing attention to its wonderful wetland heritage

34 FACEBOOK PHOTOS

Our pick of the photos submitted to our ever-popular photo of the month contest run on Facebook

36 COMPETITION

Your chance to win a copy of two exciting new nature books

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IRISH WILDLIFE TRUST

About Us The 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.

IMAGES THIS PAGE: TOP: African Elephant BELOW: Red kite

In our autumn issue we incorrectly credited the cover image to Mike Brown, it should have been Tina Claffey. Sorry!

HAVE COMMENTS? Editor: Pádraic Fogarty Magazine queries email: editor@iwt.ie Information on campaigning and policies email: irishwildlife@iwt.ie Snail mail: The Irish Wildlife Trust, 8 CABRA ROAD, DUBLIN 7, D07 T1W2 Web: www.iwt.ie Social media: facebook.com/IrishWildlifeTrust twitter.com/Irishwildlife instagram.com/irishwildlifetrust/ Registered Charity Number: 20010966

The 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.

HOW CAN YOU HELP? You, our members, make the IWT what it is. Through your subscriptions and support we can undertake the projects that are benefiting Ireland’s wildlife. If you would like to help more, here’s what you can do: • Make a one-off donation to the IWT. • Give IWT membership as a gift.

• Volunteer – we are always looking for people to help out. There are lots of ways to get involved, from helping with important admin work in our office to helping us increase membership by volunteering at public events. See our website www.iwt.ie for details or contact the office directly.

The IWT encourages action at a local level and has a number of branches around the country: Dublin: dublinbranch@iwt.ie facebook.com/DublinBranchIrishWildlife Trust, dubliniwt.blogspot.ie Waterford: Denis Cullen, iwtwaterfordbranch@gmail.com, deniscullen@eircom.net, irishwildlifetrust. blogspot.ie Kerry: Ger, iwtkerry@gmail.com, www.facebook.com/KerryIWT Limerick: limerickbranch@iwt.ie / https://www.facebook.com / IWTLimerickBranch Galway: Dan, iwtgalway@gmail.com, www.facebook.com/IWTgalwaybranch Laois/Offaly: Ricky, iwtlaoisoffaly@gmail.com, www.facebook.com/IWTlaoisoffalybranch Monaghan: monaghanbranch@iwt.ie

• 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? The 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 office and we can give you the support you need to get up and running.

Keep up to date on all the latest news from the Irish Wildlife Trust on www.iwt.ie 4

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CONSERVATION NEWS

CONSERVATION NEWS

The latest national and international news from the conservation world, compiled by Tim Clabon.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Global heating threatens a quarter of species The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believes that up to a quarter of all species may face extinction due to climate change. This is based on the research on species and whether species have been able to adapt to conditions such as increased temperature, rainfall and other factors in the environment.

Species that are unable to move or adapt to the changing environment will find themselves stuck in a degrading habitat, and thus more likely to go extinct.

Studies have found that warmer loving species have migrated and extended their ranges towards typically colder habitats, as these areas warm up.

Studies in the past twenty years found that climate change has contributed to the evolution of some species, which have been able to adapt to a changing environment. Individuals with certain genetic variation are more likely to survive and have more offspring. As they breed they pass down this genetic variation to the next generation, and over time the population changes.

In a nutshell, demonstrating Darwin’s theory, summarised by Herbert Spencer as “survival of the fittest”, sadly caused by human interference in the environment.

This is not the only evidence of human induced evolution.

Apart from the distinctive trunk, one key feature of African Elephants has been their tusks. The tusks have been an advantage to elephants, using them to dig for water, strip bark and leaves off trees and fight with other elephants for territory or mating rights. However, they have also been a liability due to the lucrative market in ivory trading, though now this is a black market.

Researchers in Mozambique have identified how years of poaching have led to a population of elephants that will never develop tusks. During the civil war between 1977 - 1992 elephants were slaughtered by both sides for their ivory in order to finance their war efforts. Before the war less than a fifth were likely not to develop tusks. However, after the war half the females studied never developed tusks.

Genes are responsible for whether elephants inherit tusks from their parents. Previously tuskless elephants were rare but tuskless elephants are becoming more common. What was perplexing

was that two-thirds of the offspring were female. This led researchers to suspect that the chromosome is dominant to females, and when inherited by a male it can cause early mortality.

Evolution is often thought of as a slow process, occurring over many generations. Studies on the influence climate change and poaching have had on selective breeding leading to the rapid evolution of species have surprised many researchers in this area. They have also shown how human activities can influence the evolution of species. What this means for species that have not evolved is unclear, but time will tell.

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PHOTOGRAPH: RORY HODD

I R I S H N E W S By Tom Clabon

New rare fern populations discovered  Stengrammitis myosuroides

First discovered in 2019, the mousetail fern Stengrammitis myosuroides was discovered in Killarney National Park, nearly 6,500 kilometres from its other location in the cloud forests in the Caribbean mountainous regions of Jamaica, Cuba and Dominican Republic. How it got here is a mystery, although it is not thought that human intervention caused its arrival. Despite its small size, botanists are baffled how it remained undiscovered for so long.

It was discovered by Rory Hodd while searching for other plants in the area, and who sent a sample off to the Natural History Museum in London for confirmation of its identification. Working with American botanists who would be more familiar with this species, it was identified as a species of Grammitid, a rare variety which typically grows on trees in the tropics. The nearest occurrence of Grammitid species are the Azores, where two other rare species can be found.

It is not thought that it was introduced as it is impossible to grow in captivity, and the species discovered only grows on rocks, 6

not other plants, so it would be unlikely to have been introduced accidentally.

It is thought that Stengrammitis myosuroides is a relic from when Ireland’s environment would have been very different from today's, and thanks to our mild East Atlantic fringe has quietly prospered.

In September 2021 a second population was discovered in another remote woodland in the uplands of the National Park.

The discovery of a second population indicates that the species is probably fully established in the area, and that it is likely other populations may also occur in the National Park and further afield as there are many pockets of suitable habitat. Its discovery highlights the importance and value of temperate oceanic rainforests that would otherwise not survive without protection said its discoverer Dr Rory Hodd, who along with other specialists has spent the last couple of years surveying Killarney National Park with an emphasis on niche species that occur in these discrete areas.

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MARINE CONSERVATION

What are marine protected areas for?

What can and could they achieve?

By Dr Jean-Luc Solandt, Principal Specialist, Marine Protected Areas, Marine Conservation Society UK

D

o you think our seas are degraded? Do you think the amount of fish in the seas should be greater? Do you feel that the seafloor deserves a right to be rich in biodiversity, species and habitats flourishing with life abounding around them? Sadly, our seas are denuded compared to pre-industrial times, with aspects of species richness, important habitats for fish and juvenile fish hugely degraded since before the advent of industrial exploitation of marine resources, and intensive land and coastal development. We’ve pumped tonnes of nutrient-rich waters from upland rivers into our estuaries, affecting the health of many fish nurseries. We’ve allowed our shallow seas to be dredged, whilst large trawlers operate day and night in our offshore banks, catching fish and shellfish. How do we pare back from the

collateral damage from these activities that we are so accustomed to in our daily economies?

In order to recover our seas, Ireland is taking on the cause to create nationally designated ‘Marine Protected Areas’. But be careful. We have them in the UK already and they are largely useless. Here’s why…….

Let’s start with a definition: Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) define an area of ocean or coastline for protection of one or more habitats or species.

That is a pretty broad definition. The public thinks of these as places where all things are ‘protected’ from being taken (fished or mined), dumped on (e.g. waste material from ports), and dredged (from fishing operations such as scalloping, or for ‘aggregates’ – that’s those lovely pebbles for your patio). Unfortunately there are no Irish Wildlife Winter ‘21

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MARINE MARINECONSERVATION CONSERVATION places that – by law – are protected in this way in all of Ireland. In England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, there are about 20 square kilometres. It’s not really enough is it?

On the other hand, there are some places where the MPA laws have blocked developments such as kelp harvesting in Bantry Bay, port development in the Solent and Falmouth, the dumping of ‘dredge spoil’ in south-west Cornwall, and for the protection of fish habitats off Sussex. In other isolated cases there have been bans on fishing (usually using the most damaging fishing technique – scallop dredging) in Scottish sea lochs, Falmouth, Plymouth and Welsh MPAs. All progress you’d say. But these are isolated cases, each one requiring a battle often initiated by NGOs or local groups, rather than by the due checks and balances that should be there within internal government processes and structures. I lament the lack of power that Natural England, National Resources Wales, and Scottish Natural Heritage have in holding industry at bay.

They regularly feel eviscerated in their ‘conservation advice’ (individuals say this whilst their paymasters cannot or will not). Often their advice is overly complex about the ability of an activity to comprise the ‘health’ of an MPA. Another worrying point is that in most circumstances our nature conservation advisors are dealing with a severely affected baseline condition of MPAs at the time they were designated. If MPAs were to have been designated before the industrial revolution, and the advent of nearshore trawling before the 1980s (thank you Margaret Thatcher), then setting limits on activities would have been much more aligned with public perceptions of ‘protection’. Sadly, as most habitats are now degraded, it offers an excuse in many MPAs to allow the damage to continue – because the seabed is so sparsely populated.

Why then do we call large parts of our seas MPAs if they aren’t there to ‘recover’ our seas? Well, it’s because it’s a lie – a monumental lie of massive political greenwashing proportions. They are – in the majority of cases - nothing of the sort (protected that is). Politicians realised about a decade ago that they could actually designate these areas, but either create laws to be equivocal about the levels of protection of the ‘sites’, tell the public that ‘things in them aren’t damaged, so we don’t have to restrict 8

‘activities’, or their regulators simply ignore the laws that govern them (for example by allowing terrible leaching of nutrient rich waters from upland farming, or ignoring incidences of scallop dredging in vulnerable seafloor habitats because fishing boats aren’t effectively ‘tracked’ even though we could use available ‘remote’ technologies to do so).

So what can be done to make MPAs go from ‘lines on maps’ to actually recovering (what we see as) our degraded seas?

MCS (the Marine Conservation Society) – the organisation I work for – allowed me to undertake a 15-year campaign to make MPAs actually deliver for wildlife, species, habitats, and essentially people. People need to know that protecting just bits or parts of MPAs (for example the parts the dredgers and trawlers can’t get to) is nonsense. MPAs need to allow the seabed to recover.

Bottom trawling in ‘parts’ of MPAs that ‘aren’t sensitive’ to abrasion is still allowed to continue. We have fought for many years to change this, working with scientists looking at a ‘whole site’ management approach. This is necessary for fish, habitats that support fish (e.g. seagrass, corals, sponges, byrozoans), scallop beds, cobble and boulder reef, and mud grounds to ALL be protected.

This has been reported as ‘good’ for important species like cod, whiting and haddock in Scotland by academics from the Universities of Glasgow and York.

Similarly, commercial species of fish were more prevalent in an MPA in Lyme Bay (southern England) where whole mosaics of different habitats were protected from the trawlers and dredgers. We’ve just published research from seven years of monitoring of a seabed protected from trawling near to Plymouth (the Eddystone) that offers the chance for regrowth of long-lived, slowgrowing lifeforms on the seabed. None of this is rocket science, but it is important.

Another recent report by New Economics Foundation commissioned by the EU-wide umbrella NGO Seas at Risk illustrated a simple fact. If the ‘whole site approach’ was offered to all Europe’s MPAs (i.e. if there was an immediate ban on bottom trawling in them), then there would be a windfall of recovery of services that the seas provide us for free. Services such as water filtration, nutrient absorption, sediment

 By Jacek Matysiak.

stability (meaning less damage from storm erosion), protection of habitats important for nursery stages of fish, and locking down carbon into sediments (like peat bogs in our soils) would all recover.

The conclusion is simple. Why not go the whole hog with MPAs? There’s a biodiversity crisis. We need to control the most damaging activities (mostly fishing in offshore waters) to provide benefits for us all. The whole site approach to managing MPAs should be an obvious option with the environmental crisis we see today. It’s the least the public deserves. Please stop lying to us about MPAs, and start delivering for society and wildlife.

Jean-Luc works with UK and EU NGOs, lawyers, regulators and academics to make MPAs help both people and wildlife, as well as understanding and recording their benefits.

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MARINE CONSERVATION

Ocean action is climate action!

By Regina Classen And never has that been more clear than now: Irish scientists are finally collecting data on the amount of carbon stored within ocean sediments and habitats and we can now estimate what it would mean if this carbon was to enter the atmosphere following human disturbance. Initial studies have quoted some striking numbers for coastal and near-shore habitats. Saltmarshes, for example, have similar carbon densities to low-lying blanket bogs. Irish saltmarshes are estimated to store 8.8 million tonnes (Mt) of carbon. If these habitats were destroyed, it would result in the release of 32 Mt CO2e, equivalent to the annual emissions of 17 million cars. Seagrasses, marine flowering plants that form beautiful bright green meadows in Ireland’s bays, are estimated

to sequester 10,000 tonnes of carbon each year, which is equivalent to growing 600,000 tree seedlings for 10 years. Other carbon-rich habitats include maërl, an extremely slowgrowing corraline algae that forms dense beds on the seafloor, trapping sediment and providing an important habitat to countless organisms. These habitats store around 1.1 Mt C in Ireland.

Phytoplankton, unicellular organisms that produce energy through photosynthesis, cover large parts of the Irish marine territory. These organisms are estimated to draw down 7.1 Mt of carbon per year in Ireland alone. Part of this phytoplankton sinks to the seafloor after it dies, along with the carbon stored within it. This means the ocean floor, including deep sea sediments, are one of

the world’s most significant carbon stores. Studies on the impact of bottom trawling, where fishing gear comes into contact with the seafloor, are only now beginning to investigate whether this activity causes the stored seafloor carbon to re-enter the atmosphere. Initial studies suggest that bottom trawling may be as impactful as the entire aviation industry. We therefore called on the Irish government to take action for our ocean during COP 26, because protection of our vulnerable marine ecosystems is also climate action.

Seagrasses, for example, are currently facing steep declines around our coasts, while over 50% of the Celtic Sea and 28% of the Irish Sea seafloor is trawled each year. We clearly must take better care of our seas - for climate, nature and people.

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IWT NEWS

A C T I V I T Y U P D A T E By Kieran Flood, IWT Coordinator

IWT & Galway Community College – Climate & Biodiversity Research Project

 The Galway Community College Group on a field trip with Spanish project partners

This year the IWT is working with Galway Community College (GCC) as part of an Erasmus+ project on Climate Change Studies and Research in the European Union.

This winter IWT Junior members will be receiving an insert with their magazine produced by the class at GCC. The magazine insert is a list of Irish endangered species being studied by students at the college.

This project is a research collaboration between three schools from three different countries working with national wildlife NGOs to research and compile information about locally endangered species. As well as the IWT collaboration these include Prva Susacka Hrvatska Gimnazija in Rijeka, Croatia which will work with EKO wildlife and Felix Muriel in Spain who will work with Sociedade Galega De Historia Natural.

Fifteen students from each school will research and compile information on designed templates for the endangered species including: classification, natural history, abundance, causes of decline and possible corrective actions.

Students will also take part in field studies where possible to fully understand some of the pressures facing these species. These records will be published and disseminated as widely as possible through local print and social media as well multiplier events held at city hall in Galway once a year. Some audio-visual elements of the project will be filmed and we have a commitment from our national broadcaster to air some of these on young people TV programs.

Where possible students will implement recommended corrective actions by working with our local council, politicians, influencers and voluntary groups. Erasmus Coordinator at GCC Tom Flanagan who will be overseeing the project says “this project comes at a time when the Environmental Protection Agency’s latest report states the outlook for Ireland’s environment is not optimistic unless we accelerate the implementation of solutions across all sectors and society. Climate and biodiversity are two of the key challenges we need to address. Projects like this are much needed to raise awareness to help try and halt the continuous degradation of the natural environment”.

For more information visit www.galwaycc.ie/page/Erasmus-Project To download the a copy Species Report visit our website here https://iwt.ie/what-we-do/education/galway-erasmus 10

IWT Monaghan Branch County Monaghan is in the process of setting up a new local branch of the Irish Wildlife Trust. The Facebook page is live and the mycelium is slowly spreading - we plan to become an official fruiting body with our launch early in 2022. In the meantime, we will be winding down 2021 and enjoying "the winking glitter of (many) a frosty dawn" [Patrick Kavanagh] in the drumlin county. We are really excited to be joining the IWT family and look forward to being an active member of the national network.

The branch can be contacted on Email: monaghanbranch@ iwt.ie / Facebook: www. facebook.com/iwtmonaghan/"

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IWT NEWS

C A M P A I G N U P D A T E By Pádraic Fogarty

IWT at

COP

 A scene from the streets of Glasgow during COP26

For the first time, the Irish Wildlife Trust attended the conference of the parties (COP) to the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This is referred to as COP26 for short and lest anyone be confused there is a separate COP for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which started in October (COP15) and will conclude in the Chinese city of Kunming in early 2022. The UNFCCC and the CBD are both children of the Rio Earth summit which was held in 1992 and so can be seen as the most important elements of the global, multi-lateral response to the planetary crisis, dealing with climate and biodiversity respectively.

The work at the COPs in relation to biodiversity builds upon that of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Congress which was held in Marseille in Irish Wildlife Winter ‘21

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IWT NEWS

C A M P A I G N U P D A T E By Pádraic Fogarty

 Scenes from inside the COP26 conference centre

September (and also attended by IWT) as fair criticism of the process however is well as the Intergovernmental Platform that it has only been talking, with action on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services still not being taken to any meaningful (IPBES). While the international response degree. to the crisis has been slow and faltering, COP26 has been accompanied by an the architecture for dealing with them has unprecedented level of media attention been firmly in place for many decades and this has to be welcomed. There’s no through these doubt that various bodies "WHILE THERE IS STILL A political will to and agreements. LONG WAY TO GO IT WAS do anything is in Protesters are ENCOURAGING TO SEE THE terribly short right to point out NUMBER OF JOURNALISTS supply, but the that these have media failings in been talking WHO TRAVELLED FROM the past decade shops a n d IRELAND AND GAVE IT THE have contributed platforms for ANALYSIS IT DESERVED". significantly to greenwashing ou r c u r re nt but they remain the best hope we have for predicament. Forever headlining articles collective action. There is no world with the cost of action (rather than the government or police force, so the only cost of inaction), poorly reporting the way of getting any agreement is through science, giving climate change only lots and lots of talking (something we sporadic and superficial attention while should all agree is better than waring). A still virtually ignoring the biodiversity 12

crisis are all on the chargesheet. This has left the public unsure and ill-equipped to respond to the growing urgency of the situation. So, while there is still a long way to go it was encouraging to see the number of journalists who travelled from Ireland and gave it the analysis it deserved.

The COP26 also made some significant progress on ending deforestation, reducing methane emissions, ending the

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IWT NEWS

use of coal and adding pressure on countries to improve, as well as increase the frequency of their reporting of emissions. Throughout much of the event, optimism was in short supply, but late in the second week an announcement from China and the US, the world’s two biggest polluters, that they will cooperate more closely on reducing emissions, gave a welcome boost to morale. The final

declaration claims to have kept alive the hope of staying within 1.5 degrees of warming above pre-industrial levels that was widely seen as the benchmark of success for this COP. However, it was never going to be the ‘now or never’ moment that was sometimes portrayed.

The actual work has yet to begin (emissions are still going up) and the parties will meet again in 2022 for COP27

in Egypt. While the proceedings of these events can be very difficult to decipher, it’s vital that people watching from the outside understand that this is an issue that we will be dealing with for the foreseeable future. It is not something that will one day be ‘solved’ but will be a twisting and turning road that will progress in fits and starts.

Just as every day that passes without Irish Wildlife Winter ‘21

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IWT NEWS

C A M P A I G N U P D A T E By Pádraic Fogarty action will make matters worse, there is collapse and there’s no doubt that people general) as well as oceans were all never a point where action cannot be are making decisions to reduce meat subjected to numerous and high level taken to make things better. consumption in particular. People are discussions. An announcement that four And there are lots of actions that can waking up to the fact that our natural countries in Latin America: Costa Rica, be taken. On decarbonising the economy, environment, which we have taken for Panama, Colombia and Ecuador, are to the technologies are essentially available granted as being ‘green’ and ‘healthy’ is in create an enormous marine protected – wind and solar power generation. fact degraded and polluted. area across their patch of the Pacific Battery storage has a way to Ocean shows what can be done. go but the mood at COP26 "THERE IS EVER GROWING One the other hand, there was w a s t h at i n c re a s e d AWARENESS THAT WHAT WE EAT IS clearly a sense that nature is only investment in research and INEXTRICABLY LINKED TO CLIMATE useful in so far as it can sequester development will see and store carbon. Talks I attended BREAKDOWN AND ECOSYSTEM substantial improvements in on financing for nature-based this field and so plug the gaps COLLAPSE AND THERE’S NO solutions showed how the money when the wind is not blowing DOUBT THAT PEOPLE ARE MAKING is only flowing so that wealthy or the sun is not shining. The DECISIONS TO REDUCE MEAT companies in wealthy countries can transformation of many CONSUMPTION IN PARTICULAR". buy carbon credits to claim that cities, such as Paris and they are offsetting their continued Barcelona, where car dependency is being Nature, sadly, is still not getting the emissions back home. Nature restoration reduced and more space is being devoted attention it deserves. On the one hand, will need a lot of money and we know that to trees and greenery, is already underway. COP26 was unprecedented in the national governments will be happy to There is ever growing awareness that number of events around nature and leave it to the private sector but ultimately what we eat is inextricably linked to biodiversity. Peatlands, nature-based this is an unregulated, ‘voluntary’ market. climate breakdown and ecosystem solutions, rain forests (and forests in It seems to me that it is a very high-risk  Indigenous peoples led the protest march in Glasgow

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strategy which will not only not result in reduced emissions of greenhouse gases but will lead to poor outcomes for nature if local communities are not centred in decision-making, or if, as is now happening more and more frequently, natural ecosystems turn from carbon sinks to carbon emitters as a result of fires, droughts, pests etc. I got no sense that private investors are willing to use their money to protect and restore ecosystems because they are the foundation of life on earth. Thus, the only logical conclusion is that ultimately public money will be needed for this task using taxation on rich individuals and companies.

There were no talks that I saw which were discussing this.

It is abundantly clear that we cannot meet climate goals without protecting nature, and simultaneously we cannot address the biodiversity crisis without stabilising the climate. Yet it seems that we’re still only beginning to appreciate the salience of this interaction.

Ireland was well represented at COP26 with many dozens of scientists, activists and politicians.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin addressed the opening plenary and announced that Ireland would be joining a push to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas but one which degrades relatively quickly in the atmosphere, so reducing emissions would be a quick win in terms of temperature reductions. In Ireland nearly all methane comes from cattle but it quickly became apparent that the Irish government doesn’t intend to reduce emissions by 30%, instead noting that it was a global, not a country specific target.

This is also an approach that Ireland has taken to the headline biodiversity target being discussed at COP15 in China. Here, there is a major push to protect at least 30% of land and sea by 2030. Ireland has supported this, and the 30% target at sea is in the programme for government, but has so far insisted that on land this should not apply to us. It’s a very disappointing approach that implies that someone else needs to do all the work. COP15 will bring clarity to these decisions in 2022 and IWT

 A poster seen in Glasgow during COP

"IT IS ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT WE CANNOT MEET CLIMATE GOALS WITHOUT PROTECTING NATURE, AND SIMULTANEOUSLY WE CANNOT ADDRESS THE BIODIVERSITY CRISIS WITHOUT STABILISING THE CLIMATE". hopes to be there.

It’s easy to be despondent when faced with governmental double speak. We all know we’re in the most serious crisis that humanity has ever faced and yet some of the easy things that could be done are not being done, e.g. closing off areas of ocean

to industrial fishing and ending new licences for plantations of monoculture trees. But it’s also undeniable that the ground is shifting rapidly. Political decisions that were only recently out of the question are entering the frame. The question still remains: will the response be fast enough and strong enough? This is just as relevant at the national as it is the global level. So far, the answer is no.

Has COP26 moved things on? Yes. But we mustn’t lose momentum. We must keep the pressure on. Perhaps you have read this and wondered, what can I do?

You can phone or email your local politician to express your concern. Tell them there is no time to lose. Tell them they need to be more ambitious.Tell them they need to act like our lives depend upon it.

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FEATURE

UNDER THE

BOARDWALK

 Pollardstown Fen, Kildare

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PHOTOGRAPHS: CLIFTON BAIN

FEATURE

 Owenduff Bog, Ballycroy

PEATLANDS HOLD ENORMOUS PROMISE FOR ADDRESSING IRELAND’S CLIMATE AND BIODIVERSITY EMERGENCY.

BY CLIFTON BAIN

W

ooden trackways have been a key feature of peatbogs and fens for thousands of years. Providing access across wetland habitats which have proportionately less solid than milk, boardwalks are a vital part of the peatland visiting experience. Our distant ancestors utilised boardwalks not only to traverse the bog but also to enter the saturated ground for ceremonial rituals, in which valuable objects were deposited in the peat as well as human sacrifices. Today, thanks to ambitious projects to restore and conserve Ireland’s peatlands as part of a global peatland effort, many wonderful and exciting ‘bog days out’ can be enjoyed by people of all ages and abilities.

There is a wonderful array of wildlife associated with Ireland’s peatlands. In bogs, Sphagnum mosses are the great natural building blocks whose dead remains are preserved in the acidic waterlogged conditions to form peat. Like miniature rainforests there are several different species of Sphagnum , each occupying a slightly different zone within the water table. Some form large hummocks up to a half metre tall and others prefer to be submerged in wet pools. They also display an amazing array of colours from reds, golds, browns Irish Wildlife Winter ‘21

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and greens. Within the carpet of mosses insectivorous sundew plants form bright red drifts, shimmering with the sticky, dewdrop tipped leaves, used to attract insect prey. The living plant layer across a bog is extremely vulnerable to the damaging effects of trampling by human footfall, livestock, and vehicles. Many of the breeding birds on peatlands are rare and declining wading birds such as snipe, curlew, golden plover and dunlin; all of which are ground nesters. Often no more than a shallow depression in the mossy layer with camouflaged eggs and young beautifully mimicking the mottled colours of the peatland plants the nests are easily overlooked and trodden on by the unwary traveller. Boardwalks serve a vital purpose therefore

 Marsh Fritillary by Mike Brown

in allowing access to these delicate areas whilst protecting the habitat and its species from harm.

They are also a habitat feature of their own, with the warm dry boards in spring and summer providing perching spots for dragonflies and damselflies or even birds of prey such as merlin and hen harrier.

The challenge of allowing visitors to enjoy the peatland experience without causing harm also involves careful planning to manage large numbers of people. An example of how difficult this can be, came to light at Cuilcagh Mountain Park, straddling Counties Cavan and Fermanagh, when an extensive 1.6 km boardwalk and 450 step wooden staircase popularly called the ‘stairway to heaven’ was 18

constructed in 2014. Gaining wide popularity on social media the route saw visitor numbers rise from 3,000 a year to over 70,000. This rapid growth initially overwhelmed the park authorities and caused disruption for local residents, car parking problems and damage from visitors accessing the sensitive mountain plateau habitats. Temporary closures of the boardwalk were introduced while plans were hatched to develop more sensitive routes and provide education. Encouraging people to use public transport wherever possible to visit such sites is an important part of the solution.

Perched above a peatland it is worth contemplating what lies beneath the boards. Some peatlands can contain a peat depth of 10 metres, with layer after layer of material laid down and preserved over five to ten thousand years. The peat is an invaluable archive of ecological and cultural information. Pollen grains from plants and trees that grew in the vicinity over the millennia are wonderfully catalogued in sequence.

Along with larger preserved material such as the well-known bog oaks we can use this information to interpret how species and habitats responded to past human and climatic influences and better predict the impact of climate change going forward.

Peering into the depths of our past has revealed some incredible archaeological finds of which the bog bodies are among the most fascinating. Many of these have been shown to be ritual killings from around the Iron Age. The incredible state of preservation has even revealed the last meals of the unfortunate individuals. Cultural artefacts have also been preserved including one of the largest examples in Europe of an Iron Age trackway uncovered at Corlea in County Longford.

The one kilometre track consisting of wooden rails was made using over three hundred oak trees, all felled in a single year. Possibly constructed as a status symbol it unfortunately only lasted ten years before sinking into the bog. The National Museum of Ireland in Dublin has a fascinating exhibit on Iron Age Ireland and its people including a display of bog bodies.

Ireland's cultural connection with peatlands has changed over time with early evidence of a spiritual connection to a place that was 'neither land nor water', as well as a place where people would go to feel replenished and inspired. They were also valued at one time by communities for game and for resources such as peat for burning

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FEATURE

 Dunlin by Rónán McLaughlin

and latterly the industrial exploitation for fuel and horticultural peat.

The consequence of this damage is now appreciated with declines in many of the important peatland species and significant losses of carbon from the drained and eroding peat. The recent United Nations climate change conference (COP 26) saw peatlands in the spotlight in recognition of the huge significance they have for biodiversity and climate change. Global goals have been agreed to conserve and restore peatlands to stem the loss of carbon from the peat and to help wildlife recover.

The future for peatlands lies in public and private funding to help deliver the scale and urgency of restoration required meet these goals. There are opportunities for agriculture support alongside nature-based funding to support those people who look after and maintain healthy and recovering peatlands in recognition of the public benefits.

New sustainable commercial opportunities are even being explored such as the growing and harvesting of Sphagnum mosses on worked out peatlands to provide material for the horticulture industry. For such major peatland investment to be realised requires a sympathetic and appreciative society and one of the best ways to achieve that is to encourage people to visit peatlands for themselves.

Ireland is fortunate in having excellent examples of well-maintained visitor facilities on peatlands from the national parks covering blanket bogs in

the west (Glenveagh, Ballycroy, and Connemara), Killarney in the south and the Wicklow Mountains in the east. There are also the raised bogs of the central plain in the midlands with several accessible sites 'PERCHED ABOVE A centred around the Bog of PEATLAND IT IS WORTH Allen Nature Centre at CONTEMPLATING Lullymore. Pollardston Fen WHAT LIES BENEATH near Kildare is a an all too THE BOARDS. SOME rare opportunity to see the wonderful expanse of PEATLANDS CAN sedges, reeds and orchids in CONTAIN A PEAT DEPTH this calcareous spring-fed OF 10 METRES, WITH fen. These and many other LAYER AFTER LAYER peatlands in Ireland offer a OF MATERIAL LAID sense of open space and freedom from our daily DOWN AND PRESERVED confines, with recognised OVER FIVE TO TEN mental and physical health THOUSAND YEARS'. benefits, particularly relevant in a time of global pandemic. They also offer a chance to look back at the history of Ireland's people and look forward to a new era where peatlands are treasured and appreciated.

Clifton Bain is an author and works with the IUCN UK Peatland Programme on environmental policy and advocacy to promote the conservation of peatlands. His new book, The Peatlands of Britain and Ireland is out now. See our competition page for a chance to win a copy.

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WILD IDEAS

 Cottonweed by Zoe Devlin

Cottonweed SAVING ONE OF IRELAND’S RAREST PLANTS

BY TONY MURRAY, MIKE WYSE JACKSON & NOELEEN SMYTH

C

ottonweed, cluasach mhara in Irish, is a rare, coastal plant species that is known in Ireland from a single location in Co. Wexford. Its status was assessed in the 2016 Red List as ‘critically endangered’ on the basis of a population decline of over 80% and because less than 50 plants remain in the wild. It is a small, shrubby perennial, growing to around 25cm tall, which has leaves and most other parts densely covered in white, felted hairs that give it a very attractive silvery-white appearance. The tiny individual tubular florets are packed tightly together to form small, yellow flower heads which were described by Zoë Devlin in her Wildflowers of Ireland as “fluffy buttons”.

In September 2018 after the hot summer, staff at the National Botanic Gardens went on an autumnal expedition with the 20

National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) staff to see how the largely Mediterranean-distributed cottonweed had fared in the summer. During that visit we were shocked that just 12 individuals remained at its sole Irish location, down from the 32 recorded in 2014, and that it was on the very brink of extinction in Ireland. Since 2018 a further two individuals have disappeared and as of 2021 only 10 remain.

Apart from Wexford, where it was first noted in 1866, it has been recorded from three Irish counties: Wicklow, Waterford and Kerry. It has, thus, been clinging on here in Ireland for very many years and while it is long gone from counties Kerry and Waterford and its occurrence in Wicklow was short-lived, its decline in Co. Wexford, where it was thriving up to the 1980s, has been dramatic.

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young plants to a prepared plot located within an area in which the species formerly occurred. This plot was extended in 2020.

At the National Botanic Gardens the then nursery manager Edel McDonald Maher started growing the species, under licence, in the 1990s. Edel has since retired but continues to propagate the species and to visit the site regularly. Current National Botanic Gardens horticultural staff, Michael Higgins, Sean Kelly, Brian Kelly and Joan Rodgers, have been busy propagating and tending to the cottonweed collections at the National Botanic Gardens. Since September 2018 efforts have intensified to grow material for augmenting the population in Co. Wexford.

In September 2018 National Botanic Gardens staff planted nine additional plants into the plot prepared with new

gravel substrate by NPWS in 2017, with eight of these surviving through the winter of 2019 - things were looking very hopeful. Buoyed up by this success, further plantings of seedlings and small plants into the prepared plot followed in each year since. Much has been learnt along the way, for example, some of the very small seedlings we planted did not survive but larger, one-year-old plants grown in pots did. Currently there are 72 adult plants growing on site (62 planted in the prepared plot with 10 naturallyoccurring, outside) where in 2014 there were just 12. On the 20th September 2021 we were delighted to discover the first crop of naturally regenerating seedlings (we counted over 60 small seedlings!) that had arisen from seed shed by plants that had been planted into the plot. We are very excited to see this natural regeneration and are encouraged that we are on the right track. It is to be hoped that the bulk of these seedlings will survive the winter and develop into

mature plants and that the presence of these signals the start of a journey back from the brink for the species.

This work helps to fulfil one of the aims of the National Biodiversity Action Plan i.e. to develop conservation programmes for our rarest plant species. As this is a Mediterranean species at the edge of its range here in Ireland some of the predicted future climate change scenarios could lead to an increase in the range of the species.

On the other hand, the predicted stormier conditions and sea level rise could wipe out any such gains made, and the future of this species must still be regarded as on a knife edge. We will continue the work in 2022 and beyond in the hope that this will allow this fascinating and beautiful member of the Irish flora to survive and thrive into the future.

Noeleen Smyth is formerly of the National Botanic Gardens, now at University College Dublin. Tony Murray and Mike Wyse Jackson work for the NPWS.

PHOTOGRAPHS: NOELEEN SMYTH

Cottonweed is a species of coastal strandlines, gravel banks and sand dunes.

It occurs in open areas on coarse, sandy gravels and does not thrive on fine-grained sandy sediments, which tend to favour the growth of marram, a vigorous species that will completely outcompete cottonweed.

The remaining plants of cottonweed occur in a vegetation community that includes common coastal species such as rock samphire, sea holly, sea sandwort and autumn hawkbit.

The NPWS has been monitoring the Co. Wexford population of the species since the 1980s and from 2016 has undertaken a programme to remove marram from part of the area in which the species formerly occurred, and to replace the finegrained sands that have accumulated there with sandy gravels, the preferred substrate of the species. In tandem, the NPWS carried out ex-situ propagation of seed and cutting material of the species collected from the remaining wild population, and from 2017 has returned

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GORDON D’ARCY

HISTORICAL RECORDS GIVE A TANTALISING GLIMPSE INTO THE RICHES OF IRELAND’S WOODED PAST, WRITES GORDON D’ARCY

T

he former wooded state of Ireland is well documented. Literary references, pollen analysis and dendrochronology have opened our eyes to this and to the major episodes of deforestation from the Neolithic to the Early Modern Period that have rendered Ireland a mere arboreal shadow of its former state. Since most of the factual archive has disappeared, with the trees, the history of former forests and even their whereabouts often remains only in local lore and place-names.

Glenconkeyne (and adjacent Killetra) forest- once located in the Gaelic territory of Loughinsholin (now part of the county of Londonderry), in central Ulster- may be unique in the available reference material enabling us to imagine its former grandeur.

This native forest, evidently the largest remaining in Ireland in the early 17th century was at least 8,000 hectares and may have been much larger since the ancient territory of Glenconkeyne is about 14,000 hectares. Contemporary references from English administrators concerned about its function as a retreat for ‘wolves and woodkernes’- animal and human threats to the Ulster Plantation- estimated its extent specifying that 160,000 oaks, ash and elms could be extracted without appreciably altering its extent.

The geology and soils of the region and the range of extant habitats suggest the former arboreal structure. The dominant assemblage of oak (pedunculate and sessile), ash, elm and rowan on the slopes of the Sperrins and well-drained lowlands, giving way to birch, alder and willow on boggy areas, is the likely scenario. The evergreen component would have been ew, holly and ivy with Scots pine (specifically referenced by O’Sullivan Beare, circa 1625).

Loughinsholin’s place-names are an invaluable source of information about the former forest: Cranny and Crannagh (crannaigh) are respectively ‘a wooded 22

A GREAT IRISH FOREST t a h w d an

t i f o e becam

 A remnant patch of Irish rainforest, Co. Galway.

place’ and ‘a place abounding in trees’; Ballinderry (baile an doire) is the ‘townland of the oaks’ Calmore (coll mór) is ‘the great hazel’ [wood?]; Beagh is the place of birches; Rossure (ross iúir), ‘the wooded height of the yew’; Longfield (leamh choill) and Luney (leamhnaigh), respectively ‘elm wood’ and ‘place of elms’; Tirony (tir an omna) ‘land of the tree trunk’ is somewhat enigmatic, is this a reference to bog oak deposits or to a land rendered treeless?

While a forest of these dimensions must have supported an extraordinarily rich ecosystem it is possible only to speculate on this. Noteworthy birds such as large raptors – buzzards, kites, eagles, goshawks etc.referenced elsewhere in medieval Irish literature- are obvious candidates. So too, woodpeckers and capercaillie, (‘cock of the wood’). In fact, there is a reference to ‘cock

of the wood’ in the 17th century Rawdon papers from the Antrim side of Lough Neagh, some 30 km from Glenconkeyne.

As regards large animals, the place-names are again helpful: Derryhurk (doire thoirc) is ‘oakwood of the wild boar’; Drumanee (droim an fhia) is the ridge of the [red?] deer. Was it the abundance of such ‘huntable’ animals that prompted the English attorney general, Sir John Davies, to recommend Glenconkeyne as a royal hunting preserve?

The tradition of ‘the last wolf in Ireland’ is particularly strong in Loughinsholin with reports of wolves lingering there until the 1760’s. However, the wolf (and the wildcat?) may have been hunted out before that since neither are mentioned in ‘The Experienced Huntsman’ (Arthur Stringer,1714), from the Antrim side of Lough Neagh.

A great deal of what we know about the

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 Map 2, Woodland 1600 Mc Cracken 1971

destruction of Glenconkeyne forest comes from the writings and correspondence of Sir Thomas Phillips, servitor and military superintendent for the Ulster Plantation.

While overseeing the implementation of the ‘Orders and Conditions’ of the Plantation which specified the allocation of 50,000 oaks, 100,000 ashes and 10,000 elms from Glenconkeyne to the ‘undertakers’, Phillips was extracting massive quantities of timber for his own purposes. However, when he discovered that the newly appointed mayors of Londonderry and Coleraine were engaged in the illicit manufacture of huge quantities of pipe staves for barrels from the forest, he was outraged. His submission to the Star Chamber in London is a meticulous record of the ‘despoliation’- ‘At the coming of the Londoners in 1610, [the London Guilds,

who, as an enticement, were permitted to take timber from the forest] the woods were very thick, but by the 1630’s a man might see a mile through them…’ The establishment of a number of timberhungry ironworks during and after this period accelerated the demise of the forest.

Sir William Petty’s map undertaken in the 1650’s shows the barony of Loughinsholin almost devoid of trees. By 1803 an agent of the Irish Society reported that ‘the county of Londonderry is perhaps the worst wooded county in the king’s dominions.’

A tour of the region today reveals that, apart from scattered mature trees in the hedgerows and blocks of commercial forestry on the slopes of the Sperrins, the landscape reveals no clue of the vastness of the former forest. [As an encouraging sign, however, recent cross-community tree planting initiatives such as the ‘Forest of Coleraine’ are seeking to redress the region’s arboreal paucity].

One may wonder what is to be gained by reaching back into history in the manner of this article given that, thankfully, we live in more enlightened times. However, egregious, unfettered exploitation continuing in many parts of the world and even in Ireland, extends to other natural resources besides timber. In addition, it provides us with a tantalising insight into the former ecological richness of a great Irish forest prior to the radical change wrought by the industrial revolution.

 Map 1, Glenconkeyne Woodland c1600.

For further reading: Glenconkeyne: How Ireland’s native woodland became the timber yard of the Plantation of Ulster, in New Hibernia Review, vol.25, no.2, 2021.

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WINTER FOCUS

Red Alert for

EUROPE'S BIRDS MORE BAD NEWS FOR EUROPE’S BIRDS

BY BILLY FLYNN

 Red kite by Andrew Kelly

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A

t a time when most conservation news arriving in is depressing, it takes a remarkable headline to make you sit up and read further. One of those arrived from Birdlife International on the 14th of October: One in five European birds is threatened with extinction. To say that this is not good news would be something of an understatement.

The report forms what we now refer to as the ‘red list’ for bird species in Europe. The International Union for the Conservation on Nature (IUCN) red list categories and criteria are intended to be an easily and widely understood system for classifying species at high risk of global extinction. The October report was the fourth of its kind from Birdlife International, the others being in 1994, 2004 and 2015. It forms a review of the extinction risk of all 544 species of European birds.

The data has come from experts and volunteers across 54 countries. The European region extends from the Azores in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east and from Greenland in the north to Malta and Cyprus in the south.

The report tells us that one third of the species under assessment are showing declines in populations. 13% (71 species) of bird species are threatened, with 48 species being classed as vulnerable and approximately 2% (8 species) being critically endangered.

Another 34 species are listed as ‘near threatened.’ Most depressingly five species are considered regionally extinct. Pallas’ sand grouse and pine bunting are two species that have become extinct since the last red list was produced.

It’s not all bad news, though. Two species, the Caspian plover and the Asian desert warbler that were believed to be extinct and listed as so in 2015, have reappeared.

Further good news is reported in the form of recovery of numbers of species that were critically endangered.

One such species is the red kite. This beautiful raptor is in a more secure situation now than previously reported. Changes in legislation across European states to afford this species protection and banning pesticides that had played havoc with red kite populations are believed to be responsible for this species’ recovery.

When it comes to the reasons for Europe’s bird species declines, the report is unambiguous. Habitat loss is the main factor driving numbers downwards.

Large-scale land-use changes are responsible. These

include the loss of marginal lands and the intensification of agricultural practices. These don’t just apply to the huge cereal fields of central Europe.

These changes are also happening in Ireland and the impacts are being felt here too. Species that we once considered commonplace and familiar are under threat. Readers will be familiar with the plight of the Irish breeding curlew population and the frantic efforts to prop this up. The Birdlife report tells us that the common snipe is now listed as ‘vulnerable’ having previously been described as being of ‘least concern’.

Other drivers of the downward trends of bird numbers include over-exploitation of marine resources that have effectively cut off food sources for some of our sea-going species. Pollution of inland waters is also having an impact. The black-necked grebe is now listed as ‘vulnerable’ (previously of least concern) and runoff from agricultural activities and urban areas is believed responsible. Unsustainable forestry practices that are described by the report as common across the region are listed as being responsible for the declining population of the great spotted woodpecker.

The red list of birds has significance beyond just these species. The ‘canary in the coalmine’ analogy is very pertinent here as bird populations provide vital insight into the state of our habitats. Head of conservation in Birdlife Europe Anna Staneva puts it bluntly: ‘…where birds are in trouble, nature is in trouble.’ Extending that further, where nature is in trouble, humans are in trouble.

There is some reason to be hopeful though. Birdlife’s species conservation officer, Claire Rutherford, says that there is still time to improve the plight of Europe’s birds and solutions have been identified. Large-scale habitat loss has caused many of the declines but largescale restoration work will help birds, and humanity, to survive.

We have seen some bird conservation success stories in Ireland of late. One of the more celebrated and unexpected of these was the return of cranes as a breeding species. The rewetting of thousands of hectares of cutover bog is exactly the kind of largescale restoration work that is called for in the Birdlife report. If we can apply the same thinking to the vast areas of agricultural lands that could be improved for wildlife with no significant loss to either incomes or productivity, we could look forward to many more success stories.

Birdlife International, is an international non-governmental organisation that is a partnership of 43 national conservation organisations. It has a member body in each of the EU states and here in Ireland, Birdwatch Ireland is our representative body.

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CITIZEN SCIENCE

Lifestyles

BY ANNE SUNDERMANN

of the

B

rown trout and its saltwater sibling the sea trout are incredibly successful in Irish waters. Resident since the post-Ice Age period (about 14,000 years ago) when glacial melt created viable fresh and brackish waterways in Ireland, members of the salmonid species Salmo trutta are an incredibly adaptable and important fish. All modern S. trutta in Ireland are born in freshwater, where they develop into fry. When S. trutta fry reach a certain age, they reach a developmental decision point: stay close to home and enjoy the comforts of a freshwater lifestyle or head out and make a life on the high seas for a season or two of growth and maturation (known as the anadromous path). Regardless, all must return to a freshwater base to spawn.

The resident freshwater juveniles (primarily male) are found in almost every waterway on the island and may stay resident in their natal waterway or migrate locally. They are not selective in diet and live in healthy numbers in various locations from mountain rivers and lakes to brackish coastal streams and bays. Their colouring remains the speckled brown, darker or lighter to blend with surroundings. Brown trout spawn in 26

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the last quarter of the year, preferring moderate to highquality waters.

The flashier sea trout young, usually female, undergo a process known as smoltification, which adapts the fish to a marine environment. As they develop, the fry, now parr, undergo profound physical, developmental and behavioural changes that allow it to survive in seawater, including larger size, and organ-level refinements of osmotic function, particularly in gills and kidneys. During smoltification the parr release guanine (a foundational base of DNA) which causes the fish’s scales to take on a silvery sheen, the signature look of the sea trout juvenile (now known as a smolt).

In autumn, sea trout return to freshwater to spawn. These large (0.5-2kg) females wait offshore and in small coastal waterways for optimal conditions to run upstream and deposit their eggs on gravel bars. Overwintering sea trout gather in bays and along the Irish coastline. Research shows

BROWN & SEA

TROUT Irish Wildlife Autumn ‘21

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FRONT LINE

that small coastal streams may be critical to the abundance and robustness of sea trout populations.

After a period of growth and maturation, the silvery sea trout reach a second juncture: return to sea after spawning or wait until the next spring. Some return shortly after spawning, however most overwinter in freshwater and migrate to sea in March and April.

SEA CHANGES The “should I stay or should I go” evolutionary path is not one taken lightly, and requires significant investment by an organism.

Salmo trutta’s use of these alternative migratory tactics is based on a combination of genetics, sex, environment, and available resources. Female trout are more likely to migrate and, with more food resources at their disposal, generally grow larger than the resident males.

Migration, or anadromy, uses up a considerable amount of energy. Metabolism, the process by which an organism breaks down food resources to provide resources (energy) for evolutionary tactics like migration, also comes into play when determining the life path of S. trutta. The liver is a key organ in terms of metabolic function, so it makes sense that scientists have found differences in liver gene expression between migrant and resident populations.

HIERARCHY OF NEEDS In addition to the physiological and evolutionary pressures created by anadromy, food and shelter needs are also stressors on S. trutta populations. Brown trout feed primarily on invertebrates that live in the river or lake, including mayfly, caddis fly, and stone flies. Sea trout require a protein-rich diet, feeding on shrimp and sand eels in addition to their freshwater diet.

Trout habitats and food sources are increasingly under stress 28

from man-made threats, including climate changes. More extreme weather conditions lead to low flow and, conversely, flooding. Smaller coastal waterways are important sources of shelter and food to both resident and migratory trout, but are easily degraded. Unfortunately, they receive little official protection, save for the Water Framework Directive, which seeks to improve the ecology of Ireland’s surface waters, groundwater, and coastal waters.

Freshwater spawning habitats are easily damaged by human activities, eliminating pools and gravel bars, which are important habitats for both resident and migratory trout and their food sources. The availability of food is an important factor in the migration decision, and the numbers of migratory fish increase with low food availability.

The fallout from climate change is likely the most significant threat to brown and sea trout populations. Rising air and water temperatures will certainly have a negative impact on this cold water-loving species. Altered weather patterns create periods of low stream flow in spring and summer, while more frequent and intense extreme rain events will scour the waterways in autumn and winter, potentially disrupting breeding cycles.

Members of Salmo trutta are classic examples of the dexterity of species as they evolve to meet varying environmental conditions, with changes ranging from behaviour to body size to chemical adaptations that allow survival in brackish and high-salinity waters. According to Ken Whelan, our leading authority on the subject, “sea trout and their close relatives the estuarine or slob trout, are amongst the most adaptable of our fish species in Ireland. But as shown by the almost complete loss of individual populations of western sea trout, arising from the impacts of sea lice originating from salmon farms, the continued presence of these magical creatures cannot be taken for granted!”

As real as their successes are, the snowballing effect of human intervention leave S. trutta populations vulnerable.

Irish Wildlife Autumn ‘21

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FIADHLÚRA

Garraíodóireacht Gheimhridh le Cáit Nic Lochlainn

A

r lá geimhridh, má fhéachann tú amach d’fhuinneog, b’fhéidir nach bhfeicfidh tú mórán ag tarlú i do gháirdín. Agus go minic bíonn an aimsir ró-fhuar le go leor ama a chaitheamh amuigh faoin spéir.

Ach is cuid riachtanach den saolré an tsíocháin agus an tost.

Tá tréimhse díomhaoin an-riachtanach do go leor síolta, agus ar ndóigh d’ainmhithe, feithidí, agus plandaí.

Cé go bhfuil cuma marbh ar an radharc a fheiceann tú, tá go leor ag tarlú faoi thalamh: is féidir le do gháirdín a bheith ina mhicreascóp de cheantar na tuaithe.

Is tearmann riachtanach é an gairdín bruachbhailte do go leor créatúir; agus is féidir leis bheith ina thearmann bithéagsúlacht.

Cé go bhfuil sé níos lú ná páirc, is féidir leat leagan beag den fhiadhulra a fheiscint in aice baile. Ma ta crainn, claí, paiste féir agus beagán uisce ann, beidh tús maith déanta agat ar gharraí "fiáin".

Is é an rud is mó ná gan a bheith róslachtmhar! Lig don dúlra a saibhreas a scaipeadh - is féidir leat slacht a chur ar, nuair a thagann la ‘le Pádraig!

In ionad na gclaí a fheicimid faoin tuaith, is féidir le na toir foscadh agus bia a thairiscint: Tá caora fós ar go leor dár bplandaí fiáine dúchasacha - mar shampla, cuileann, eidhneán, caorann, droigheann dubh, iúir, coll; Tá siad seo go léir dathúil i ngairdín freisin.

Ba chóir go bhfágfar na féara fiáine gan stró gan gearradh, ós rud é go bhfuil a gceann síolta donn tirim mar bhia do go leor speiceas agus suíomhanna codlata geimhridh d’fheithidí.

Agus cé nach bhfuil sruthán nó loch ag a bhformhór ina ngairdín, tá lochán simplí an-úsáideach: uisce le hól d’ainmhithe, ar ndóigh - ach folctha freisin d’éin chun a gcuid cleití a ní. Tá cleití glana níos clumhach agus níos teo.

Agus b’fhéidir go gcaithfidh na froganna fireann an an gheimhridh i mbun locháin - ag geimhreadh sna

Meantán gorm

teochtaí fuara. Beidh na baineannaigh i bhfolach i measc chairn lomán, agus i bhféar fada tais.

Fiú amháin i gcoirnéil seid nó sna bearnaí idir brící i mballa, féadfaidh féileacáin codladh trí na míonna fuara - cosúil le tortaí beaga agus peacóga srl.

Déan iarracht gan cur isteach orthu.

Caitheann damháin alla, leamhain agus go leor feithidí an aimsir fhuar i bhfoirm larbha, pupae, nó braislí uibheacha: ná déan iad a mharú le díograis iomarcach!

Agus má aimsíonn tú go bhfuil an dorchadas agus na teochtaí fuara dubhach agus codlatach fiú do dhaoine, cuir i gcuimhne duit féin go bhfásann an féar ó lár mhí Feabhra - agus braitheann go leor plandaí ní amháin ar theocht ach ar uaireanta an lae freisin. Ta an lá ag dul chun síneadh!

Breathnaigh agus taifead taifid náisiúnta sonraí bithéagsúlachta d’Éirinn má fh e i c e a n n t ú a o n s p e i c e a s neamhchoiteanta. biodiversityireland.ie Irish Wildlife Winter ‘21

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WILD IDEAS

The  Cattle on a plateau at 2,300m above sea

level by Steve Cracknell

BY STEVE CRACKNELL

at the door?

STEVE CRACKNELL DISCUSSES THE PLACE OF WOLVES IN HERDING COMMUNITIES IN EUROPE AND FINDS IT'S NOT ALL HATE FOR THE TRADITIONAL ENEMY

T

he last known grey wolf in Ireland was killed in 1786. What would happen if the species were to return? Ecologically speaking, as a top predator the wolf would again become a key element of the ecosystem. A whole new waterfall of effects would come into being, powered by the ‘trophic cascade’: animals at the top of the food chain eat those lower down. The splashes have far-reaching consequences.

As a carnivore that often hunts in packs, wolves are capable of harrying big herbivores. Old and sick animals are eliminated, improving the health of the prey herd. Moreover, the simple presence of wolves keeps prey species away. Trees grow. In the absence of wolves, we humans have become the top predators, shaping the environment to our own design. Is it time to take a step back?

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WILD IDEAS Certainly, the European Union thinks so. Wolves have been protected by the EU Habitats Directive since 1992. The relict populations in eastern Europe, Italy and north-west Spain have been exploring new territory. Soon, wolves will be howling everywhere in continental Europe. Indeed, a wolf has recently been seen in north-west France. In the event of it buying a ticket for Rosslare what would the reception committee be like?

To find out, I’ve been asking shepherds in France and Italy what they think about the return of their traditional enemy. These are shepherds who see wolves on a regular basis, but it’s not all hate.

One of the shepherds I interviewed is from a farming family in the French Massif Central. In summer, Olivier Maurin combines forces with his neighbours for the four months of the transhumance. This seasonal movement of livestock to the pastures at the top of Mont Lozère (1,700m) optimises grazing resources. It’s a long tradition, and the pastures are now part of a World Cultural Heritage site. According to the listing: ‘Mont Lozère… is one of the last places where summer transhumance is still practised in the traditional way.’

Three millennia of cultural history have been written onto the landscape.

However, ten years ago, the first of the new wolves arrived. Before that date, one shepherd looked after the flock; now three are needed. Yet, despite this, sheep are still killed. One year, fifteen died in a single incident. It’s not a financial problem because the compensation covers that, Olivier told me. It’s the stress, trying to protect the sheep, knowing another attack is coming.

The day I was there, one of the shepherds had just seen a wolf and fired to frighten it. To kill it would have been illegal, I was told. I followed Olivier through the heather and scrub into the woods, rounding up the 2,600 sheep into the fold for safety. The mist came down quickly and we only located the last few stragglers by the sound of their bells.

I asked Olivier why he didn’t employ the governmentrecommended livestock guardian dogs instead of guns to protect his sheep. He replied: “if we had guardian dogs here, we would already have been in court.”

Several thousand walkers a year cross the pastures.

Legs just waiting to be bitten. Farmers elsewhere were being prosecuted.

As far as Olivier was concerned, sheep would be safer nearer the farm; the arrival of wolves was a threat to the transhumance system. Yes, sheep and wolves coexisted until the 1930s but, according to Olivier, today’s shepherds cannot tolerate any additional constraints.

In contrast, in Italy, I met a shepherd with a  Spanish Wolf. Photo: Neo Rodan/iStock different attitude. Like Olivier, Giulio Petronio is from a farming family. When I asked him how many of his 2,300 sheep he lost to wolves, he put his thumb and forefinger together to make a circle.

Zero, he told me, smiling. In the previous three years he had lost zero sheep to predators. There are 120 wolves here in the Gran Sasso in Abruzzo, a much higher population density than on Mont Lozère. Giulio attributed his success to his five shepherds and twenty-five livestock guardian dogs. Another factor must be the open "Mont Lozère… landscape where the sheep are kept. Any wolf is one of the poking its nose out of the surrounding forest last places is quickly spotted.

However, it is not only dogs that mark the where summer difference between the two shepherds’ transhumance is attitudes. Olivier was brought up in the dark still practised in the shadow of the Bête du Gévaudan – probably traditional way." two wolf–attack-dog hybrids. They caused over eighty deaths in Lozère in the 1760s. In contrast, where Giulio was brought up, bears and wolves are used to attract tourists.

Having interviewed these and many other shepherds about wolves, I have come to recognise that each valley, each farm, each farmer has a different history. The farmer’s attitude to nature depends on a myriad of details. As Caroline Crowley suggested in the last issue of Irish Wildlife (p. 30), let’s listen to them.

See our competition page for a chance to win a copy of Steve’s new book The Implausible rewilding of the Pyrenees. He’s also on Twitter @enmarchant Irish Wildlife Winter ‘21

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SPRING FOCUS

Network for nature, climate and people 32

Irish Wildlife Winter ‘21

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LOCAL ACTION one of Monaghan’s many small lakes

HOW OFTEN DO YOU INTERACT WITH WETLANDS? 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Never

Once a week

Once a month

Once a year

Building on awareness and conservation programmes a new strategic approach was taken in 2020 by the Monaghan County Council Heritage Office with funding through the National Biodiversity Plan. We are developing an action plan for wetlands and trying to find a new way to establish and communicate their values and significance. See https://monaghan.ie/

BY SHIRLEY CLERKIN, heritage/monaghan-wetlands-action-plan/ MONAGHAN COUNTY An attitudes survey conducted as part of this, COUNCIL HERITAGE OFFICER established that 87% of respondents were interested in conserving wetlands, and that over 60% visited HAVE BEEN wetlands at least once per week. Working with INSPIRED BY WETLANDS t was quipped to me recently that Monaghan Wetland Surveys Ireland, the RAWES (Rapid does not have the right to be so well-known for Assessment of Ecosystem Services) method from the its wetlands, a comparative with iconic peatland Ramsar Convention was applied to over 200 wetlands in places that feature big Paul Henry skies and the county, assessing them for their cultural, vast areas of landscapes. And I take the provisioning, regulating and supporting ecosystem point, as it was genuinely meant. One could services. However, these elements – the habitat travel thought the county of Monaghan and mapping, the action plan and ecosystem services INVOLVED IN unconsciously ignore the inter-drumlin assessment can only go so far without active citizen CONSERVING wetlands, and without venturing to the border engagement.

WETLANDS blanket bog area of Sliabh Beagh exit the county The Community Wetlands Forum (CWF) which is part none the wiser. of the Irish Rural Link, have come on board to facilitate, However, since 2006 under the auspices of the support and mentor the development of a Wetlands County Monaghan Heritage Plans, over 700 Network in the county. The purpose of the Monaghan wetlands have been identified, mapped and their Wetland Network is to safeguard our wetlands habitats recorded. Sites include fringing fens and through conservation and nature enhancement INTERESTED IN reedbeds around small lakes, transition mires measures, promoting their biodiversity, cultural, CONSERVING and secondary fens on cutover raised bogs, health benefits and values, sharing our experiences WETLANDS swamps, marshes, raised bogs and blanket bogs. and building capacity to protect our wonderful wetland These places support endangered wetland plants and heritage. The development of the network is a response animals, dragonflies and damselflies, macro-invertebrates, to the needs expressed in the attitudes survey. The CWF will over-wintering migratory birds, raptors and song-birds. Concerted work directly with people using community development efforts to educate, communicate and inspire have been made principles of empowerment to build bridges between community through publications, podcasts, workshops and conferences but and nature. it is not enough.

Funding is also being made available through Monaghan County These wetlands continue to decline in quality and quantity due Council, via the Monaghan Wetland Action Plan Fund to carry to locations at the base of steep clay slopes with nutrient rich out actions at a Wetland Network sites. The aim of the fund is to run-off, or because they are being nibbled away by gradual infilling incentivise community groups and individual landowners to take at the marshy ends of fields, from ammonia deposition as a result positive actions for wetland sites as part of the Monaghan Wetlands of intensive agriculture, road widenings, wildland fires, under- Action Plan. The fund is modest, but it is planned to grow this grazing, invasive species and land drains. For the most part, these in subsequent years as the network develops. valuable places are outside the network of protected sites, having neither Special Area of Conservation or Special Protection Area The link to the network registration is: designation (there are only one of each in the county) or Natural https://bit.ly/MonaghanNetworkApp. Heritage Area designation.

For further information contact heritage@monaghancoco.ie

I

79% 15%

87%

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PHOTO OF THE MONTH

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PHOTO OF THE MONTH

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Peeping Fox by David O' Brien Ladybird in Cow Parsley Head by John Murphy Dragonfly by Andrew Garrigan Red Squirrel by Chris Martin The Grove Snail by Sarah Sweeney

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COMPETITION

COMPETITION In this issue of Irish Wildlife, members have a chance to win one of two exciting new nature books – The implausible rewilding of the Pyrenees

by Steve Cracknell and The Peatlands of Britain and Ireland

by Clifton Bain.

The implausible rewilding of the Pyrenees

The return of large predators might help to reinvigorate nature. But are wild animals like wolves and bears compatible with livestock farming? Will their arrival destroy mountain communities?

Unable to decide on the issues, Steve Cracknell climbs up to the isolated summer pastures of the Pyrenees on the French–Spanish border. He listens to shepherds, hunters and ecologists – and goes looking for bears, both in the mountains and beyond.

Lynx, vultures and many other species are featured in this wide-ranging study which also looks at how wild animals have been perceived over the ages.

In a book of relevance to the rewilding debate, the author shows how attitudes to the wild are bound up with personal values.

Nobody has a monopoly of the truth.

“The author has spoken to a great number

of people on both sides of the debate and what they say is worth thinking about… A very good book, well-written, well-produced and well-illustrated.” Dr Mark Avery, writer and campaigner.

The Peatlands of Britain and Ireland

A source of fuel for many generations, peatlands are now a haven for wildlife and plants as well as a storehouse of greenhouse gasses. Their social history is one of exploitation, and the value of mending and restoring is a major theme of the book. Like its predecessors, The Peatlands of Britain and Ireland is richly illustrated with photographs and with drawings by the wildlife artist Darren Rees.

‘For too long considered as wastelands, Clifton Bain puts the record straight regarding the beauty and value of Britain’s peatlands in this richly illustrated guide.’ Dr Tony Juniper CBE, Environmentalist

To win one of these great books just answer the following question:

What critically endangered plant is the subject of a rescue mission led by the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin?

The answer is somewhere in this issue! Send your answer, name, address and the book you would prefer to magazinecomp@iwt.ie

by January 31st 2022.

Autumn issue.

In our autumn issue we gave readers a chance to win one of three copies of Zoë Devlin’s new edition of The Wild Flowers of Ireland. The answer to the question is there is more than 900 species of bryophyte (mosses and liverworts) recorded from Ireland. Congratulations to Aisling Baker from Drumcondra, Dublin 3, Mark Bruns from Leixlip, Co Kildare and Lee Maginnis from Portadown in Co Down. Thanks to all who entered!

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Everything for wildlife, ecology and conservation Bat detectors Camera traps & accessories Moth traps & insect nets Field guides Conservation handbooks Binoculars & spotting scopes Hand lenses & microscopes Pond dipping nets

Wild Calendar 1000s of natural history books 2022 Huge product range Over 140,000 books & equipment products

www.iwt.ie

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Specialist help and advice

iwt.ie/shop www.nhbs.com | Serving conservation since 1985 | +44 1803 865913 2L_NHBS_JM_IWT Summer.indd 1

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Donate to the Irish Wildlife Trust to help us connect commnities with Nature

Donate online at ww.iwt.ie/donate Registered Charity Number (CRA): 20010966 2L_IWT_Donate_JM_IWT Summer.indd 1

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“The Badger Club is our Junior IWT Membership subscription.

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I T I ON E T To be in with a chance to win the book All About Bats: Explore the World of Bats! answer the question below:

Why do bats hate being on their own?

They want to hang out with their friends!

How many bat species are found in Ireland?

Please email your answer along with your name and address to badgercomp@iwt.ie.

Why didn’t anyone like the vampire bat?

He was a pain in the neck!

Competition deadline: 15th November.

What kind of bat can do a backflip?

An acro-bat!

Best of luck everyone :) The winner of the book Deep in the Ocean by Lucie Brunellière, is Greta Gallagher.

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MAGAZINE FOR THE JUNIOR MEMBERS OF THE IRISH WILDLIFE TRUST Autumn 2021

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Badger Club is a quarterly magazine for Junior and Family members of the Irish Wildlife Trust. To become a member please go to our website https://iwt.ie/ support-us/become-a-member/ Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/ IrishWildlifeTrust and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/irishwildlife

Text: Fergus De Faoite Design: Barbara Vasic Poster photo: Lesser horseshoe bat, Mike Brown Front cover photo: Daubenton’s bat, Alamy Centre spread photos: Brown long-eared bat by Fourrure from France, CC BY-SA 2.0; htps://commons.wikimedia. org; Daubenton’s bat, by Rauno Kalda, CC BY-SA 3.0; https://commons.wikimedia.org; Lesser horseshoe bat by Mike Brown; A colony of Lesser Horseshoe Bats sleeping by orientalizing, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, flickr.com

The Irish Wildlife Trust was founded in 1979 as a charitable conservation body, Charity No. CHY 6264. We provide the public with information about wildlife, run education and training programmes, carry out habitat and species surveys, campaign and lobby around biodiversity issues, restore natural habitats, consult with industry, agriculture and Local Authorities to maintain our natural heritage, and contribute to national and international forums for the protection of biodiversity.

The IWT is a nationwide organisation with a strong membership base, staff and Board of Directors, with branches in Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Laois/ Offaly and Waterford.

Copyright Irish Wildlife Trust 2021.

All rights reserved.”

Bats

Join the Badger Club to receive our quarterly junior magazine the “Badger” for €15 per year.

The Badger is full of fun facts about nature and features an A3 poster in each issue.

To join visit the Join IWT section on www.iwt.ie and select Junior Membership”

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