Irish Wildlife Autumn 2018

ISSN - 1649 - 5705 • AUTUMN ‘18

IRISH MAGAZINE OF THE IRISH WILDLIFE TRUST

IRELAND’S

SIT BIE D L L FE W

MAGAZINE

ALL TOGETHER NOW

COMING TOGETHER TO TACKLE DECLINING BIODIVERSITY, EXTINCTION & CLIMATE CHANGE

SPOTTED

IN IRELAND: • Natterjack Toad • Badger • Great Spotted Woodpecker GROWING NATIVE TREES

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SAVING THE RIVER BRIDE

UNDERSTANDING OUR BADGERS

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SECONDARY SCHOOL BIOLOGY FIELD TRIPS WITH THE IWT It is amazing what we can learn in our local nature reserve, park or even school grounds – all we have to do is get out in nature and have a look.

This year the IWT is running a range of curriculumlinked school field trips tailored to Junior Cert, Transition Year and Leaving Cert. All field trips are led by an IWT scientist, can be run in a location convenient to your school and cover biology curriculum needs such as ‘study of a habitat’.

For course information, pricing and booking contact us at conservation@iwt.ie or call 01 860 2839

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SPECIAL OFFERS IN THE IWT SHOP To celebrate the IWT’s Wild Watch events, check out our range of T-shirts, now on special offer at 10. Made in high quality cotton by Fruit of the Loom.

We also have a range of publications at very competitive prices.

See our full range online at www.iwt.ie/shop IWT Shop.indd 1

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Wild Watch t-shirts now on special offer at 10

ly ct e r di ts. o c s g roje t fi ro T p p W l Al to I 26/08/2015 17:40

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WELCOME

ISSN - 1649 - 5705 • AUTUMN ‘18

Editor’s Comment

IRISH MAGAZINE OF THE IRISH WILDLIFE TRUST

IRELAND’S

T BESIFE WILDL

MAGAZINE

ALL TOGETHER NOW

COMING TOGETHER TO TACKLE DECLINING BIODIVERSITY, EXTINCTION & CLIMATE CHANGE

SPOTTED

IN IRELAND: • Natterjack Toad • Badger • Great Spotted Woodpecker GROWING NATIVE TREES

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SAVING THE RIVER BRIDE

UNDERSTANDING OUR BADGERS

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Cover credits: Puffin (credit, Kenny Goodison) Natterjack Toad (credit, Anthony Dawson) Badger (credit, iStock) Great Spotted Woodpecker (credit, iStock) Contents page credits (clockwise): Bride Valley; Rabbit; Copper Butterfly; Damselfly; Mature Oak Woodland; Field Margin; Pollinator on blackberry bush; Yellowhammer; Tillage farming.

Copper Butterfly (Tony Nagle), all other photos (Sinéad Hickey).

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.

Editor: Sinéad Ní Bheoláin, IWT Published by Ashville Media Group www.ashville.com

All articles © 2018. 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 Trust

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

As this issue goes to print, Fine Gael are celebrating their very own Green Week with well known names within the party posting videos online offering advice on reducing your plastic waste when shopping and unplugging your phone or computer when they are fully charged. The Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar himself, has also highlighted the benefits of using re-usable cups. The Irish Wildlife Trust endorses all these great ideas for a greener you, but could add a few more suggestions.

The Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust highlighted recently on BBC Cornwall why they wanted a ban on helium balloons. They shared examples of balloons found on their shores and advised that letters would be sent to the culprits. A McDonald’s balloon - which may have come from the nearest McDonald’s restaurant 60km away - was among the balloons found, but even more worrying was a balloon from the Smithfield & Stoneybatter Food Festival, located 380km away! The Irish Wildlife Trust would love to see a ban on balloons in Ireland.

You can do your part by writing to festivals that have balloon releases and maybe even choosing to have bubbles instead of balloons at your own birthday parties.

We all have a part to play in protecting the environment and we need to share this message.

So why then, were many environmentalists angry with Fine Gael’s efforts? For me, it felt like the party was taking its advice from a Junior Certificate Civic and Social Political Education textbook; great advice for a 12-year-old eager to change bad habits.

But I bet that book would also advise the 12-yearold to write to their TD, telling them they want further change.

Fine Gael’s record as legislators, thus far, has been catastrophic for our environment. Forestry policy remains fixated on monocultures of nonnative conifers that devour landscapes, pollute water and eradicate habitats, even in areas protected for nature or of high landscape value.

Even the modest targets for native woodland

DONAL SHEEHAN is a 70 cow dairy farmer from Castlelyons in East Cork and is part of the BRIDE Farming With Nature Project team. researcher with the Behavioural and Evolutionary Research Ecology Group, TCD, who has recently submitted her PhD thesis on the movement ecology of Wicklow badgers. Email: gaughra@tcd.ie

Printed on

Enjoy the read,

Sinéad Ní Bheoláin Editor, Irish Wildlife

CONTRIBUTORS

AOIBHEANN GAUGHRAN is a

Please recycle this copy of Irish Wildlife

creation are not being met. You can learn more and maybe even get involved in the Save Leitrim Campaign in our On Location article in this issue.

Fine Gael have presided over significant agricultural expansion plans including FoodHarvest 2020 and FoodWise 2025. This has resulted in ballooning greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution and habitat loss. Six weeks before their marketing spin of Green Week, the government passed the Heritage Bill into law, which went against all scientific and public opinion. This aptly nicknamed ‘slash and burn bill’ allows for hedgecutting and upland burning when already struggling wildlife is at its most vulnerable.

While disagreement over the bill was described as farmers against conservation groups, many farmers came out against the bill. With results based environmental payments on the way, the new dates for hedge cutting will prove detrimental to those hoping to achieve higher payments. You can read why the BRIDE Farming with Nature Project came about in Wild Ideas. In addition, the large badger study undertaken by Trinity College in Wicklow - our main feature this issue - would not have been possible without the help of local farmers. Many Irish Wildlife Trust members are farmers who value highly the nature around them.

This is why I am handing the On Location article over to farmers from different regions for the next year. So, if you are farmer and would like to write an article or send in some photos of wildlife on your farm, please get in touch with me at iwteditor@ gmail.com.

SINÉAD NÍ MHEARNÓG Is gníomhaí teanga í Sinéad ón Chaisleán Glas, Tír

Eoghain. Oibríonn sí le Glór na nGael mar Oifigeach Forbartha Gaeilge chomh maith leis an obair dheonach a dhéanann sí le Pobal Ar A’n Iúl, Craobh na hÓmaí de Chonradh na Gaeilge, le clubanna óige áitúla agus leis an CLG ar an Chaisleán Glas chun an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn.

Baineann sí sult as eolas a scaipeadh faoi shean Ghaeltacht Mhuintir Luinigh agus daoine a mhealladh chuig ceantar na Speiríní, áit a bhfuil oidhreacht, cultúr agus stair in achan chuid den tírdhreach – “tagaigí ar cuairt!” a deir sí, agus fáilte ar leith roimh Ghaeilgeoirí.

Irish Wildlife Autumn ‘18

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CONTENTS

Contents 4.

ABOUT US

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

5. CONSERVATION NEWS

Orla Ní Dhúill compiles the latest national and international news from the world of conservation and Daniel Buckley advises on growing some native trees in your garden.

8. IWT NEWS

What we’ve been doing throughout the summer months.

12. EDUCATION

Jenny Quinn investigates the complex underground burrows of woodland creatures.

13. FIADHÚLRA

Tugann Sinéad Ní Mhearnóg léargas dúinn ar na fáthanna a bhfuil dualgas orainn go léir a ceantar dúchais a choinneáil slán ó Dhalradian.

15 BRANCH FOCUS

Local nature news from our Kerry branch.

16. WILD IDEAS

Farmer Donal Sheehan discusses the work of the BRIDE Farming with Nature Project.

19. COMPETITION

We’re offering our readers the opportunity to win some fantastic books.

20. FEATURE

Aoibheann Gaughran on her study investigating the movements and habits of badgers in County Wicklow.

24. EXPLORING WILDLIFE

Gordon D’arcy discusses our record-breaking weather and worrying climate change trends.

26. AUTUMN FOCUS

Billy Flynn discusses mass

extinction and the role we play.

28. FIELD REPORT

Declan Murphy examines the daily routine of the great spotted woodpecker.

30. OVER TO YOU

A selection of photos and letters sent in by Irish Wildlife Trust members.

32. ON LOCATION

The people of Leitrim set up the Save Leitrim group to stop the conifer plantation of their beloved county.

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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.

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.

IMAGES THIS PAGE: TOP: Puffin, credit Kenny Goodison ABOVE: Rabbit munching, credit Catherine Drea

HAVE COMMENTS? Magazine queries, general wildlife questions or observations email: iwteditor@gmail.com Information on campaigning and policies email: irishwildlife@iwt.ie Phone: (01) 860 2839 Snail mail: The Irish Wildlife Trust, Sigmund Business Centre, 93A Lagan Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 11 Web: www.iwt.ie Social media: facebook.com/IrishWildlifeTrust twitter.com/Irishwildlife

Irish Wildlife is published quarterly by the IWT.

The IWT encourages action at a local level and has a number of branches around the country: Dublin: Barbara, 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 Galway: Dan, iwtgalway@gmail.com www.facebook.com/IWTgalwaybranch Longford/Westmeath: Chris Martin, iwtlongfordwestmeath@gmail.com Facebook: search for ‘Longford/ Westmeath Irish Wildlife Trust Branch’ Laois/Offaly: Ricky, iwtlaoisoffaly@gmail.com www.facebook.com/IWTlaoisoffalybranch West Cork: Eoghan Daltun, eoghandaltun@yahoo.com

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 in different ways.

There are lots of ways to get involved, from work experience in specialist areas to getting your hands dirty at our sites or helping us increase membership at events.

See our website www.iwt.ie for details or contact the office 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? 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 Orla Ní Dhúill.  Deep water coral and sponges

IRISH NEWS

offshore Ireland, acquired during SeaRover project by Marine Institute remotely operated vehicle Holland 1

RARE FINDS OFF THE WEST COAST

River Bride, credit Chris Moody

Save the Bride

By Chris Moody I only really started paying attention to the river that flows behind my house when the Office of Public Works sent me a letter telling me that they were going to cover it over as part of the Blackpool Flood Relief Scheme. As far as I was concerned, the river was a littered but effective security barrier and that was my only real concern. However, my feelings have changed somewhat over the last two years since I first became aware of the plans.

I took part in a nature survey of the river and discovered not only that otters were using the river but many other animals also. I saw fat little dippers bobbing on rocks, a grey heron silently scoping from the river, a fox on a perch high above, ducks, wagtails and brown trout - the river was alive. I even did a bit of a clean up with a neighbour and pulled out

loads of shopping trolleys and old bicycles.

The planned culvert is 350m long - three football pitches end to end in length. Other measures planned upstream include sediment traps, walls, bridge replacements and a massive trash screen. All these measures are bound to impact life in the river.

Some of my neighbours and I objected to the culvert. Inland Fisheries Ireland have called it “the sterilisation and permanent loss of 350m of fisheries habitat” - yet the Office of Public Work are pushing ahead with the plan. I don’t think I will believe it is happening until the diggers and trucks move in. I keep hoping someone with some sway in the matter will step forward and say, “wait a minute, this is crazy, let’s try something else”. However, all is quiet so far…

A new species of deep water coral has been discovered during an Irish seabed mapping programme. The mapping programme, INFOMAR, was part of a three-week survey to examine the deep ocean 300 miles off the Irish coast and included experts from the Marine Institute, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the National University of Ireland Galway and Plymouth University.

Cold water coral reefs host a diverse range of marine animals including sponges, starfish, crustaceans and a variety of fish species.

Using a high definition camera mounted on the Marine Institute’s Holland 1 robot submarine, the team captured a number of firsts in Irish waters, including octocoral – a type of coral that grows into huge fans with a delicate porcelainlike skeleton – and a species of black coral which may prove to be an entirely new species. The scientists also found areas of potential sponge reef on the Rockall Bank, described by the researchers as a “highly unusual accumulation of living and dead sponges” that forms a complex habitat for other sea creatures.

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CONSERVATION NEWS

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Reintroduction but not Rewilding In July 2018, two Eurasian beavers were released into a 16 acre pennedoff section of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. It is hoped that the beavers will help with flooding issues in the area.

Hunted to extinction in England nearly 400 years ago, beavers are natural habitat engineers, restoring complex wetland habitats and providing habitat for declining species, slowing the flow of water downstream.

Hydrologists from Exeter University have been studying the brook through the Forest of Dean for more than a year and they believe the brook contributes quite clearly to the flooding down stream in the villages of Upper Lydbrook and Lydbrook, both of which flooded badly in 2012. Hundreds and thousands of pounds have been spent on conventional flood prevention schemes such

Guillemot feeding

Alaska Die-off

as replacing drains, but it is now hoped that the beavers will build dams and create ponds on Greathough Brook, slowing the flow of water through the steep-sided wooded valley of the forest at times of torrential rainfall. The beaver's harvesting of timber will also improve the area’s biodiversity. The study will last three years and if successful, the beaver reintroduction programme could be expanded by the government to other areas at risk of flooding.

TOUR OF GRIEF Researchers of a declining orca population celebrated the birth of a new calf in July this year. The pod of orcas, known as the southern resident killer whales, visit Puget Sound off the coast of Washington every summer. The population of the pod has fallen from 98 in 1988 to just 75 orcas today and in 2005 the group was recorded on the IUCN Red List as endangered.

Many reasons have been given for their decline, particularly the diminishing stock of Chinook salmon, their main food source.

Research published by Washington State University in June 2017 revealed that about a third of the group’s pregnancies failed late in the gestation period, another likely cause for the decline in population. Again, the diminishing stock of Chinook salmon was blamed although it is thought that the nutritionally deprived mothers might be passing pollutants on to their calves.

On July 24th, celebrations over the first live birth in the group in three years were unfortunately short lived. A half an hour later researchers spotted 20-year-old Tahlequah (also known as J35) carrying her dead calf.

Nature lovers followed the grieving mother for 17 days as she carried her dead calf over 1,600km along the surface until August 11th, when she was spotted without the calf for the first time. It is unkown if she voluntarily stopped carrying the calf’s remains or whether the body deteriorated and fell away but Tahlequah was seen with her pod chasing a school of salmon in Haro Strait. Researchers informed the media that Tahlequah appeared “to be in good shape but frisky”.

Thousands of seabirds have washed up on Alaska’s beaches this summer - the third die off in recent years.

The Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team from the University of Washington recorded deaths of forktail storm petrels, common murres, fulmars, shearwater, kittiwakes, auklets and puffins.

Caracasses examined by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service so far have shown no indication of disease but the seabirds are found emaciated and starved. Common murres (known here as common guillemots) are plentiful in Alaska and used as an indicator of the health of the coastal ecosystem. Murres eat finger length forage fish and can fly miles seeking schools of fish, so why aren’t they finding them?

Between 2015 and 2016, 30,000 murres died. This time, the number is far greater.

Has the warmer ocean affected the prey? Robb Kaler of USFWS told Seattle Times, “When you have a warm body of water, and there’s a stagnation in that water column, that’s going to effect everything that’s feeding in the ocean.” The USFWS are awaiting results to see if the seabirds deaths were caused by harmful algal toxins.

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CONSERVATION NEWS

PRACTICAL CONSERVATION

Reap what you sow Growing native trees in your garden, by Daniel Buckley.

 Rowan tree, credit Daniel Buckley

There are many reasons for having native trees in your garden. They provide shade, a wind break, enhance the landscape and are also great for attracting wildlife. Planting trees that produce flowers will help our declining insect pollinator populations, while fruit bearing trees can provide food for birds and small mammals in the winter. While it is easy to just go to a garden centre and buy some saplings, it does the soul good to stand in the shade of a tree that you have grown from seed yourself. So here are some tips on how to grow two native trees that will fit into most gardens, are great for wildlife and most importantly are super easy to propagate. Once you have mastered these you can try other species, including some of the trickier ones!

Materials: To grow trees you will need containers and a growing medium. One can purchase a variety of seed trays and pots online but I like to re-use food containers, such as yoghurt pots, milk cartons and ice cream tubs.

Seeds should be planted in peat-free compost with some horticultural sand mixed in to improve drainage.

Species: Rowan A medium sized tree with leaves, very similar to ash, that produces bright berries in the autumn. Rowan can tolerate a variety of soil types.

WILDLIFE BENEFITS: Produces flowers for pollinators and berries for birds.

COLLECTING SEEDS: Rowan produces bright red berries in August and September.

Collect them before the birds eat them all!

GROWING TIPS: Place the berries in a container full of water and mash the berries up between your fingers or using a potato masher.

This releases the seeds from the berries. Fertile seeds will sink to the bottom while sterile seeds and mashed berry flesh should float on the water surface. Leave overnight to allow seeds to sink to the bottom. Scoop out any floating material and drain the water using a sieve to catch seeds. Spread seeds thinly over the soil surface of your containers and then lightly cover over with some soil. Leave the containers outside on a window sill over winter but cover them with some plastic (with some holes pierced for aeration) to protect the seeds from being eaten by wildlife. Remove the plastic

cover in early March. The germination rate is usually very good for rowan, so seedlings will need to be thinned out and re-potted in their first winter when the seedlings are dormant.

Rowan can be planted out in their permanent home at 2-3 years of age.

Species: Willow A tree for damp soils. There are a number of native and non-native species of willow in Ireland and they all hybridise with each other. The two most common native willows are grey willow and goat willow, which grow to be small-medium sized multistemmed trees.

WILDLIFE BENEFITS: Willow flowers or catkins are loved by bees. After oak, willows have the largest number of associated insects.

GROWING TIPS: Willow is best grown from cuttings. Cuttings should be collected in winter or early spring. The best material to use is the previous year’s growth. Stems should be cut up into 10-inch long sections and should be at least the width of a pencil. Your cuttings can be planted in containers and grown on for planting out the following winter.

Is there a practical conservation project you would like to see covered? Email iwteditor@gmail.com Irish Wildlife Autumn ‘18

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IWT NEWS

IWTNEWS Activity Update

By Kieran Flood, IWT Conservation Officer.

Out and About Summer is a busy time for wildlife and the Irish Wildlife Trust. You may have encountered us out and about in the fine weather at a summer festival, local branch event or training workshop.

This summer we attended Bloom in the Park where our team of volunteers had the chance to meet thousands of people from across Ireland to discuss Irish wildlife and the issues affecting it.

We were also busy delivering a fantastic Biodiversity Week schedule as well as our People for Bees workshops and our library visits.

Every Irish Wildlife Trust event and every person who attends such events is a step towards greater public appreciation of and engagement with Irish wildlife. Read on for an update on some of our activities from this summer gone by.

People for Bees

5People for Bees follow up bee habitat workshop hosted by Castleconnell Tidy Towns

As summer comes to an end, our People for Bees programme has seen bee identification workshops successfully delivered in counties Cavan, Donegal, Limerick, Roscommon and Wicklow. Children and adults from communities in these five counties gathered together to learn about the variety of bee species found in Ireland and how to identify the common bumblebees we can all spot in our parks, gardens and hedgerows. Every workshop attendee left with the knowledge of how to identify these bees and importantly how to submit these sightings to the National Biodiversity Data Centre (NBDC). The Irish Wildlife Trust works closely with the NBDC to support the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and the Bumblebee Monitoring Scheme.

Unfortunately, during this project period the NBDC released data showing that “Irish bumblebee populations recorded in 2017 are the lowest they’ve been since monitoring began in 2012.” The principle reason for this decline is thought to be habitat loss.

These worrying findings highlight the importance of the second

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phase of our People for Bees programme in which we deliver bee Habitat Creation Workshops. These workshops teach people how to create bee friendly habitats in their communities and gardens. This means planting more bee friendly varieties of plants and planning to have plants in bloom all year round, from early spring right through the year. Our workshops also teach people how to create habitats that include bee nesting sites. Nesting sites are essential for our wild bumblebee and solitary bee populations and can be as simple as some free draining bare soil in which solitary mining bees can dig a nest.

To complement our People for Bees workshops, we have produced a beautiful bee issue of our Badger Club magazine including a custommade bumblebee identification poster.

We ran our Community Bee Monitoring workshops and Bee Habitat Creation workshops with county council funding and hope to reach even more counties again next year. So keep an eye on our website event section for details of more People for Bees events next year.

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IWT NEWS

NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY WEEK An important part of the Irish Wildlife Trust’s work is to directly engage our members and the general public with the wildlife around them, encouraging people to spend time outdoors and to learn about the life that makes up Ireland’s biodiversity. We are therefore huge fans of National Biodiversity Week, a week celebrating Ireland’s biodiversity.

This year we ran a dozen events across the country celebrating a diversity of wildlife including bats, bees, birds, and bogs as well as coastal, river and woodland biodiversity. We even ran a wildlife gardening event.

A big thank you to all of our local branch volunteers who made the week possible!

Here are some images from these fantastic events.

5Grand Canal, Co Dublin – Dublin branch outing

5Abbeyleix Bog, Co Offaly - Biodiversity Week flagship event

5Garrus Strand, Co Waterford - Exploring the shore with IWT member

Maria Power

5Commons North, Co Longford – Woodland walk

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IWT NEWS

Campaign Update

By Pádraic Fogarty, IWT Campaigns Officer We’ve destroyed nature, just when we need it most. What next?

The spring of 2017 witnessed one of the worst seasons of wildfires in recent times. Mega-fires at Cloosh in Connemara and the Ox Mountains in Sligo were among hundreds of smaller fires, mostly across mountainous areas. The fires devastated habitats in their path and at least half of the fires were in areas designated for nature conservation. But it wasn’t a one-off.

Wildfires have been an annual occurrence since the turn of the century, driven in no small part by the need for the shrinking number of upland sheep farmers to comply with rules qualifying them for state subsidies. This year, in response, the Department of Agriculture vowed to withhold payments to farmers with burnt land and although no one wants to see blameless landowners penalised, there was at least the feeling that the message was sinking in that torching land is not acceptable. This spring was uncharacteristically wet and whether it was down to the new rules or the bad weather, it was mercifully quiet on the fire front. By May we thought the worst was over as new growth tends to reduce the flammability of vegetation and for the first time in many years it felt like the hills were finally getting a

5Dublin Fire Brigade, credit @DubFireBrigade

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respite. Alas, we hadn’t counted on the summer drought which parched land across the country.

Raging fires have swept across some of our most valuable natural areas, including the Slieve Bloom Mountains, the Liffey Head Bog and Bray Head in Wicklow and even the sand dunes in Cahore in Wexford, where miraculously people escaped without injury.

For very different reasons, 2018 has proven to be just as deadly as 2017.

5Portmarnock dunes on fire, credit @

DubFireBrigade

5A saved lizard, credit @DubFireBrigade

Ireland, without doubt, has a major wildfire problem. We not only have a worrying ‘tradition’ of burning uplands to accommodate grazing animals but we also have a general lack of awareness of the vulnerability of our landscape to fires. In hotter, drier countries, including Australia, lighting fires in the outback is met with stiff penalties while no one would dream of holding an event releasing Chinese lanterns into the hot summer air - itself an act of ‘pretty littering’. Deforestation, river drainage schemes, closely packed plantations of nonnative trees and stripping away our peatlands - actions mostly designed to speed the departure of water off the land - have left our landscape woefully vulnerable to weather extremes. It has left upland and mountainous areas in particular practically devoid of its distinctive wildlife. Birds which were common and widespread only 30 years ago like the red grouse, the curlew and the ring ouzel now hang on in few corners. The nightjar may already be

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IWT NEWS

extinct as no one has seen it in years. The muchvaunted reintroduction of the golden eagle, now nearly 20 years ago, can’t yet be considered a success as the tiny population struggles to find food in a barren landscape.

The effects of climate change - with warmer, drier summers and wetter winters - were long predicted by our scientists but society’s leaders plugged their ears. Now that these predicted symptoms are coming to pass, we find that we have destroyed the natural systems – our native forests, wetlands, bogs and rivers – that had developed over thousands of years to be resilient to such extremes. Over 11,500km of rivers, predominantly in the lowlands, are subject to arterial drainage schemes which straighten and deepen naturally meandering water courses. Drainage programmes are still carried out under legislation from 1945, with little sympathy for fish life, never mind the fact that these days, natural flood alleviation is now widely regarded as cheaper and more effective.

The River Bandon in Cork, for instance, has been a construction site for the last year and a half, with heavy vehicles literally using the river bed as a roadway. Less than 1% of the midlands bogs remain while only around 28% of the vast western blanket bogs ‘are worthy of conservation’ (i.e. salvageable). So much effort has been put into drying out a habitat which has evolved to hold on to water that our peatlands are now a massive source of carbon emissions, and that’s before it’s burnt in one of the three ESB turf electricity stations. Less than 2% of our land cover is under native woodland as our expensive, state-funded forestry model is based on monoculture

5First golden eagle hatching in Ireland 2007,

5Bees escaping, credit @DubFireBrigade

5Portmarnock dunes, credit @DubFireBrigade

plantations and all its attendant land drainage, pesticide use and pollution.

Restoring our rivers, bogs and woodlands is surely the best insurance programme we can invest in to minimise the worst impacts of climate change. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature in the UK said last year that “the most effective long term sustainable solution for addressing wildfire risk on peatlands is to return sites to fully functioning bog habitat by removing those factors that can cause degradation, such as drainage, livestock, management and burning regimes”. Native forest meanwhile holds water with its deeper roots and leafy shade. The fact that nature also protects our water supply, traps carbon in long-term stores and is a joy to behold surely makes this argument a no-brainer. It’s time to bring nature back.

TWEET

from @DubFireBrigade “Our Kilbarrack crew have been battling grass fires in #Portmarnock. A number of youths were spotted lighting the fires.

Sometimes it’s the little Dubliners we don’t usually see are worst affected.

Report suspicious activity like this to the Gardai.”

June 25th 2018

credit Golden Eagle Trust

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EDUCATION

Brilliant BURROWERS Jenny Quinn investigates the homes of some of our burrowing European mammals.

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have often wondered how true to life the wonderful underground animal world depicted in the stop-motion animated comedy Fantastic Mr. Fox (20th Century Fox, 2009) really is. After recently happening across what appeared to be the entrance to an active underground badger sett, I thought I’d carry out some research to find out.

It turns out badgers are the masters when it comes to creating complex underground burrows. Usually found on sloping ground at the edge of wooded areas, the entrance to underground badger setts are about 20cm in diameter. The underground system can contain a complex series of chambers and interconnected tunnels with multiple entrances. These systems get passed on from generation to generation so

“It turns out badgers are the masters when it comes to creating complex underground burrows.” are often very old. In addition, there can be a number of networks in close proximity to each other, the main one being the biggest and most central, thus creating a city and surrounding suburbs effect.

Like badgers, rabbits also create extensive underground burrow systems that can have multiple entrances. Entrance holes are about 15cm in diameter and often appear on slopes and banks with good drainage. Fox burrow holes

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Rabbit munching, credit Catherine Drea www.foxglovelane.com

can be found almost anywhere and are usually about 20cm in diameter. Their burrow systems usually only have one entrance, which tends to be occupied during springtime breeding.

Smaller underground systems, such as those found in the UK and Europe, are often the work of moles and water voles. While some smaller burrowing mammals made it to Ireland, the water vole and mole did not.

The entrance to mole burrows can be found where soil is deep enough to allow burrowing and are identifiable not by the hole itself, but by the soil waste left behind by digging, called mole hills. The presence of moles beneath neat, manicured lawns is not always welcome. The supermarket chain, Lidl, went so far as to sell solar powered mole repellers earlier this summer, even though moles are not found in Ireland!

Water voles burrow in banks along the water’s

edge. A number of entrances can often be spotted.

These can be found just above or at the water level, but they also have escape routes into and out of their burrows underwater, and also higher up the bank. Their burrows contain a chamber for nesting, and a larder for storing food.

So, these hidden underground burrow systems can range from quite small simple holes in the ground to sprawling networks of complex chambers. However, regardless of size and complexity, there seems to be a common advantage over above ground homes: these underground dwellings protect from predators and the weather and offer a safe place for raising young.

It seems that the intricate underground world of Fantastic Mr. Fox and his mammal buddies isn’t so far-fetched after all (except for the furniture maybe).

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FIADHÚLRA

5 Coileach fraoigh sna speiríní, le caoinchead Christine Cassidy

Coinnigh na Speiríní Slán agus Glan! le Sinéad Ní Mhearnóg

Gleannaille, le Peadar Mac Culadh, 1907 ‘Measc sléibhte glas aoibhinn an Speirín Tá Gleannaille go suaimhneach ina luí, Os a chionn tá’n tSabhaill go aedach Mar bhainríon ar cathaoir ‘na suí, ‘San sin tá na srutháin ag síneadh Chomh soilseach le criostail ‘san ghréin Ag scabadh a bhfuaim chois an ghleanna Chomh ceolmhar le binn guth an éin.

Nuair léidheann sneachta ar mínligh san earrach A’s an gaoth teacht ó thuaidh mar is gnách, Ag críonadh gach bachlóg a’s duilean Bíonn Gleannaille i bhfasgadh faoi bhlath, Bíonn an smol a’s an londubh go luathgháireach Ag seinm ‘measc na gcraobh a’s na gcrainn.

A’s uain go uaibhireach ag léimnigh ar Mhullach gach ardán a’s bean

Muna mbeifeá ach seachtain san ghleann sin Chan fhágfá gan brón ar do chroí, Tá na buachaillí carthanach caoiúil Chomh céillí ‘s chomh críona le saoi, Tá na cailíní deas dathúil dóighiúil Níl a samhail i gcuma ná snó Le súile mar dhealramh na gréine ‘S a nún-fholt ar úrdhath na ngnó Is acu tá’n Ghaeilge go blasta A’s feadaim go deimhin ag rá, Nach gcluintear ach teanga ár sinsir De labhairt in san Ghleann sin gach lá A glean gléghlas aoibhinn álainn, Bíodh do chleann sona, sásta agus fíor, A’s rath ar a gcuid ‘s ar a gcairde Go moch, go mall, as go síor A’s rath ar a gcuid ‘s ar a gcairde Go moch, go mall, as go síor

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14/09/2018 14:31

FIADHÚLRA

5Diúilicíní fionnuisce (Atáirgthe le cead ó Iascaigh Intíre Éireann)

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s deacair a shamhlú agus an dán seo ó An Claidheamh Soluis (1907) léite agat go bhfuil comhlacht as Ceanada ag iarraidh mianach óir a oscailt agus monarcha phróiseála ina mbeidh ciainíd á húsáid a thógáil sa limistéar sáráilleachta nádúrtha seo, aitheantas a bhronntar ar cheantar de bharr luach an tírdhreacha suntasaigh atá le caomhnú ann. Is ball mé den ghluaiseacht chun an cheantar a chaomhnú agus déanfaidh mé iarracht na fáthanna a léiriú san alt seo.

Dalradian an t-ainm atá ar an chomhlacht Ceanadach atá sa cheantar faoi láthair agus taiscéalaíocht á déanamh acu. Ag deireadh na bliana seo caite chuir siad iarratas pleanála isteach chun an mianach a oscailt agus monarcha phróiseála a thógáil a bheas os cionn 15 mhéid níos mó ná Halla na Cathrach i mBéal Feirste. Tá, áfach, troid os a gcomhair. Níl an pobal áitiúil sásta fáilte a chur roimh an bhaol truaillithe agus

scriosta a thiocfas leis an phlean seo.

Ceann de na bagairtí is mó a chuireann as dúinn ná go mbeidh ciainíd á húsáid chun an t-ór a bhaint ón mhianach, 2 thonna ciainíde gach lá. Is mór an méid é sin. Tá baol ann, i gcás timpiste, go ndéanfar damáiste don talamh, don timpeallacht agus do na haibhneacha. Má tharlaíonn seo, truailleoidh sé an córas uisce mar go dtéann an dá abhainn ar dhá thaobh an ghleanna isteach sa chóras ag Baile Nua. Cuireann an córas seo uisce óil ar fáil do thithe an cheantair síos an abhainn ón Chaisleán Glas, áit a bhfuil an mianach seo beartaithe. Mar sin, ní hionann an cás seo agus “áit ar bith ach in aice liomsa” mar go mbeidh iarmhairtí forleathana ag aon timpiste a tharlóidh mar chuid d’obair an mhianaigh. Ó thaobh an fhiadhúlra de, tá an-tábhacht leis an cheantar mar gheall go bhfuil an tiúchan is mó den diúilicín fionnuisce atá i mbaol le fáil ann. Níl siad le fáil níos mó ach i dtrí áit i

dTuaisceart Éireann agus tá siad go fóill in Abhainn Choilleadh mar gheall go bhfuil an caighdeán uisce chomh maith agus chomh glan sin. Sin comhartha ar an meas a léirigh agus a léiríonn muintir na háite ar an timpeallacht sa cheantar seo. Tá fianaise ann go bhfuil cónaí ar dhaoine sna Speiríní le níos mó ná 6,000 bliain (féach an liagchiorcal sa Bheathach Mhór).

Tá bóthar fada romhainn sula ndéanfar cinneadh faoin togra seo ach coinneoidh muid an pobal ar an eolas faoin bhagairt seo don tsochaí, don phobal agus don timpeallacht.

Ní ghlacfar leis an phlean tionsclaithe seo inár gceantar. Is muide coimeádaithe na háite seo. Aithnímid tábhacht na háite agus tábhacht na seoide a tugadh dúinn ónár muintir a tháinig romhainn. Troidfidh muid go fíochmhar chun a chinntiú go bhfaighidh na glúnta atá le teacht an t-eispéireas saoil céanna agus a fuaireamar féin.

Ar aghaidh linn - ní neart go cur le chéile!

Má tá spéis agat cúnamh a thabhairt don fheachtas caith súil ar leathanaigh Facebook Save Our Sperrins, Greencastle People’s Office, Communities Against Mining agus an ceann is nua, Cooperate Against Mining in Omagh, CAMIO.

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BRANCH FOCUS

The latest updates from

ACROSS COUNTRY

the

Birding with the Kerry branch by Ger Scollard, Branch Chairman

Swift Projects

The new ‘Rose of Tralee’

Over the last year the Kerry branch has been involved in a number of swift related projects, from surveying to nest-box installation. These have been run in conjunction with Swift Conservation Ireland, Kerry County Council, Tralee Bay Wetlands and Scoil Eoin Balloonagh.

The aim of these projects has been to help conserve existing nest sites as well as educating people on the plight of the swift. Nest boxes have been installed at five sites in the town of Tralee over this period. Some of the nest boxes were installed with nest box cameras which have allowed observation of nests as well as the exciting news of breeding success.

Work is ongoing on these projects and will hopefully have continued success with progress being reported on our branch’s Facebook page.

Tralee is famous for the Rose of Tralee festival, which takes place in August each year, bringing hundreds of visitors to the popular Kerry town, but this year the town of Tralee was treated to a visit from two rose coloured starlings. Previously, just a small number of individual rose coloured starlings were recorded in Ireland but this year’s visitors delighted the birding community by remaining resident in a small garden for approximately a month. These visiting birds have probably travelled from Eastern Europe, although the species overwinters in India and tropical Asia. While a number of other individuals were recorded this year, two distinct individuals were seen in Tralee.

Swifts nesting, credit Ger Scolard

Rose coloured starling, credit Ger Scolard

Interested in becoming involved with an existing branch or seeing if there is interest in your area for a new branch, please get in touch! Details on the About Us page.

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WILD IDEAS

all B TOGETHER now

5 Hungry fox, credit Sinéad Hickey

A new project aimed at tackling declining biodiversity in East Cork will reward participating farmers for the existence of wildlife on their farms. Donal Sheehan, a dairy farmer from Cork, outlines the aim of the project.

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iodiversity, particularly farmland biodiversity, is under threat not only in Ireland but all over the world. The continuous drive to produce cheap food comes at a cost and this is often an environmental one.

Farm intensification – more and higher crop yields per hectare, more animals and higher milk and meat yields per hectare - is one of the causes of farmland biodiversity loss.

Higher levels of food production is being achieved through higher inputs of chemical fertilisers, more pesticides and higher levels of imported supplementary feedstuffs. Farm intensification results in more land being utilised for food production and less land available for all the other “public goods” that farmers can deliver including trees to lower carbon footprint and improve the visual landscape, bogs to retain water and prevent flooding, clean rivers to provide a clean supply of drinking water and hedgerows to provide shelter for livestock, prevent run-off and create the unique landscape that defines this country. All of these natural, environmentally important habitats need to be maintained, managed and protected.

In 2014, a conference was held in the Netherlands examining the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and how it could be improved for European farmers. It was organised by Groupe De Bruges, a Europeanwide think-tank organisation for agricultural policy improvements in the EU. Nothing too exciting yet, I hear you say, however, it was the first time I had heard the word biodiversity being used at an agricultural event of any kind and during the afternoon session we visited an intensive dairying area where many farmers in that region were coming together and managing their farms for biodiversity, at a local and community level rather than as individuals. The result was a landscape-scale scheme creating a mosaic of different species habitats in the area.

Thus began the attempt to adapt a similar type pilot project in Ireland and in 2015 the BRIDE (Biodiversity Regeneration In a Dairying Environment) Farming with Nature Project was born. The acronym comes from the River Bride in East Cork, a tributary of

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WILD IDEAS

“Earlier this year the project was one of the successful applicants in securing EIP funding from the Department of Agriculture and the EU, which rewards farmers for improving biodiversity on their farms”

5 Yellowhammer, credit Sinéad Hickey

“The result was a landscape-scale scheme creating a mosaic of different species habitats in the area.”

the Munster Blackwater and an intensive farming area which includes the communities of Glenville, Rathcormac, Castlelyons, Conna and Tallow in West Waterford. Earlier this year the project was one of the successful applicants in securing EIP funding from the Department of Agriculture and the EU, which rewards farmers for improving biodiversity on their farms. The project will attempt to bring 50 farmers together from all farm types and draw up a Biodiversity Management Plan (BMP) for each farm. They will then be advised on how to manage their farms according to a tailored plan suitable for each individual farm. Uniquely, and perhaps most importantly, the project will

monitor biodiversity levels in year one and year five of the process and hope that the targeted measures drawn up for each farm will produce increases in biodiversity levels accordingly.

The monitoring involves carrying out pollinator, vegetation, bird and bat surveys on the farms. These are carried out by Tony Nagle (project ecologist) along with Tom Gittings (pollinator surveyor) and Isobel Abbott (bat surveyor). The bird surveys are now completed while the pollinator and bat surveys will continue. Already, some very interesting data is emerging. Significant differences between farms in all surveys is becoming apparent with an obvious observation being the more habitats on a farm, the more species will occur there.

Different hedgerow management practices have an influence on bird species in particular with shorn hedges recording less species than those that are more mature. Over 60 bird species have been recorded across all farms ranging from 40 down to 25 which shows how much scope there is for improvement on individual farms.

Four new bat roosts have been identified and some farms have recorded five different species (common pipistrelle, soprano pipistrelle, Daubenton’s, brown long-eared and Leisler’s) on each farm. Bat detection equipment is used for several consecutive nights on farms and the data is then downloaded and the species identified through identifying the different frequency ranges.

The BMP for each farm is drawn up following a farm walk. The habitats and their quality is noted and following a consultation between all surveyors Tony Nagle then draws up a plan for each individual farm in consultation with the farmer and taking account of the enterprise

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WILD IDEAS

and farm practices already being carried out.

In addressing the problem of biodiversity loss in the Bride Valley, the project attempts firstly to concentrate on the existing habitats, improving their wildlife value through better management. Making farmers more aware of the species on their farms and showing how measures will improve biodiversity will be a critical component of the project. A farmer must know the goals of the project before these can be achieved and also what the problems are before the solutions can be implemented.

The participating farmers will have several options to choose from but unlike historic agrienvironment schemes, much of the payment will be based on results. The results-based approach will mean that better quality habitats, such as hedgerows, ponds etc will be scored and awarded payments based on their scores.

For example, a good quality hedge with more species and a better structure will receive higher payments than a poorer quality one.

SOME OF THE OPTIONS INCLUDE: ɽɽ Allowing hedgerows to grow and mature, providing more blossom for pollinators and more fruit and seeds for birds and small mammals. ɽɽ Creating 2m unsprayed field margins to help increase foraging area for butterflies and pollinators. This will also create a habitat for small mammals, thus helping raptors and barn owls. It will also provide a nesting habitat for birds such as yellowhammers and stonechats. ɽɽ Creating ponds to help threatened species such as frogs, newts and dragonflies. This will also act as a visually attractive feature for the farmer. ɽɽ Using a rodenticide alternative to prevent secondary poisoning of species such as barn and long-eared owls, stoats and hen harriers. ɽɽ Unsprayed winter stubble fields to provide a food source and cover for species such as skylark, reed bunting, yellowhammer, linnet and other finch species. ɽɽ Tree and hedgerow planting to reduce carbon footprint, provide habitat for all species, provide shelter for livestock, appear visually pleasing to the farmer and the wider community and prevent run-off and flooding. ɽɽ Farm specific options for difficult species like skylark.

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5 Bride Valley, credit Sinéad Hickey

The BRIDE Farming with Nature Project is still in its infancy but has much potential.

Ultimately, it will be its participating farmers who will determine its success. When we had our first public meeting in May, over 100 farmers attended and within two weeks the project was oversubscribed. This was not surprising as farmers want to do the right thing for the environment but need leadership and support from the industry as a whole. The system pays us for volume – the more you produce, the more money you will make with no bonus for environmental sustainability. We need to give the consumer the option of buying a food product that will lead to increased sustainability standards in farming and thus improvements in biodiversity.

Be selective in your spending habits and remember you have a huge role to play also!

“We need to give the consumer the option of buying a food product that will lead to increased sustainability standards in farming and thus improvements in biodiversity”

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Competition

COMPETITION

We’re offering Irish Wildlife readers the chance to win one of two fantastic books!

Giolcaireacht sa Ghairdín by Marie Whelton, with illustrations by Frank Endersby Giolcaireacht sa Ghairdín is a collaboration between Marie Whelton (author) and Frank Endersby (illustrator). The picture book, published by LeabhairCOMHAR (www.comhar.ie), tells the story of Maigí, a red-billed chough, who loves to chatter with her friends in Mamó’s seaside garden.

The aim of Giolcaireacht sa Ghairdín is to introduce children to one of Ireland’s most charismatic birds and to promote awareness and discussion, in Irish, about its traits. To that end, at the back of the book there is a glossary and some factual information about the red-billed chough as well as some activities for children.

A Life in the Trees by Declan Murphy A Life in the Trees is a unique and personal account of a family of woodpeckers raising their young. Author Declan Murphy has been watching birds since he was a young child and has been following closely the daily lives of a family of great spotted woodpeckers who took up residence in a wind-torn Spanish chestnut tree near his home in the depths of County Wicklow. The story brings the reader deep into the world of this fascinating species: a world of hope, love, death, new life and ultimately success. It explores the richness and diversity of the natural wonders found in County Wicklow against a backdrop of a more general overview of the species in Ireland. It includes a foreword by film-maker John Boorman, and features illustrations by Killian Mullarney and Flemming Christoffersen with stunning colour photographs

by Dick Coombes. This book is to be treasured by everyone - not just ornithologists, but those with an interest in the natural world around them. Declan’s website is www.wicklownature.ie

We have two copies of A Life in the Trees and two copies of Giolcaireacht sa Ghairdín to give away. To be in with a chance to win, just answer the following question: What does the IUCN stand for?

Please send the answer, along with your name and address to iwteditor@gmail.com before October 26th.

Summer ‘18 Winners: In our summer issue we gave our readers the chance to win two copies of Ireland’s Trees and one copy of Ainmhithe na hÉireann.

The question asked was: How many butterfly species occur on the Aran Islands?

The answer was: 21 species The winners are: Sinéad Burke, Co Meath and Katarzyna Loskot, Co Dublin (Ireland’s Trees) and Joey Ward, Co Galway (Ainmhithe na hÉireann).

Congratulations and many thanks to all who entered!

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FEATURE

CAUTION!

BADGERS CROSSING 20

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FEATURE

A study investigating the effects of environmental disturbance on badgers in County Wicklow provides a closer look at the behaviour of these shy creatures.

Aoibheann Gaughran, who recently submitted her PhD thesis on the movement ecology of Wicklow badgers, outlines the findings of the study.

B

adgers are one of our most enigmatic native species.

Because they are nocturnal and live in underground setts, they are only encountered by the lucky few, and can be difficult for researchers to study. As we walk through woodlands or alongside hedgerows, we may see the tell-tale D-shaped entrances to their setts, paths worn through undergrowth or clawed footprints left in mud. Yet directly observing these shy animals can be extremely tricky and time-consuming.

In 2008, plans to upgrade the N11 road to motorway in County Wicklow provided a unique opportunity to study these creatures.

Tuberculosis (TB) is endemic in Irish badgers and they have been implicated in the transmission of this disease to cattle, although how this happens is not fully understood. There was a concern that major

Anaesthetised badger with a GPS collar, credit Aoibheann Gaughran

roadworks could disrupt badger movement and in doing so, facilitate the spread of TB. So, the Department of Agriculture, Food and The Marine (DAFM) together with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) set up a GPS tracking study to investigate the effects of this kind of environmental disturbance on badger behaviour. Trinity College Dublin (TCD) was asked to assist with data analysis, and I joined the team in 2014 as a PhD researcher.

The badger is of course a protected species in Ireland and its health and conservation are also of concern to us. Earlier this year, DAFM announced that they would be rolling out vaccination-by-injection to clear TB from the badger population, while research into

“The badger is of course a protected species in Ireland and its health and conservation are also of concern to us.” the development of an oral vaccine, which would be an easier method of vaccination, continues. The success of any disease control or conservation programme depends on a full understanding of the ecology of the animal involved. In relation to badgers, understanding their normal ranging behaviour and how they respond to disturbance is critical.

The study area was around 30km2 of undulating agricultural land interspersed with patches of woodland. The N11, the new M11 and its associated roadworks cut through the middle. In spring 2010, the team began to live-trap badgers so that GPS collars

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FEATURE

could be fitted to as many animals as possible.

Trapping then took place every six months to replace old collars and put collars on new individuals. Once captured, our vets quickly anaesthetised the badger so that we could record weight and measurements, give a thorough health-check, and take samples for TB testing and DNA analysis. Before release, each badger was vaccinated against TB with the BCG vaccine. New individuals were microchipped and tattooed for easy future identification. Sometimes badgers would have bite wounds to their rump, ears and cheeks, and these were cleaned and antibiotics given, if necessary. Badgers are remarkably resilient and heal very quickly and well. Finally, the GPS collar was fitted, but only if the badger had a large enough head-to-neck ratio so that the collar wouldn’t slip off. The animal also needed to be heavier than 8kg to ensure that the collar was a very small proportion of its body weight. The badgers then went about their normal business.

The collars were programmed to transmit four GPS locations each night. This allowed a really detailed picture of their nightly movements to be built up over a long period of time. Between 2010 and 2016, we collared 82 individual badgers, who together sent more than 103,000 GPS locations - the largest ever study of its kind in Ireland. The badgers have provided us with a wealth of information on their comings and goings. For example, we have found that healthy badgers avoid foraging in pasture when cattle are present, and also avoid entering cattle farmyards.

Throughout most of their range, badgers live in social groups that maintain exclusive territories. The group will actively defend their territory by patrolling the perimeter, scentmarking at latrines and sometimes by fighting.

Within these territories, the GPS data showed a seasonal pattern, with a badger’s home range - the area that it uses in its daily life - at its largest in summer and smallest in winter.

Members of the same social group ranged over very similar areas and most of their time was spent within the confines of their territory boundaries.

However, as the data rolled in, we began to see that almost all of the badgers made shortterm visits into neighbouring territories, or even further afield, presumably to forage or to seek out mates. On one occasion, a female badger made a 9km round-trip to another badger sett in just three hours. Badgers can mate at any time of the year, but mating

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5 Billy, wearing a GPS collar, going about his business, credit Peter Maher

“The GPS collar was fitted, but only if the badger had a large enough head-to-neck ratio so that the collar wouldn’t slip off. The animal also needed to be heavier than 8kg to ensure that the collar was a very small proportion of its body weight. The badgers then went about their normal business”

activity peaks after the birth of cubs, around February. Until relatively recently, it was believed that cubs were fathered by the resident male. One February, a male badger called Rory was recorded visiting the main setts of four different neighbouring groups!

However, when we carried out genetic analysis of our badgers’ DNA, we found that nearly 40% of cubs were fathered by males from other social groups.

In addition to these short-term visits, our research revealed a previously unrecognised ranging behaviour in some of the badgers.

While most males tended to stay at home with the rest of their social group, others were what we called “super-rangers” i.e. they used the territories of two (or more) completely different social groups. This was more than the occasional visit next-door – it was a regular behaviour that persisted for long periods of

5Badger pawprint, credit Aoibheann Gaughran

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FEATURE

Badger sett entrance, credit Aoibheann Gaughran

time. One individual, Ray, held his enlarged super-range for a full three years. Superranging is most likely a strategy that allows males to gain access to a greater number of females. Indeed, it appeared to be triggered by the loss of the dominant male next-door, and where there wasn’t another resident male big and bold enough to take his place.

Most young badgers do not move away from home upon reaching sexual maturity.

However, a small proportion will disperse.

Our GPS data revealed different patterns of dispersal in male and female badgers. Most male dispersers simply moved next-door, whereas young females tended to cross over several territories and settle down much further away from home. This difference between the sexes may be a strategy that allows badgers to avoid inbreeding. Dispersal can happen overnight, or it can be a longdrawn-out process that takes several months.

One female, Olivia, covered 230km in six months making exploratory forays before finally settling down in a new group that was located 1.5km away from her original social group’s territory. Another female, Muffin, settled 10km away from where she was born.

Movements between social groups can facilitate the spread of disease. Understanding how badgers move about the landscape allows us to better understand disease dynamics and to develop effective vaccination programmes.

GPS locations for a single month. Each colour represents a different badger.

Identification of high-risk individuals, based on their movement patterns, allows for more targeted vaccination against TB. Of course, in addition to gaining insight into normal ranging behaviour in badgers, a major objective of this project was to see what impact a major road upgrade had on the badgers in the area.

Analysis of the data for the periods before, during and after the roadworks has shown that the road realignment had very little impact on badger ranging behaviour and did not disrupt territoriality in the area. This is great news for those who were concerned that roadworks of this nature could lead to increased TB outbreaks.

Excellent measures, designed to protect both badgers and people on the road, were used on this project including continuous badger-proof fencing and well-placed underpasses along the entire length of the new motorway. While our findings can’t be extrapolated to the construction of a brandnew road, we believe that if the same mitigation measures are put in place, disturbance to ranging behaviour is also likely to be minimal. This research project has enriched our knowledge about one of the most elusive members of our mammal community, and the data that it has provided will be used to inform future TB control policy with direct implications for the vaccination and conservation of our badgers.

“Understanding how badgers move about the landscape allows us to better understand disease dynamics and to develop effective vaccination programmes. ”

Research team: Teresa MacWhite, Peter Maher, Mark Foley, Dinny Foley and Margaret Good (DAFM), Enda Mullen (NPWS), David Kelly, Aoibheann Gaughran and Nicola Marples (TCD). Many thanks to the farmers and landowners of Wicklow for facilitating this study.

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14/09/2018 14:37

EXPLORING WILDLIFE

5 Dalkey Island, credit Eric Luke

the Elephant in the sky The aviation industry has certainly made the world a more accessible place, but is it worth the environmental cost? Gordan D’Arcy discusses our record-breaking weather and the troubling climate change trends our governments are ignoring.

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hat are we to make of our weather? A lovely, memorable summer follows an extraordinarily long, wet winter. Every season seems to bring new extremes. Records of high (and low) temperatures, wind-speed, drought (or wetness) are no sooner established than they are broken. Thankfully there is now a serious effort to counter the insidious effects of climate change in the move from fossil fuels to renewable energy, tree planting, habitat restoration, electric cars etc. “If we continue on this track it will probably go away”, we optimistically tell ourselves. We are easily deluded. Al Gore, in the title of his best-selling book, An Inconvenient Truth, hints at our tendency to look the other way on the issue of climate change - a case of the elephant in the room.

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EXPLORING WILDLIFE

Thirty years ago, the contrail stream of an aircraft en route to the USA was still something of a novelty, attracting attention, as would a highflying swan. Nowadays, it is more unusual not to see the tell-tale stripes in an otherwise clear sky. There has been a staggering increase in the contrail patterning of the sky. The dissipating cloud cover from contrails has become so commonplace and widespread it has given rise to a new anthropogenic cloud designation – cirrus aviaticus.

Research has shown that this effect is not simply aircrafts letting off steam - air ‘farting’ if you like. While much of the emission is indeed water vapour, it also contains gaseous hydrocarbons, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide and the greenhouse bête noir, carbon dioxide.

Added to this is the intermittent spray of particulate matter (mainly at take-off and landing) with traces of sulphur, carbon and lead.

Innocuous? So what is being done about it?

The 2005 Kyoto Protocol recognised the problem but was unable to move on it due to the lack of cooperation from many government bodies who saw potential restrictions as interfering with the necessary growth in air transport. The world-wide growth in the aviation industry has thus been proceeding virtually unchallenged. Following the Copenhagen Conference, governments agreed to work through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) but failed to address the troubling environmental concern that aviation was then contributing some 3.5% to humaninduced climate change. In October 2016, the ICAO decided to tackle the problem indirectly using a carbon-offsetting scheme (CORSIA), already in operation in forestry, where the damaging environmental effects are balanced against the carbon sequestering capacity of commercial forests. That aviation transport is the quickest, safest, most efficient and economically viable means of travel and trade is difficult to refute and presents aviation as less environmentally damaging than alternatives.

Agreement between government has thus proved elusive, with major players like Russia, India and Brazil opting out and a number of NGOs refusing to become involved in the belief that CORSIA’s recommendations would not be effective overall.

There is mounting evidence that air travel is not as environmentally benign as has been suggested by air companies. One recent paper in Nature Climate Change argues that turbulence, due to the increasing accumulation

5Aquatic snails in receding waters at Lough Mall Connemara, reproduced with permission of Inland Fisheries Ireland.

“While much of the emission is indeed water vapour, it also contains gaseous hydrocarbons, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide and the greenhouse bête noir, carbon dioxide” of artificial cloud, will become more of a problem, particularly over the Atlantic. The issue of particulate emissions has also been shown to be much greater than was thought. As this issue is most intense at take-off and landing there may be adverse health risks to people living near airports. In addition, lead emitted from aircraft engines (37,000 tonnes between 1970 and 2007) may have long -term health effects, particularly on children, over wide aerial corridors. The intrusive aspect of aircraft noise, growing year on year, is nowadays accepted as simply another modern inconvenience.

Negatives aside, attitudes towards aviation are universally positive. Most people regard it as a modern miracle that has made the planet a much smaller and more accessible place. An industry growing at the astonishing rate of 5.7% per annum, it is largely shaped by free-wheeling market forces which tend to regard environmental concerns as restrictive and anti-growth.

While at present the contribution to anthropomorphic climate change may be

relatively small, it may be as much as 15% by 2050, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Meanwhile, the EU greenhouse gas emissions from aviation grew by an extraordinary 87% between 1990 and 2006 and continue to do so despite technological advances and environmental changes that are being implemented. While terrestrial transport is undergoing a concerted programme of change as a result of intensive scrutiny and decisive action, the aviation industry has proceeded largely as a charmed onlooker.

Buttressed by powerful corporate interests, competing governments and an eager clientele, the aviation industry has opened up our skies like the railroads of the western prairies in the 19th century. In hindsight, we can now assess the enormous environmental price paid for turning a blind eye to such uncontrolled developmental zeal. What price is the planet paying for our present-day elephant in the sky?

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14/09/2018 14:39

AUTUMN FOCUS

the race to Extinction

Ireland’s only toad species, natterjack toad,

Epidalea Calamita, credit Anthony Dawson

Billy Flynn examines how human intervention can sometimes have an adverse impact on extinction control.

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AUTUMN FOCUS

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ur planet’s steady advance into a new wave of extinctions appears to be continuing, and perhaps picking up speed. This is the grim message of the latest update to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. The Red List has been the world’s barometer of the conservation status of species since 1964. The IUCN carries out regular updates on the well-being of species and prognoses on how well or poorly they might fare in the years ahead. The Red List classifies the species under study into nine categories which are used to describe their conservation status. The categories range from ‘least concern’ - for the widespread and abundant species that are at no particular risk - to ‘near threatened’ and ‘endangered’, all the way down to the most troubling cases which may be ‘critically endangered’ or, in some instances, ‘extinct’. Every bit as poignant perhaps is the category ‘extinct in the wild’. One is left imagining a dwindling pool of captive individuals that represent the very last hope for a unique lifeform.

Last July the IUCN’s latest Red List showed that more than 26,000 of the planet’s species are now threatened. This is more than a quarter of the total number of species (over 93,000) that the Red List tracks. It is worth noting that nearly 900 species of the above total are categorised as extinct and 1,700 are described as critically endangered, possibly extinct.

The latest reporting was informed in part by a tranche of recent research from Australia, with particular focus on its reptiles. The reptiles of Australia are an amazing bunch. They followed a very different evolutionary path from the rest of the world’s reptiles and the snakes and lizards in Australia are famously diverse. It is estimated that 10% of the world’s reptile species are found in Australia. For Irish natural history enthusiasts who have been brought up with the chance of seeing one species of lizard, one frog and one toad and no chance of a crocodile outside of Dublin Zoo, this is mind-blowing diversity. However, Australia’s reptiles have not fared well of late. Over the few centuries that have passed since Westerners began making their mark on the continent, the snakes and lizards of Oz have been among the most dramatically declining on the Red List.

Invasive species represent the greatest threat. Australia’s reptiles evolved in the absence of almost all of the predators with which they now contend and with no mammalian predators whatsoever. This has left most of them utterly unequipped to deal with the wave of invading rats, cats, dogs and foxes that have been introduced as unwelcome additions to the antipodean fauna. It is estimated that feral cats alone kill around 600 million reptiles per year. It is difficult to imagine how such an onslaught could be survived for long.

It’s not only introduced predators that cause the problem but also introduced prey. In the 1930s one of the most famously

Ireland’s only frog species, common frog, Rana Temporaria, credit

Martine Brennan

“Invasive species represent the greatest threat. Australia’s reptiles evolved in the absence of almost all of the predators with which they now contend and with no mammalian predators whatsoever” botched attempts at biological control (the use of one species to control another) took place in Australian sugarcane-growing regions. A species of American cane toad was released to control a native beetle. Disastrously, the toads did not eat the target prey but instead preyed upon numerous other species of native fauna including the eggs and young of reptiles and snakes. The highly poisonous toad has also impacted native species, pets and even humans when it is predated by them.

The introduced cane toad is highly poisonous to just about anything that preys upon it. Unfortunately this has included numerous native reptiles. One such victim is the Mitchell’s water monitor (Dermolepida albohirtum). Population declines of up to 97% have been recorded when cane toads have entered this huge lizard’s range. Mitchell’s water monitors have now entered the Red List as critically endangered.

I had the pleasure of a family visit to Fota Wildlife Park recently.

Among the changes since my last visit were new signs which included the individual species’ IUCN Red List status. It was somewhat depressing on an otherwise glorious day to see species that were previously more secure on the conservation scale, such as Rothschild’s giraffe, now described as endangered with fears that they might soon be in the critically endangered category.

Previous articles in Irish Wildlife have dealt with the concept of the Anthropocene. This is how many people are describing this current age of mass extinction of species. This is the sixth mass extinction that we are aware of but the only one caused by the actions of one species - us. But no report by the IUCN is ever hopeless, no matter how grim the matter. There is always something that we can do. It’s up to every nation to play its part both at home and on the international stage. Every species we lose now is one too many. Let us do what we can for those that remain.

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14/09/2018 14:40

FIELD REPORT

A Whole

New World A Great spotted woodpeckers have been nesting in County Wicklow for a decade. Declan Murphy examines their daily routine, trying to better understand their movements.

Woodpecker, credit Dick Coombes

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n early summer morning in a Wicklow oak wood is never a quiet experience. From the trees around me emanated an orchestra that humankind has never equalled the dawn chorus. Blackbirds, song thrushes, blackcaps, willow warblers, wrens, and chaffinches – the variety seemed endless. Yet through all that sound, a single distant note – a loud piercing ‘kik’ – cut through with the sharpness of a scalpel. It was the call of the great spotted woodpecker. This single call, which would probably go unnoticed by most other visitors to the wood, told me so much, from so little.

The great spotted woodpecker first bred in the Republic of Ireland in 2008, having begun nesting in County Down several years earlier. DNA analysis of birds in County Wicklow showed that the species originated in Britain, were part of a larger population expansion across much of Europe, and were not part of a reintroduction programme as has often mistakenly been claimed.

The bird making the kik call in the woodland around me was hidden from my view, high up in the tree canopy which shaded the woodland floor where I stood. This woodpecker is usually a secretive species during nesting season and my visits to this woodland during the months of March and April had produced no sightings.

However, from this bird’s agitated calls I knew that not only was there a nest in the area, but a nest that most likely contained young.

Trying not to be distracted by the parent’s calls overhead, I listened to the sounds around me, searching for and seeking a particular frequency.

As I walked along the verdant woodland track, harassed by hordes of midges and encircled by birdsong, the parent bird continued to keep apace with its kik calls above me. Then I heard it, a soft purring sound, a soothing monotone so unlike the sharp calls of the adult. Looking up at a majestic oak in front of me, I saw an almost perfectly circular entrance hole in the trunk, about six metres above the ground.

It was the nest of the great spotted woodpecker and the purring sounds that emanated from within were those of its chicks, probably only a few days old. That single call I heard on my arrival had told me all I needed to know.

Unobtrusive as it was, that small circular black hole on the trunk of that oak was a nexus in the universe of this pair of great spotted woodpeckers.

It linked two very different worlds; a world of

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FIELD REPORT

5Billful of food, credit Dick Coombes

colour, light and beauty – where I lived – and a world of twilight, monochromes and shadows, where the chicks of the great spotted woodpeckers spent the first couple of weeks of their lives.

The process of rearing a family is something that takes up a large proportion of the woodpeckers’ year. Although they may not pair for life, a pair will often remain within their chosen territory throughout the year. During late January and early February, as the days begin to lengthen with the warming sun, the male will begin ‘drumming’ to proclaim his right to their chosen territory. He strikes the wood of a carefully selected and resonant branch with his bill at up to fourteen times a second. The resulting drum roll reverberates out across the bare woodlands and across the valleys that wind their way through the Wicklow Mountains. In ideal conditions, the sound is audible from over a kilometre away.

To cement their relationship, and strengthen the bond between them, the pair of woodpeckers will often perform a drumming duet with the female answering the male’s proclamation from a tree nearby. They sometimes follow this performance by embarking on what’s known as a nuptial flight – a high-speed race through the treetops, performed in tandem. Weaving in and out amongst the gnarled oak branches they utter

a high-pitched trilling sound - the sound of love!

With their territory now established, the pair will go about the business of choosing a tree in which to raise their family. How they settle on one particular tree is a mystery to me, over the years I have seen nests in oak, birch and pine trees. I have seen nests in both live and dead trees, close to the ground and high amongst the canopy. There is no pattern, other than variety.

Having chosen their nest site, both birds will carry out the excavation work required to tunnel into the heart of the tree, a task that can take up to three weeks. The nesting chamber, located about 30cm below the entrance hole, is in almost complete darkness and it is here that the female will lay her clutch of white eggs. In Ireland, the clutch size of great spotted woodpeckers can be anywhere between two and six. Although the twelve-day incubation is carried out by both sexes, the male usually undertakes a higher proportion of the workload.

After the chicks have hatched, they will remain in their twilight netherworld for a further two weeks, before gradually scaling the inner walls of their sylvan home and reaching the portal to that other world. Even then, they will take another week of peering out at the panoramic scene of colour before finally stretching out their wings and launching themselves into that new world.

5Declan Murphy birding, credit Dick Coombes

The parents will then continue to care for them for several more weeks before they finally take their leave.

From those first sounds of drumming in late January until the chicks becoming independent takes six months. The family life of woodpeckers is most certainly not a half-hearted affair!

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14/09/2018 14:42

MEMBERS’ LETTERS

OVER TO YOU The fine weather this summer provided an excellent opportunity for our members to get out and about and discover the stunning wildlife our country has to offer. We love to hear from our members, so remember to keep in touch with all your stories, photos and questions from your adventures!

IDENTITY CRISIS Dear IWT, My daughter and I found this bee orchid (oghrys epifera) on a totally horrible construction site in Ringaskiddy.

This was the conversation: Me: Look Elsie, this is a bee orchid.

Elsie (6 years old): A what?

Me: It’s a flower that looks like a bee. This is because…

Elsie (interjecting with a snort of derision): No it doesn’t Daddy, it looks like Kermit the Frog.

You know something? She’s right. It does.

Billy, Cork

GRUB’S UP! Dear IWT , In 2017 I joined the ecology team in the Environmental Protection Agency and for the past two summers I have had the privilege of travelling around the country assessing the ecological quality of our freshwaters. Every river and lake brings with it something new to behold.

Ireland has a wealth of nature and natural beauty if you just pause and look around. Last June I came across something new that I have never seen before: an otter’s ‘dinner table’! Situated along the River Robe in Hollymount, Co Mayo this was a lovely sight to behold, if a little messy!

More importantly, however, it showed strong evidence for the healthy numbers of protected (and threatened) white-clawed crayfish to be found within this river, and of course the continued presence of otters. To see the great work our EPA ecology team does assessing our rivers, lakes and transitional and coastal waters throughout the country each year, give us a follow on Twitter @EPAecology and find out more.

Dr Hugh Feeley, Scientific Officer, EPA

If you have a story, question, or an image you’d like to share with us, or, God forbid, even a complaint, send it to iwteditor@gmail.com

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MEMBERS’ LETTERS

GOOD NEWS AT LAST Dear IWT, This month in Tipperary we have had a string of bad news stories concerning our local wildlife. Furze fires devastated parts of the bog near Glengoole. An estimated 15,000 fish were killed by pesticide use on the Ollatrim River, a tributary of the Nenagh River, including over 10,000 lamprey, a protected species. And so it was welcome news to hear that at least one wildlife population seems to be thriving in Nenagh town - the local colony of swifts.

The success of the breeding site is in some part thanks to the Office of Public Works. When Nenagh Castle was being renovated (2009-2013), workers noted the nests and the OPW ensured that suitable holes and crevices were left in the stonework so the swifts could return. I counted at least 16 birds in a ‘screaming party’, flying in a group around the castle calling out to other swifts in their nests.

Emma Burns, Nenagh

PHOTO OF THE MONTH Congratulations to Chris Howes, winner of our July Facebook competition, for sending in this fantastic photo of a vixen with her young cub.

TOP TWEET from @omainnintomas “Ní bhris an Siobháinín Bhuí seo a croí ag déanamh nid” Blue tit successfully raised 5 chicks in a pub cigarette bin in Ennistymon, Co Clare

MYSTERY BUG Dear IWT, The kids and I were in the garden on Sunday last when we encountered this bug. We haven’t seen it in our garden before and we were wondering if you could help us identify it?

Le meas, Gary Arkins, Kells This is a female great diving beetle. They can be recognised by their size and the yellow border around the thorax and head. The females have ridges on their elytra (wing cases) to enable the male to hold on during mating. The male lacks the ridges but has suction pads on the front legs to hold on to the female.

Great diving beetles typically live in ponds or still waterbodies, where they are veracious predators of small fish and other aquatic life. The female lays eggs in the stems of water plants. The larvae, hatching after a few weeks, are equally as voracious as their parents. They spend up to two years as larvae before pupating in soft mud at the sides of waterbodies.

But how did it get in your garden? Like all beetles they fly to disperse to new sites if food is scarce, to mate or if they are new adults looking for a pond to settle in. To avoid predation, they usually fly at night. Very often damp grass or roads can be mistaken for water and the beetle lands here.

Although aquatic they can crawl clumsily away and find either cover, or a plant to fly off and find the pond they were looking for.

If you do find one on the road or short grass, you can help them on their way by moving them to the cover of a bush or long grass, but be careful, they have a powerful bite!

Irish Wildlife Trust

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ON LOCATION

Lovely Leitrim fights for

SURVIVAL Edwina Guckian outlines the reasons for the Save Leitrim Campaign

5 a Leitrim meadow, credit Dolores Byrne

T

he people of County Leitrim are fighting for our survival. The social fabric which defines us as a people is being decimated by the government’s monoculture forestry policy. Leitrim is Ireland’s most rural county and is made up of small rural communities, villages and towns. This forestry policy is having a detrimental impact on our rural schools, GAA clubs, shops, post offices, pubs, small businesses and our family farms.

In 1841 the population of County Leitrim was 155,297 and in 2016 it was 32,044. This is almost an 80% decline in population in 175 years. The devastation caused by the famine and subsequent emigration has not caused any other county on this island to suffer such a decline in population.

Leitrim has 1,508 townlands but unfortunately today, 145 of these have nobody living in them.

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Up to 25% of our 39 primary schools face closure in the next decade, if the government’s forestry policy does not change.

Almost 20% (18.9%) of Leitrim is afforested, while the national average is only 11%. The government plan to reach a national target of 17% is exploiting our county.

Unknown to the Irish taxpayers, they [the government] are subsidising the Leitrim land grab by national and international vulture funds, pension funds and speculators, at a time when we have 600,000 citizens waiting on hospital appointments and children waiting for life altering operations. Today, 10,000 people in Ireland are registered as homeless and yet the government continues to push on with a failed forestry policy that is destroying the environment in which we live.

The destruction of habitats has left many species

of birds facing extinction, including the curlew, hen harrier, red grouse and many more. The water quality of our rivers and lakes is in terminal decline and as a consequence our fish stocks are being depleted, all because of the negative impact of the coniferisation of our county.

The Save Leitrim group was formed in January 2018. This group of like-minded people came together to stop the conifer plantation of our county and to fight for the survival of our people, heritage, culture and environment. The people of Leitrim are determined to survive, to grow our population, replenish our townlands and as a people continue to compete at the highest levels both nationally and internationally.

You too can join our fight to make our beloved county great again. Search for Save Leitrim on Facebook or Twitter or visit our website at www.saveleitrim.ie.

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14/09/2018 16:24

AGM Annual General Meeting

Saturday 20th October @ 3pm

Upstairs in Doyle's Bar, 9 College Street, Dublin 2.

Signed up members of the Irish Wildife Trust are invited to attend.

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31/08/2018 16:11

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.

Cards valid until February 28th 2019.

Your 2019 card will be printed in our 2019 spring issue.

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Membership Card 2018

Individual members, please fill in your full name. Family members, please fill in your family name. Card valid until February 28th 2019. Your 2019 card will be printed in our spring 2019 magazine. Š Irish Wildlife Trust 2018.

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14/09/2018 14:45

CARSTEN KRIEGER PHOTOGRAPH FINE ART PRINTS - BOOKS - WORKSHOPS CARSTEN KRIEGER

FINE ART PRINTS - BOOK

Join or renew your IWT membership today and make a difference for Irish Wildlife

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