The Amazing Swift Talk - 7:30pm, Thursday 23rd June 2016
The Duhallow Birdwatching group and IRD Duhallow RaptorLIFE are hosting an information Seminar on Thursday 23rd June entitled “The Amazing Swift” with guest Speaker Lynda Huxley. The Swift is an enigmatic bird that comes to our towns and villages from May through to August. They are truly amazing birds as they fly for most of their lives, only landing to breed. When a fledgling swift leaves...
Standing up for our Freshwater Pearl Mussels
Like the canary in the coalmine, Freshwater Pearl Mussels are an indicator of the health of Ireland’s rivers. With a lifespan of up to 120 years, the mussels were once widespread, but are now found in very few catchments. Ireland is estimated to hold around 46% of Europe’s Freshwater Pearl Mussel population, with the Munster Blackwater catchment said to have a large part of the national...
Results of 2015 National Hen Harrier Survey are out and show further declines for Ireland’s skydancer
The 2015 National Survey of Hen Harriers (the fourth national survey since 1998-2000) has shown that the Irish population has experienced further declines, including within some former strongholds for the species. The 2015 survey showed there are between 108 and 157 breeding pairs across Ireland, down by 8.7% since the last survey in 2010. However, increased survey effort complicates comparisons...
Monitoring completed on important Hen Harrier winter roost
Survey work is now drawing to a close on what is possibly Ireland's most significant winter roost for Hen harrier. Since early November 2015 volunteers have been surveying the winter roost, which is located outside of the Special Area of Protection, with the RaptorLIFE team based here in IRD Duhallow. Under the direction of Dr. Brin McDonnell, who is the local expert on Hen harrier, the...
Raptor LIFE welcomes movement on new Hen Harrier scheme
Recent announcements to the media regarding Agri-environment schemes for farmers are to be welcomed. A major source of frustration for farming communities in upland areas has been the State's conservation strategies aimed at the conservation of Hen harrier. Whilst there has been a drive to develop the uplands in many areas for wind energy and previously for industrial scale commercial forestry,...
European LIFE conference on Nature Conservation in Duhallow
So finally as we are coming to the end of the IRD DuhallowLIFE project and the beginning of a new EU LIFE project; RaptorLIFE. To celebrate these two momentous occasions we recently held a two day project conference in Newmarket. Co Cork. The first day (May21st) of this two day conference marked the end of the four and half year EU LIFE project, known as DuhallowLIFE. This project,...
International EU LIFE Conference - NATURA 2000 Day
IRD Duhallow cordially invites you to attend the International EU LIFE conference celebrating hands on community participation in nature conservation, on the 21st and 22nd of May 2015. The conference marks the end of the current LIFE project and the commencement of a new RaptorLIFE project. There will be a wide range of interesting speakers including experts from Ireland, the UK, Belgium...
LIFE and Freshwater Fish
New EU LIFE Freshwater Fish Report A new document “LIFE and Freshwater Fish” has just been published by the European Commission. The document provides an important update on Freshwater Fish communities and outlines Freshwater Fish conservation projects funded under the EU LIFE programme to date. Did you know that “Freshwater fish are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrate...
