Residents in the wider area of Attirory that includes the housing estates affected by the proposed N4 route corridor are preparing a group submission which they.
Have you heard the curlew’s call in Kildare? David O’Brien, curlew advisory officer, on efforts to preserve this distinctive native Irish bird
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The absence of the distinctive call of the curlew in our rural landscape is concerning. Ireland’s native breeding curlew has declined by 96% in the past 30 years, one of the most drastic declines of any bird species across the entire European Union.
The biggest threats to curlew at a local level are changes in land use (eg, afforestation and intensification of agriculture), extreme pressure from predators of curlew eggs and chicks (mostly foxes, grey crows and mink) and failed environmental policy.
Curlew in flight. \ Janice Mulligan
Farmers need to be funded to keep gorse and scrub, and more efforts need to be made to ensure wild bird cover suits the bird species in the area, BirdWatch Ireland has said.
Speaking on Teagasc’s Environment Edge podcast in a week that saw a report from BirdWatch Ireland and RSPB NI showing one quarter of Ireland’s bird population was at risk, Niall Hatch of BirdWatch Ireland said farmers deserved more funding to support birds.
“We in Birdwatch Ireland are very much of the view that farmers who want to support biodiversity deserve a lot more support for that.
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One of Pat McKenna s Dexter cows which will be going up to graze on the Slieve Beagh hills in Co Monaghan. \ Claire Nash
Monaghan farmer Pat McKenna keeps 100 head of Dexter cows and followers on 70ac in the foothills of Slieve Beagh in Co Monaghan and, this summer, he will be trialling virtual fencing for 20 weanlings on the hills.
McKenna also has a sizeable portion of land on the mountain, which has peatland-type soil. He plans to put the weanlings up on the hills by the end of the month.
“I’m in the process of getting 20 collars from a Norwegian company called Nofence.