Corncrake survival agreement

THE survival of the corncrake is one of the main aims of an agreement reached between the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Irish Farmers’ Association for the Shannon Callows Special Protection Area.

Prescriptions for farming practice and payments on 6,000 ha of designated land in counties Longford, Roscommon, Westmeath, Galway, Offaly and North Tipperary are outlined in the agreement. Annual payments of €450/ha on corncrake meadowland and €325/ha on species-rich wet grassland will be made. Up to 700 farms will benefit from applying the prescriptions. The main farming restrictions involve delayed cutting, centre cut mowing, grazing restrictions and leaving field margins of up to 2.5m.

Environment Minister Dick Roche, who launched the scheme in Birr, Co Offaly, said it will help the survival of the species-rich grasslands of the Callows, particularly the corncrake, an endangered bird species.