Anja Murray: Dwindling diversity could see our 40 shades of green reduced to ryegrass and spruce

Ecologist Anja Murray writes about the decline of Ireland’s semi-natural grasslands

Ireland's 40 shades of green are grasslands, a result of thousands of years of low-intensity farming

Ireland is famous for having 40 shades of green. Green is the colour of St Patricks Day, shamrocks, and the branding of everything distinctly Irish. The 40 shades of green come from hedge-bound fields, wild wooded corners, and forested hillsides. But most of all, the 40 shades of green are grasslands, a result of thousands of years of low-intensity farming. Two-thirds of Ireland’s land area is dedicated to agriculture and more than 80% of this is grassland and rough grazing. Right now, as the spring equinox is upon us and soils are starting to warm up, grass is starting to grow again.

It's easy to assume that grasslands are more or less all the same. But we have dozens of different types of ‘semi-natural’ grasslands across Ireland, each with its own suite of specialised plants and animals, each honed by soil type, altitude, location and management. Grasslands are called ‘semi-natural’ rather than ‘natural’ because they rely on some sort of human management - normally grazing by farm animals - to stay as grassland rather than revert to woodland, the natural climax vegetation.