State to spend €130k to halt decline of wader birds

The State is to spend over €130,000 this year to halt and reverse the decline of breeding wader birds in the Shannon Callows.

The Department of Arts and Heritage has confirmed €60,000 of the €134,000 spend has been earmarked for farmers. The remaining €74,908 is being spent on administration.

The Shannon Callows is regarded as one of the most remarkable wetland areas in Ireland. It stretches from south of Athlone, Co Westmeath, for 50km as far as Portumna in Co Galway.

The Callows are home to several breeding waders including the curlew, dunlin, lapwing, golden plover, redshank, and snipe.

According to the department, the Callows “was first surveyed for breeding waders in 1987 when high breeding numbers of lapwing, snipe, curlew, and Redshank were recorded. A follow-up survey in 2002 revealed significant reductions of between 68% and 83% in the breeding numbers of these species.”

Birdwatch Ireland has been contracted to implement the middle Shannon breeding waders grant scheme this year and a spokesman for the department said: “Various species of waders breeding in Ireland are now at historically low levels and direct intervention is required to halt and reverse the declines.”

He said the Government was bound by the EU Birds Directive to maintain the populations of wild birds at appropriate levels “and as such Ireland has to take the requisite measures to preserve and maintain sufficient suitable habitat for these species”.

On the €60,000 being allocated to farmers to participate in the scheme, the spokesman said: “It makes most sense to work with the farmers of the area to ensure that conditions are right for these species of birds to remain part of Ireland’s natural heritage”.

“The scheme that is operating on the callows in 2012 is limited to a set of target areas and farmers are encouraged into the scheme and advised by experts on how to farm their land as per the management prescriptions that has been specifically tailored to the River Shannon Callows.

“These prescriptions require the farmer to destock the target fields during the breeding season — in order that nest success rates are optimised — and to control the grazing after the breeding season in order to retain the suitability of the fields for breeding waders for the next year.”