From milking the scenery to milking the marginal land

THE chatter of rock-breakers have long since replaced the hoarse cries of corncrakes in marginal farming areas of Ireland, writes Damien Enright

With milk production no longer under quota, environmentalists fear that the transformation of rough land into pasture will proceed on a larger and faster scale. Traditional wildlife habitats will be eradicated and more iconic species threatened. Places like West Cork are not what they used to be; attractions that drew tourists are disappearing.

In 1999, in a pocket walk book I wrote, I noted that “Beyond Skibbereen, on the R592 going west, the land changes dramatically. The green sward of agribiz stops suddenly at the Roaringwater River, a few miles short of Ballydehob. Beyond it, and from here on, bedrock breaks the fields and there is more gorse than grazing. Now, instead of fence-to-fence nitrate grass bedspreads, the fields are small patchworks, rock-rent and bockety, joined by seams of hedge.