International support for curlew conservation on lodge bog
September 7th, 2017
The Irish Peatland Conservation Council (IPCC) have received international support from Seacology for their efforts to conserve peatland habitat for the breeding Curlew of Lodge Bog.
The distinctive ‘cry’ of the Curlew was once a familiar sound echoing around the Irish countryside during the summer months, but sadly today the Curlew is one of Ireland’s most threatened bird species.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has reported a 98 per cent decline in Curlew populations since 1980, with less than 125 breeding pairs remaining in Ireland.
The Irish Peatland Conservation Council (IPCC), based at the Bog of Allen Nature Centre in County Kildare, have been monitoring Curlew on Lodge Bog since 2012, with the help of the Kildare Branch of BirdWatch Ireland.
71% of the Irish native Curlew breed on peatlands. Although the Curlew has returned to Lodge Bog year-on-year, 2017 was the first instance of confirmed breeding of Curlew, and the successful hatching of a live chick.
The Curlew feeds by probing its long, curled beak into the wet peatland pools. As peatland habitats are freshwater, they have the potential to freeze during the winter months. To ensure they can continue to feed throughout the winter, the Curlew retreats to coastlines, returning to the peatlands around Ireland to breed and rear their young in spring.
Ireland has lost 80 per cent of their peatland habitats and the decline in Curlew populations can be directly linked to habitat fragmentation and even complete loss of breeding habitat due to the exploitation of Irish peatlands.
With this international support from Seacology, the IPCC will continue restoration works on Lodge Bog to ensure suitable habitat for breeding Curlew into the future and raising awareness of the plight of the Curlew in Ireland.
“If we don’t act now the Curlew, an Irish bird, faces extinction by 2025,” Nuala Madigan, IPCC, Education Officer, commented. “IPCC plan to raise the profile of the Curlew throughout the Island of Ireland and do all we can to prevent the extinction of this iconic peatland bird,” she continued.
Seacology is an international organisation committed to protecting island habitats and assisting local communities in their efforts to achieve this. Since 1991 they have supported 289 projects worldwide and 1.3 million acres of some of the world’s most vulnerable ecosystems.
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