Category Archives: Daily Diary

A brief overview of each day’s activities

Diary – Day 18

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Old, moss-draped willows

A short distance from Sligo Town, nestled between the Garavoge River and Lough Gill is a special type of woodland, now rare in Ireland. Hazelwood is a small area, just 25ha of alluvial woodland, a habitat protected under the EU Habitats Directive. These are woodlands of wet places, and usually have standing water during the winter months. So you can image, they are difficult to manage commercially for forestry, yet efforts were made to do so in the past. When I mentioned to Aileen O’Sullivan, Ecologist with Coillte, that I was passing through Sligo she immediately suggested visiting Hazelwood. She arranged for a colleague of hers, Barry Rintoul, to show me the site.

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Popular spot for hoverflies

Hazelwood is well hidden and not sought out by walkers for it is fairly inaccessible. Yet a narrow path leads through part of it, a humid clearing alive with hoverflies when I was there. The woodland has large moss and fern-covered boughs growing through a tangle of undergrowth. A few large undesirable Beech trees stand erect, but dead, having being ring-barked, giving the wood an old-forest feel.

The Strawberry Tree grow here, its most northerly site in Ireland.  Other interesting plants recorded here include Bird Cherry, Wild Cherry, Spindle and Ivy Broomrape. Red Squirrels and Pine Marten live here, and Woodcock and Water Rail skulk around the waterlogged woodland floor.

In recent years Coillte has been working to enhance the ecological status of the woodland,  as part of a EU LIFE funded programme. The key challenges are to deal with invasive and non-native species; trying to control Rhododendron and Dogwood, and taking out Sycamore and Beech trees.To be honest, I couldn’t quite get excited about the woodland, probably because my untrained eye was unable to detect the botanical nuances of the site which make it interesting. Next time I visit I must bring a botanist with me!

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Like mother, like daughter. Prost!

As today was a rest day, Josephine, Seppie, Pauli and Felix visited us for the day. We had a lovely lazy day enjoying the invigorating sea breeze at Strandhill beach. And as only mothers can celebrate properly, we popped a bottle of champagne on the beach to mark the ending of Bella’s Secondary School phase of life. Onwards and upwards – Prost!

Diary – Day 16

Northwest Mayo is blanket bog country and for bog to develop it must rain on at least 250 days each year. It was only fitting then that we hit one of those 250 days for the cycle across the bogs of Mayo. The rain and an unpleasant west to northwest wind made for difficult cycling conditions. I was joined on the cycle for two days by Alex Copland of BirdWatch Ireland which helped to shorten the journey.

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Bill Murphy of Coillte has big plans for Nephin

Every now and again you meet people who think big and have great ideas. Bill Murphy of Coillte is one such individual. Faced with having to make decisions about management of 4,500 ha of Coillte’s estate on the slopes of Nephin, an area planted with Lodgepole Pine around 1950, Bill let his imagination run riot. Instead of trying to eke a meagre return from the forestry operations here, could management take a different direction entirely? Bill came up with the idea of a wilderness area; a large tract of land where nature would take over, and signs of human intervention rolled back. The woodland would remain, but selective thinning and natural regeneration would give it a more ‘natural’ feel. The forest tracks would be removed so that access to this remote area would only be possible by foot, and the whole area would become an experiment in  ‘re-wilding’ Nephin. Bill convinced his bosses in Coillte of the merits of this plan and has also gained the support of NPWS who own 7,000 ha of adjoining land at Ballycroy National Park, so that now, there is a 50 years agreement to create the Nephin Wilderness covering a huge tract of 12,000 ha. Bill freely admits he doesn’t really know what this area will evolve into, or what it will look like in 50 years time, but then, this project is all about venturing into unknown territory. And fair play to Coillte for giving it a go.

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Alex Copland on the Greenway

The cycle took us from Newport to Mulranny along the new Greenway, a fantastic initiative. Even on this wet and windy day, the Greenway was full of cyclists of all ages, many of whom looked like they had not have been on a bike for many a year. It is great that more of these Greenways are planned around the country.

The route took us north of Mulranny across the flat, open bog landscapes of Mayo; a wild desolate country with a quality all of its own.

Ever since I had an interest in birdwatching, I heard about a mysterious wet marsh located on the Mullet Peninsula where (to my mind) fantastically rare birds like Red-necked Phalarope bred, and where the fathers of Irish birdwatching explored. Annagh Marsh epitomised for me everything that was exciting about birdwatching and nature conservation in Ireland. Annagh Marsh has the distinction of being the first land purchased by the fledging bird conservation NGO, that was later to evolve into BirdWatch Ireland. And Annagh Marsh deserves this distinction for it is an incredibly important wetland site, not just for breeding waders, but for all aspects of biodiversity.

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The blanket bog landscape of west Mayo

Over the years the marsh had become overgrown and the number of breeding waders was decreasing.  Researching the breeding waders, they found that few of the Lapwing eggs hatched, they all see to fail just before hatching. Apparently, the chicks in the eggs peep for the last 24 or so hours before hatching, and an inventive fox was doing the rounds, listening for these peeping noises, then helping itself to dinner. To rectify this, BirdWatch Ireland applied for funding under the EU LIFE programme to improve the habitat quality of the marsh for breeding birds, and to put up an electronic predator control fence. The benefits of these measures were apparent after only two years, and when we visited to meet with the Reserve Manager Dave Suddably, there was a nice flock of juvenile Lapwing flying about, and good numbers of Snipe too.

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Visiting Annagh Marsh and meeting Dave Suddaby was a real treat. Pity the weather was so poor.

Dave has been working closely with the neighbouring farmers also to introduce more favourable grazing regime to improve the conservation value of the grasslands in the vicinity. Dave’s interests extend way beyond birds, and he is finding really interesting wildlife in the area. He has found, for example, the Great Banded Sand Wasp  and Belted Beauty Moth, both very rare species in Ireland. He also discovered a whole population  of the Great Yellow Bumblebee, one of the species I have on my wish list for the tour. As we talked in the cold and damp, he pointed out one as it flew past. But as all I saw was a dark blob passing by at speed, I don’t feel justified in ticking it off my wish list.

It was disappointing that we visited the site in such poor weather conditions, as it was impossible to get a true feel for the wonderful riches of the site.  But it was great to talk with Dave about the reserve and hear at first hand his obvious love of the area.