Developing the concept and case for restoring and creating a landscape-scale wetland to benefit wildlife and people

Friday, 10 February 2017

Reporting and next steps

Long time since the last blog post! Very busy times and much interest in the project in the meantime. It has been some time now since the completion of the report, it was completed back in November and circulated to stakeholders and funders. 

To view the report you can click here 

The report will now be used as the basis for informing relevant decision-makers about the project and to enable them to consider taking it forward 

It will also assist in providing a clearer vision and definition for the project to those living and working in the local area.

The report includes a set of recommendations which we hope will be carried out by relevant organisations in due course.  

The recommendations include: Presentation of the WWP concept alongside potential benefits and constraints to key local authorities, wider stakeholders (including those not consulted so far) and community groups, a WWP seminar or conference with group discussion hosted by local authorities and targeted at a wider stakeholder group, the production of supporting materials to help illustrate the project more fully - this might include leaflets, web presence and other media.

Many of the recommendations are already in progress.  

Perhaps the most important element though would be the establishment of a stakeholder working group or project team - Assuming further in-principal interest from key stakeholders, with some key stakeholders already committed to progressing the concept further (cf. Longford County Development Plan) and others showing significant interest during consultation meetings for this report, a group should be formed to function as a means of agreeing roles in progressing the project and identifying a project development plan.

Early priorities for this group could be; developing a full stakeholder list & seeking consultation, developing a workable project brand, securing local authority and central government commitment to the concept, developing a strategic plan and identifying early project sites 

     Taking forward these recommednations will be down to ket decisionmakers at county and regional level and where Golden Eagle Trust can assist and advise we will input to ensure the project continues to develop into the future. It remains our vision to see a landscape scale wetland, with abundant wetland wildlife and huge benefits for people, restored in the mid-shannon region.

Thursday, 17 November 2016

Restored wetlands bringing back rare breeding birds to England

News this week from RSPB reserves in England that their Otmoor Reserve, a restored wetland on formerly poor and drained farmland has seen the return of Bittern nesting successfully.

By https://www.flickr.com/photos/lincsbirder/ 
[CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
This rare and secretive breeding heron formerly widespread in Britain and Ireland is now a rarity and a high conservation priority. Its reedbed habitat had much declined due to wetland drainage but areas are being restored and a recovery is being seen.

The Otmoor site adds to the species range in Britain and is the result of wetland restoration efforts including reedbed re-establishment.

Bittern, once widespread in Ireland, could re-colonise and breed in Ireland with extensive reedbed development as a result of the Wetland Wilderness Park project. In turn they would form part of a wildlife spectacle which vistors and the local community could enjoy.

The species was made famous in Irish litertaure through the poem An Bunnán Buí














Friday, 11 November 2016

Wheel of life

Lorcan O'Toole, General Manager of the Golden Eagle Trust puts forward his thoughts on developing a future for wetlands in the mid-Shannon area which could form a Wetland Wilderness Park


Rotha mór an tSaol”, is an Irish phrase meaning the ‘big Wheel of Life’; suggesting that life in general has a funny wait of repeating itself – rolling on in a cyclical fashion. 

For several centuries low lying areas with shallow waters were deemed as wastelands. They were obstacles or barriers constraining the potential for arable or livestock production and food.  Our recent history is full of defined periods of concentrated ‘drainage’ works; ‘winning’ the fields from the blight of rainfall and the misfortune of being in flooded hollows and flatlands.  But if we look to the distant past, it was these wetland or coastal areas that hosted the earliest settlements in Ireland.  These sites were ideally placed to harvest the rich local food supplies and materials on the water’s edge.

In the modern era, we need to ask whether there are some sites where allowing wetlands to recover could be of significant benefit to local communities; in an era where our economy and society have a much wider set of priorities, above and beyond food production. The concept of creating a Wetland Wilderness on Mount Dillon bog, straddling the most ancient highway in Ireland – namely the River Shannon, has been recognised by several local communities over the past two decades. But now as the real opportunity presents itself and as the ‘decision time’ approaches – there is a need for a widespread public debate on the scale and ambitions of such a concept. This debate will primarily involve two to four neighbouring counties, but it also merits some national focus and consideration.

The array of stakeholders with a vested interest in the future of this State-owned commercial peat-harvesting mosaic reflects the spread of sinews that this site holds. And it seems that the optimum solution for such a unique landholding merits a very honest and frank discussion, which genuinely explores all the possible and sustainable options available in terms of future management. If a singular commercial, societal or environmental approach is adopted in terms of future management options for these bogs; we will have failed future generations and communities living on the periphery of these wetland areas.  For a variety of historical and political reasons; most Irish landscapes have been managed primarily on the basis of an economic, a societal or an environmental outlook.  

Marrying all three ‘spokes’ of the sustainability wheel together is far more complex than some simple ‘theory’ or catch phrase - often espoused on promotional material. As a consequence, all stakeholders need to be unusually honest and open in their evaluation and explanations of all the potential management options for this special land holding.  Because the surest ‘trap’ awaiting our deliberations is that each stakeholder retreats in to their own ‘tent’ and conceives a plan reflecting their own goals and priorities.  But a partial ‘wheel’, containing only 90˚ or 120˚ of an ark, will not work and will not carry us very far forward.
Of course the Golden Eagle Trust has an emerging vision of how this site could be utilised, which is in parallel with the early visions of the people in Strokestown, Wetlands Heritage Ireland and the National Parks and Wildlife Service and individuals like John Feehan and Pat Warner.

But ultimately, the most important ‘voice’ will be that of the local communities on both sides of the Shannon, who will need to appraise what type of management plan is best suited to employ and retain local young people and thereby enrich future generations in a truly sustainable and beneficial manner.  There is a very real sentiment on the ground that the people of Longford and Roscommon and their ‘wishes’ need to be heard and respected, in this regard.

The whole concept of creating a wetland tourism and societal ‘dividend’ would have found little public succour in the 1970’s. But in the near future there is going to be a public debate on how best to manage these lands and the water that collects there.   This approaching debate will take place in an entirely different ‘global’ era.  It is vital that local communities, parishes and villages inform themselves of all the varied opportunities that will shortly present themselves.  And these communities can then consider how best to blend the various potential strands and hopefully create a rather unique landscape and a robust plan.

A rounded sustainable plan will be far more durable & vibrant and more likely to roll over effortlessly, decade after decade, and carry the revitalised communities forward with it.

wetlands re-forming on cutaway bog in the Mount Dillon area

Friday, 28 October 2016

White-tailed Eagle "Star" visits the project area - anticipating a coming of the wilderness?

The Golden Eagle Trust are best known for their work to bring back species previously lost through extinction in Ireland. While the Golden Eagle is one of those species, the other and arguably that seeing most signs of success, is the White-tailed Eagle or "Sea" Eagle. 


1st year White-tailed Eagle (not Star!)























With 2016 a record year for the initiative - 8 pairs attempting to breed, 5 successful with 6 chicks fledging - the species looks to gain a more solid footing than ever before.

A number of the birds are satellite tagged and one bird "Star" has arrived in the WWP project area. Star, a male bird has held territory in Connemara in previous years and sadly had a rough time that year, losing his mate to poisoning.

Recent satellite tracking information below from Star shows his arrival in the area on 27th October 



Lough Ree nearby could provide a good source of food such as fish and waterbirds with large open tracts of currently cutaway bog providing additional opportunities for foraging. In autumn and winter their diet focuses on carrion. 






Star wintered in the midlands in 2015/16 also and is perhaps now revisiting past haunts and seeing a landscape now that could in future be restored to conditions able to support many more White-tailed Eagles and other wetland species, which in turn will attract visitors to come and see them in a stunning wetland landscape. 

Sunday, 28 August 2016

Our Vision...part #2

The second Part of our vision and the last of our 6 Heritage week blog posts

Part 2 The vision for people, communities & amenity

The establishment of a landscape scale wetland would bring with it many benefits for people, communities and businesses.

The draw of the wildlife spectacle alone will bring visitors. With a wider spread of visitors out with the more traditional tourist periods in July & August. October to June would likely see the best wildlife events and draw in visitors to see nesting birds of prey in spring and the arrival and wintering of huge flocks of wintering waterbirds.

To facilitate visitors, facilities at key points would provide venues for interpretation of the wildlife and in many places that interpretation would combine cultural heritage. The area is well know for its cultural heritage and the combination of nature and culture provides an attractive tourism offer. The network of natural and restored wetlands would be linked to each other by walkways and cycle routes provided along new and existing routes and linked to key hubs at villages and towns where accommodation, events and other facilities will be centred. The establishment of “blueways” for kayaking and canoeing into the heart of some of the wetlands may be developed.

existing peat harvesting infrastructure could
provide an opportunity for access development
in future?

(image copyright Alan Lauder)
The large scale and widespread nature of the sites will manage to maintain a quiet, wild feel to an area which in time may see many tens of thousands of new visitors each year. All the while ensuring some areas remain visitor free to provide secluded wilderness areas just for wildlife.

The benefits may go further than bringing in new visitors and in some cases with the right science behind it some of the wetlands might be well placed to assist with flood storage or simply through slowing down water run-off to the rivers to delay or reduce flood impacts. The complex hydrology involved in this will require careful planning but where it is possible to achieve multiple benefits the wetlands could provide an opportunity to do so.

More people in the area will mean existing businesses will benefit but in addition new businesses may spring up to appeal to those looking for tourist services like guiding, for wetland management services or for developing the use of wetland products like reed from harvesting for conservation purposes.

Farming, mentioned already, may also benefit from direct sales to new visitors and from new opportunities for diversification.

Local schools and communities will benefit from the opportunity to use the new wilderness park areas for environmental education, for developing skills through volunteering and for promoting health & well-being through more contact with nature and the outdoors.   


The Wetland Wilderness Park will bring the opportunity for huge wildlife benefits in conjunction with community benefits and provide a special experience for local people and visitors alike. 

This vision starts the ball rolling on the project to start defining where we would like to get to and to help define the main opportunities and issues with stakeholders and the public. As the project progresses over the next two to three months towards our final proposed framework plan we will adapt, expand and amend our vision in light of stakeholders, partners and the public's views. look out for more posts in the coming weeks...

Friday, 26 August 2016

A vision for our Wetland Wilderness Park #1

Today and tomorrow I will try to describe a long-term vision for our Wetland Wilderness Park, the habitats that could be formed, the wildlife that will thrive and the benefits that will accrue for people from these. This is preliminary of course and is merely a vision to work towards, to achieve it we will need the support of many stakeholders and indidviduals but the outcome would be targeted at societal benefits through an enahanced environment


Part 1 - the vision for wildlife and habitats 
Our vision is of a large complex of restored wetlands and other habitats, connected to each other by ecological corridors. The scale of any one unit may vary from small ponds of just a few hectares to very large wild and difficult to access areas of many hundreds of hectares. In all the wetland complex at the core of the park will extend to more than 3000ha and with its associated habitats, ecological corridors and access ways the park as a concept will be of landscape scale, extending its influence across county borders between Longford and Roscommon and linking existing wetland sites like Lough Rea to surrounding hinterland wetlands habitats as well as connecting up local communities with accessible routes for sustainable transport like walking and cycling. 


A cut-away bog undergoing rehabilitation to wetland habitats (image copyright: Alan Lauder)
















The wetlands themselves will require significant restoration. The opportunity presented by the gradual reduction in commercial peat harvest will enable the sites to be rehabilitated to wetlands, possibly even back towards an ecology that mirrors the very start of bog formation akin to that of many thousands of years before when lakes and depressions filled with water and wetland plants colonised.Some of the cut-away bogs are already entering restoration/rehabilitation and others will require this work in time 

With the restoration of these cutaways (some of which extend to a thousand hectares or more), wetland birds, animals and plants will return. Extensive fens dominated by reedbeds will see Bitterns return to breed again in Ireland, their booming calls in the early morning belying their often hidden presence. The small Irish populations of rare species like Bearded Tits and Spotted Crakes with their own addition to the soundscape of the wetland landscape will re-colonise and grow the slender toehold these species have within Ireland. Marsh Harrier may re-colonise and Osprey and Common Crane may require help through re-introduction but with habitats in good condition they are likely to thrive. 
Bearded Tit - a rare breeder in Ireland
could return to extensive wetlands in the midlands 
(image copyright: Alan Lauder)














Other wetland animals like Otter will thrive alongside rich fish, invertebrate and botanical communities. 

Whooper Swans from Iceland and many wintering ducks like Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler from Iceland and Siberia that already winter on Lough will be able to build their numbers creating an impressive wildlife spectacle in winter to compliment the breeding birds of summer.


Whooper Swans from Iceland graze an Irish wetland
in winter (image copyright: Alan Lauder)






























These new wetlands will have the capacity to hold more water than the former cutaway bogs and the agricultural land surrounding them, creating the potential to assist with flood storage. The wetlands, with high water in winter, will add to the capacity of the area to support wintering waterbirds. 

Reedbeds will support a diverse range of breeding birds and other wildlife, some rare (image copyright: Alan Lauder)
The main wetland units will be linked by ecological corridors along river courses, through woodland plantings or enhanced hedgerows. Schemes to encourage sympathetic habitat creation in less productive land in the area would assist farms and help the park develop. Holistic management planning for all the wetlands in the area, those existing already and those restored would include provision for grazing management of wet meadows and other areas and provide an opportunity for agricultural benefits.














The Wetland Wilderness Park  encompass these areas to form a key wetland wildlife hub in the middle of Ireland and an example of best practice in habitat management for wildlife. Alongside that the attraction of the spectacle of large or rare wildlife communities will benefit people and the vision for this will be examined in part 2... 

Careful use of livestock to graze wetland areas can benefit management for wildlife (image copyright: Alan Lauder)



























Over the weekend I will look at the vision for the wetland Wilderness Park from the point of view of benefiting people and the economy 

A vision for our Wetland Wilderness Park #1

Today and tomorrow I will try to describe a long-term vision for our Wetland Wilderness Park, the habitats that could be formed, the wildlife that will thrive and the benefits that will accrue for people from these. This is preliminary of course and is merely a vision to work towards, to achieve it we will need the support of many stakeholders and indidviduals but the outcome would be targeted at societal benefits through an enahanced environment


Part 1 - the vision for wildlife and habitats 
Our vision is of a large complex of restored wetlands and other habitats, connected to each other by ecological corridors. The scale of any one unit may vary from small ponds of just a few hectares to very large wild and difficult to access areas of many hundreds of hectares. In all the wetland complex at the core of the park will extend to more than 3000ha and with its associated habitats, ecological corridors and access ways the park as a concept will be of landscape scale, extending its influence across county borders between Longford and Roscommon and linking existing wetland sites like Lough Rea to surrounding hinterland wetlands habitats as well as connecting up local communities with accessible routes for sustainable transport like walking and cycling. 


A cut-away bog undergoing rehabilitation to wetland habitats (image copyright: Alan Lauder)
















The wetlands themselves will require significant restoration. The opportunity presented by the gradual reduction in commercial peat harvest will enable the sites to be rehabilitated to wetlands, possibly even back towards an ecology that mirrors the very start of bog formation akin to that of many thousands of years before when lakes and depressions filled with water and wetland plants colonised.Some of the cut-away bogs are already entering restoration/rehabilitation and others will require this work in time 

With the restoration of these cutaways (some of which extend to a thousand hectares or more), wetland birds, animals and plants will return. Extensive fens dominated by reedbeds will see Bitterns return to breed again in Ireland, their booming calls in the early morning belying their often hidden presence. The small Irish populations of rare species like Bearded Tits and Spotted Crakes with their own addition to the soundscape of the wetland landscape will re-colonise and grow the slender toehold these species have within Ireland. Marsh Harrier may re-colonise and Osprey and Common Crane may require help through re-introduction but with habitats in good condition they are likely to thrive. 
Bearded Tit - a rare breeder in Ireland
could return to extensive wetlands in the midlands 
(image copyright: Alan Lauder)














Other wetland animals like Otter will thrive alongside rich fish, invertebrate and botanical communities. 

Whooper Swans from Iceland and many wintering ducks like Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler from Iceland and Siberia that already winter on Lough will be able to build their numbers creating an impressive wildlife spectacle in winter to compliment the breeding birds of summer.


Whooper Swans from Iceland graze an Irish wetland
in winter (image copyright: Alan Lauder)






























These new wetlands will have the capacity to hold more water than the former cutaway bogs and the agricultural land surrounding them, creating the potential to assist with flood storage. The wetlands, with high water in winter, will add to the capacity of the area to support wintering waterbirds. 

Reedbeds will support a diverse range of breeding birds and other wildlife, some rare (image copyright: Alan Lauder)
The main wetland units will be linked by ecological corridors along river courses, through woodland plantings or enhanced hedgerows. Schemes to encourage sympathetic habitat creation in less productive land in the area would assist farms and help the park develop. Holistic management planning for all the wetlands in the area, those existing already and those restored would include provision for grazing management of wet meadows and other areas and provide an opportunity for agricultural benefits.









The Wetland Wilderness Park  encompass these areas to form a key wetland wildlife hub in the middle of Ireland and an example of best practice in habitat management for wildlife. Alongside that the attraction of the spectacle of large or rare wildlife communities will benefit people and the vision for this will be examined in part 2... 

Careful use of livestock to graze wetland areas can benefit management for wildlife (image copyright: Alan Lauder)

Over the weekend I will look at the vision for the wetland Wilderness Park from the point of view of benefiting people and the economy