Wildlife destroyed in fires says Birdwatch chairman

ENVIRONMENTAL tourism in Clare will suffer from the enormous damage to wildlife following extensive gorse fires, the Clare chairman of Birdwatch Ireland has warned.

Hundreds of people visit upland areas in East and West Clare every year to hear the cuckoo and to see endangered species such as the red grouse and John Murphy is extremely concerned about the devastating impact of gorse fire at a number of locations last weekend.
The risk of further fire has diminished as a result of rainfall this week. Clare firemen were extremely busy last weekend dealing with gorse fires in Doolough, near Connolly, where units from Ennis, Kilrush and Ennistymon battled the blaze for up to five hours on Saturday.
Units from Portumna and Scariff were called to the scene of a major fire between Mountshannon and Woodford for a number of hours on Saturday and Sunday while units continued to battle fires in Kinturk, Connolly on Sunday.
The fires were exacerbated by strong winds and a prolonged dry spell. The third highest April temperature in 50 years and the fifth highest in the country was recorded in Shannon Met Station at 22.7°C on April 21 last. This reflected a remarkable 34°C swing since -11.4°C was registered in Shannon last December.
Clare fire chief, Adrian Kelly paid tribute to the hard work of the fire fighters who also had to deal with the normal routine of chimney fires and traffic accidents.
Asked if these fires were malicious, Mr Kelly replied it was hard to see how so many fires could break out in very isolated rural areas at the same time.
John Murphy said gorse areas provided an ideal habitat for wildlife, insects and mammals and a wide range of biodiversity, which are now destroyed as a result of the fires.
Birdwatch Ireland has found that the last two severe winters have had a detrimental effect on bird numbers and that the present spate of fires will make it difficult for many species to breed again. The loss of food sources such as insects will also prove detrimental for birds.
The organisation estimates that the worst affected species of birds are likely to include the red grouse, twite, grasshopper warbler, whitethroat, linnet, stonechat, dunnock, curlew, blackbird and meadow pipit.
Mr Murphy explained that gorse fires in Ireland have greater consequences for wildlife than similar fires in other countries. The wildlife specialist, photographer and filmmaker noted these areas also provided key tourism walkways for environmental tourists who wanted to see rare and endangered bird species.
The early arrival of spring meant some land owners were now burning gorse, he claimed, much earlier right in the middle of the nesting season.
He pointed out some of the bogland terrain was totally unsuitable for fires as they ended up smouldering for a long time.
“Gorse and bog fires in Ireland are different in many respects to similar fires in Scotland, for example, as the compacted peat up to 20ft deep in places that lies underneath the gorse here continues to smoulder long after the gorse fires have been extinguished. Scotland’s granite terrain means the gorse fire is faster burning and does not penetrate as deep underground and therefore, the effects on wildlife are not as significant.
“In Ireland, the grass that grows in the aftermath of such fires benefits cattle and sheep only and not the birds and food sources that previously inhabited the area.”
“Another consequence of these fires is that birds in the affected areas have been forced to relocate in large numbers to secondary habitats, where resources are limited and the terrain is less suitable,” he said.