The Halting Environmental Loss Project (HELP) got underway in spring 2011 in the Glenwherry area of the Antrim Hills. The aim of the project was to maintain or improve the population of breeding waders (in this case curlew, lapwing and snipe), in one of their last remaining strongholds in Northern Ireland. Now, nearly four years on, the RSPB has just hosted an event to celebrate the projects success in producing a remarkable recovery in the fortunes of these birds thanks to the efforts of over 60 local farmers.
The average project farm in Glenwherry is around 100 hectares in size, consisting of large areas of unimproved rush pasture, with a few improved grazing and silage fields close to the farm yard. Farms are typically managed for beef and sheep. Targeted advice was available to all farmers living in the area whose land had the potential to support breeding waders. Around half of farmers were in an agri-environment scheme with breeding wader options when the project began.
Image 1: The view from the summit of Slemish Mountain showing lands at the heart of the project.
Right from the beginning, farmers took on board advice from their local RSPB Project Officer and have been working hard to improve habitat conditions for waders ever since. During the lifetime of the project over 680 hectares of rush has been controlled, 15 wader scrapes have been created, scrub and trees have been removed and grazing regimes fine tuned. Farmers have attended training events, machinery demonstrations and hosted guided walks.
Image 2: An example of a newly created wader scrape
Annual surveys have revealed an increasing number of breeding pairs each year of the project. In core plots there has been a 48% increase since 2011, while the number of pairs across the entire project area has increased by 28% in the last three years. Snipe have been the main benefactors, increasing from 30 pairs in 2011 to a staggering 98 pairs this year. They have moved into fields where rush has been cut, even more so if this has been backed up by cattle grazing or the creation of a wader scrape.
Closely monitored lapwing pairs have fledged an average of 1.1 chicks per pair during the lifetime of the project. This has enabled their numbers to increase from 29 pairs in 2011 to 37 pairs this year. Farmers have marked and avoided nests in crop and silage fields and have been kept up to date on the whereabouts of chicks by the Project Officer.
Image 3: Recently hatched lapwing chick
In 2013, a breeding wader survey was conducted across Northern Ireland by the RSPB, which estimated there could be as few as 256 breeding pairs of curlew left in the country, with a population decline of 82% recorded since 1986. However in Glenwherry, curlews are showing encouraging signs. Numbers have slowly increased during HELP and monitoring work has shown that hatching rates are now at the highest level ever recorded in the area (58% in 2014). A total of 39 pairs were present on project farms in 2014, making Glenwherry one of the premier sites for this species anywhere in Ireland.
Image 4: Adult curlew on lookout duty
A massive thank you to all project farmers for making this happen. However, we must not stop here, we must build upon this momentum and focus on getting populations closer to what they were in the 80’s, this may take a long time to achieve but if the last four years have shown us anything; it's that Glenwherry farmers are well worth the investment.
By Neal Warnock, RSPB Glenwherry Project Officer
All images © Neal Warnock