Ongoing conservation work on  IWT’S Macroom Nature Reserve

Introduction

The IWT’s Nature Reserve in Macroom, Co. Cork has being undergoing significant restoration in recent years and works will continue over the next five years as part of IWT’s five year conservation plan for the site (2007-2012). The project was generously funded by the Heritage Council Biodiversity Fund 2008 and has given the IWT the financial boost it needed to carry out much needed conservation work on the reserve.

The work undertaken this year aimed to improve the biodiversity of the site and motivate volunteers to get active and learn new skills in practical conservation techniques. The works followed best conservation practice, which focused on the early successional phases of the habitats involved and generally aimed to slow down or halt succession. Wet meadow/acid bog are generally part of the process of succession from open water to woodland, with the difference between them being due to water chemistry, hydrology, geology and climate. Naturally developing successions of habitats have considerable conservation significance.

About the Reserve

The reserve is a 13 acre site and a complex system of eight different habitat types. According to the Heritage Council’s ‘Guide to Habitats of Ireland’ (Fossit 2000) the habitats can be classed as follows: cutover bog, dry siliceous heath, wet heath, dense bracken, wet grassland, riparian woodland, wet-willow-alder-ash woodland and reed and large sedge swamps.

The reserve has a variety of habitats for the ‘Atlantic’ flora of the Irish west coast, particularly the Lusitanian plants, including; Irish Spurge (Euphorbia hyberna), St Patrick’s cabbage (Saxifraga spathularis), Large flowered Butterworth (Pinguicula grandiflora) and Dutch Rush (Equisetum hyemale) grows adjacent to the site. Fauna recorded on the site include: badger, fox, hedgehog, stoat, shrew, field mouse and deer (possibly fallow). The site also supports a rich variety of bird-life; robin, blackbird, snipe, lark, woodcock, mallard, flycatcher, sparrowhawk, kestrel, merlin, hen harrier, ravens, swallows, cuckoos, kingfisher, herons and dippers. One internationally important species the Common Freshater Shrimp (Gammarus dubeni celticus) occurred in the wet meadow and willow scrub.

The site has an extraordinary diversity of habitats occurring in one small area and has an important role to play in the Natura 2000 network especially considering the low number of NATURA 2000 designations within the Cork region and its close proximity to the Gearagh SAC 000108.

The works carried out in 2008

The IWT with many of our hardworking dedicated volunteers removed European gorse from the site, a prickly affair but much needed to halt the gorse encroachment of the site. In order to restore the old flora in the area gorse was removed to allow for successful regeneration.

The surface vegetation of wet meadow/acid bogs derives it's water and mineral supply solely from rain and this habitat is of global significance. The area is characterized by mosses, sedges and dwarf shrubs. Other vegetation including trees is almost always the result of disturbance eg drainage. Therefore works carried out by IWT staff and volunteers consisted of preventing the area from drying by blocking drains.

As part of the management plan for the site it was decided to increase open communities in the wetland meadow by providing small pools and ridges. The shallow pools were dug out by volunteers which will benefit the site biodiversity enormously especially for invertebrates such as dragonflies.

The IWT volunteers also planted willow whips to create a screen from the adjacent public road to the site. Suitable plants were located with long thick poles. These were harvested from coppiced specimens, transported to the site and installed.

The Future…

The IWT plan to continue the much needed conservation management of the site and to motivate volunteers to get active in protecting Ireland’s biodiversity.  It is planed to build and erect roosting bat boxes and kestrel boxes. A mowing regime will be resumed in part the wet meadow area, after a few years of neglect, to encourage floral diversity and the macro invertebrate population while other areas will be left unmown to encourage different types of diversity on the site. The IWT have considered creating a boardwalk on the site to decrease trampling in the area and improve safety for the volunteers working on the site, however, this is an expensive undertaking and IWT are currently seeking funding to continue our work.

The IWT would like to extend our thanks to the Heritage Council for funding IWT’s 2008 works. A big thank you to Kevin Corcoran a long standing IWT volunteer and his helpers Ali and Ger who managed the project and to Gil Weymen and the Cork Branch of IWT for their hard work. Thank you to Andrew Fleming (IWT Education Officer) who trained volunteers about how to work safely on the site and Barbara Henderson in Head Office whose advice and experience ensured a successful project.

Joanne Pender – IWT Development Officer