This month the Save Murragh Action Group – a community group opposed to a sand and gravel quarry planned adjacent to Bandon River in Murray, Enniskeane – gives us a glimpse of the wildlife supported by the Bandon River and outlines what we can do to help preserve and protect species and habitats.
There is an alarming rate of biodiversity loss occurring globally and nationally, according to the United Nations, approximately one million species are at risk of extinction, many within decades from now. Many of Irelands few remaining natural or semi-natural habitats are in a poor or bad state, over half of our plant species are in decline and more than 50 bird species are of high conservation concern. Our planet’s wild animal population has suffered a reduction of 83 per cent since beginning of civilisation. Experts believe that due to the severe loss of nature and biodiversity we are in the middle of a sixth’s mass extinction event. The last one happened 65 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs. This sixth mass extinction is very different to all the previous events, it is not caused by natural phenomena, but is driven by human activity, such as: habitat destruction, climate change, pollution, overexploitation and invasive species.
In response to this alarming development Dail Éireann declared a national biodiversity emergency in Ireland, which lead to the establishment of the national Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, which published their final report making 159 recommendations last year.
A very historic moment was the passing of the Nature Restoration Law earlier this year against massive opposition, mandating each EU member state to restore at least 20 per cent of their land and sea by 2030. By 2050, such measures should be in place for all habitats.
Of course the Nature Restoration law is not the first EU legislation aiming to protect threatened species and habitat. There is the Habitats Directive which is a European Union Council Directive that aims to conserve natural habitats and wild fauna and flora species. There is also the Birds Directive, which requires all EU members states to not only protect species of wild birds but to also protect and restore their habitats.
Within the legal framework of these directives, EU member states are required to designate Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) to protect habitats and species listed under the Habitats Directive and Special Protection Areas (SPAs) to protect habitat and species under the Birds Directive. Together they form the Natura 2000 network, which is the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world. Both directives require the protection of habitat from deterioration, disturbance etc not only within SPAs and SACs, but also habitats outside of these protected areas.
But why should we care? Well, firstly for moral reasons, we are not the only species on this planet, we do not own this planet, we are sharing it; its species and habitats are not resources for us to exploit, they have their own right to exist and thrive; each species has a unique role to play in the biosphere and the loss of one species can have far reaching consequences. Protecting species and habitats is not just an environmental issue; it is a critical necessity for maintaining the planet’s ecological balance and ensuring a sustainable future for all life forms, including humans. After all, we need to ask ourselves, what do we want to leave behind for future generations; do we want them to look back at us and be proud or do we want them to look back at us struggling to understand how we did just sit back and allow it all happen?
There are some easy things we can all do. We can go out and vote, make our voices heard. Take some time to experience nature, go out for a walk, reconnect with our local patch of nature, be it a river, stream, country lane, forest or network of fields. Get to know it, get to know the species living there, take ownership of our local nature and look after it. Maybe become a citizen scientist monitoring the local bees, butterflies, bats, birds, otters, there are so many options. The Garden Bird Survey run by Birdwatch Ireland has just started and runs through to February; it is an easy and fun way to learn about your local birds while also providing vital information for their protection.
For us at Save Murragh, our local patch of nature is the Bandon River Valley, which has an abundance of species that inhabit the river and surrounding lands. Especially during Covid, when we were all forced to stay close to home, more of us really got to know and love our local biodiversity. We quickly realised how special the area actually is and that it is our responsibility to try and protect it as best as we could.
The Common Snipe, for example, which was once considered a common and widespread bird has been recently classified as red-listed in Ireland. We are very lucky to still see it quite frequently in our fields.
An entire article on itself can be written about the Bandon River, the fresh water pearl mussel (listed under Habitat Directive Annex II and V), which filters 50 litre of water every day, and its symbiotic relationship with the Atlantic salmon, both in alarming decline, both highly sensitive to changes in water quality and siltation.
Around this time of the year adult salmon are back in our rivers to spawn and can be seen not only spawning but also leaping dramatically into the air before splashing back into the water. This is always a great sight!
The otter (Habitat Directive Annex II) for which Ireland is a stronghold in Europe, is commonly seen in the Bandon river, its tributaries and surrounding fields; a good place to spot one is Murragh bridge by the way. While hunting and trapping is now banned, habitat destruction, human disturbance and falling water quality are a threat to the otter population in Ireland. Each year a number of otter cubs are also killed by dogs.
The same bridge is also a good spot to get a glimpse of a Kingfisher (Bird Directive Annex I) flying past, or if very lucky, the Kingfisher might perch somewhere close by. The Kingfisher is very susceptible to flooding and drought, it has difficulty hunting in muddy fast flowing water, nest sites in soil river banks can flood and chicks drown, and during drought they have limited food sources, this is exacerbated by over-extraction.
Also listed under Annex I of the Bird Directive is the whooper swan, a spectacular winter visitor to the Bandon Valley from Iceland.
All species listed under Annex I of the Bird Directive shall be subject of special conservation measures concerning their habitat: pollution, deterioration of habitats and disturbances significantly affecting the birds shall be avoided both in and outside of SPAs.
While the Bandon Valley supports a significant amount of Whooper Swans on not only local, county but regional level; their numbers are currently just below the threshold for “national importance”. Nonetheless they are a flagship species for our local biodiversity and feature in the Ballineen and Enniskeane Biodiversity Action Plan 2023 – 2028.
With all this in mind, we need to carefully consider the impacts of new developments on sensitive areas like this one. We need to ensure that proper, transparent and scientific robust ecological baseline surveys are done; only then can an informed decision be made if the good out ways the bad for any development.
As things stand this is not the case for the proposed sand and gravel quarry adjacent to the Bandon River and one of its tributaries. While the application was withdrawn on the day the decision was due, end of May this year, there is no doubt a new application will be submitted in the not-too-far future. Will this new application include the fresh water pearl mussel survey that Cork County Council has asked for twice now?
