€4.3m funding for corncrake conservation project

SOME €4.3m in EU LIFE funding has been awarded to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) for a project focused on improving the conservation status of the corncrake in Ireland.

The €5.9m budget LIFE Atlantic Crex project is due to commence in January 2020 and will run for five years. The project will see conservation work funded in project sites in counties Donegal, Mayo and Galway.

Working in partnership with landowners, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Údarás na Gaeltachta, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology and Fota Wildlife Park, the project aims to deliver a 20% increase on the 2018 population of corncrake recorded in Ireland by 2024.

Corncrake is listed for special protection under Annex 1 of the EU Birds Directive. Once synonymous with the Irish countryside, the population has declined by 85% since the 1970s, with a similar decrease in range, meaning that the species is now effectively confined to Connaught and Donegal, including offshore islands. Supporting the corncrake in these remaining strongholds is critical to the survival of this species in Ireland.

The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan, welcoming the funding, said: “This funding demonstrates the ongoing importance of the EU LIFE programme in assisting national governments to drive forward and support large-scale projects that have a regional or local focus, particularly in rural or peripheral areas. This funding will allow my department, working in concert with stakeholders across government and the communities in question, to put concrete and sustainable measures in place to help secure the future of this species, which has a special place in Irish culture.”