A young hen harrier has been found shot dead near Waterville in Co. Kerry. The satellite tagged bird-of-prey, a young female dubbed “Heather” by local schoolchildren, was part of a joint project by regional development organisation IRD Duhallow and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). Heather became an online star via the….

A review by The Dapartment of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht of legislation under the Wildlife Act that governs the period when hedgerows can be cut has put landowners and environmental groups on a collision course. As it currently stands the legislation prohibits hedge cutting (with certain exceptions) between the 01 March….

Centuries ago wolves roamed the wilds of Ireland. In this full-length feature Ireland’s Wildlife contributor Dan Lettice, explores whether or not, one day, they could do so again….   Wolves in Ireland: the background The grey wolf, Canis lupis, was once reasonably common in Ireland and existed on all parts of the Island. The….

A social media storm is brewing surrounding an ill-informed and disturbingly inaccurate radio interview about birds conducted on the Pat Kenny Show on national Irish radio station Newstalk FM yesterday (Wed 14 January). On the show, host Pat Kenny (pictured left) introduced Biochemistry Professor, Luke O’Niell (yes, you read that right — a professor of….

Looking after Ireland’s marine environment should be a massive priority for the Irish government, not just because of EU directives and potential sanctions, or the very obvious benefits to our rich coastal biodiversity, but also for moral, social and economic reasons. Peter Green of the Marine and Coastal Protection Areas of Ireland….

Conservation efforts to save the corncrake from extinction in Ireland appear to be paying dividends. Authorities reported a significant increase in the number of calling male birds during their 2014 corncrake population census, up to 230 from 185 birds recorded last year. The largest concentration of corncrakes was in Donegal,….

Ireland’s largest little tern colony at Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow, has enjoyed a record year in 2014 according to conservationists monitoring the site. Wardens recorded 120 breeding pairs nesting at Kilcoole this season, smashing the previous record of 106 pairs from 2006. According to figures reported on the Kilcoole Little Tern Conservation blog….

The National Biodiversity Data Centre announced on its Facebook Fan Page yesterday that it has received a record of a Black Arches moth (Lymantria monacha) from Camolin Woods in Co. Wexford. This is the first record of this species occurring in Ireland for 100 years. It was last recorded from a….

The natterjack toad, the most threatened of only three native amphibian species to occur in Ireland, is making a comeback in its traditional strongholds on the Kerry coast according to a recent report by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). An ongoing habitat creation scheme established by the NPWS back in 2008 seems to….

Jade Whynne… Managing Director with V2 Volunteer & Vacation… introduces some of the benefits of volunteering on conservation projects abroad, looking specifically at some of the V2 conservation projects in the Caribbean. Beyond the view of the sandy beach and turquoise water that most of the millions of visitors that….

This is a feature about the conservation of the orang-utan that I originally wrote for “Wild Ireland” magazine back in 2003. Ten years on and the great red ape is still hanging on, barely. We stopped and stared. Ninety kilos of muscle, sinew and dense orange fur stared back. With….

The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the Irish Grey Partridge Trust are working together on an innovative trial to breed the endangered corncrake in captivity for the first time in Ireland. Fota Wildlife Park in Co. Cork is assisting in the experimental captive breeding programme. A pair of corncrake….