Conservation of Nature

Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera)

Colour photograph of the Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) wild flower found on the grassland dunes of Bull Island, Dublin. This spectacular orchid resembling a bee is quite difficult to locate on the dry grassy dune edges it favours, yet can often be only inches from a well-trodden path. The bee orchid has a basal rosette of several unstalked grey-green oval leaves and an erect stalk from 15-50 cm high carrying from 2-7 flowers. The bud is light and prominately green-veined, opening with three crisp pink sepals framing the flower. Each flower has two small side petals, spear-shaped, and the large incredible bee-mimic lower lip. This is velvety brown and patterned with yellow markings to resemble a bee and attract a pollinator, although the flower has the ability to self-pollinate. Seed is prolific, fine and dustlike, but can take up to eight years to produce a flowering stem. Flowers: June-July

By kind permission of Dorothy Forde

Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera)
By kind permission of Dorothy Forde

Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera)

Colour photograph of the Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) wild flower found on the grassland dunes of Bull Island, Dublin. This spectacular orchid resembling a bee is quite difficult to locate on the dry grassy dune edges it favours, yet can often be only inches from a well-trodden path. The bee orchid has a basal rosette of several unstalked grey-green oval leaves and an erect stalk from 15-50 cm high carrying from 2-7 flowers. The bud is light and prominately green-veined, opening with three crisp pink sepals framing the flower. Each flower has two small side petals, spear-shaped, and the large incredible bee-mimic lower lip. This is velvety brown and patterned with yellow markings to resemble a bee and attract a pollinator, although the flower has the ability to self-pollinate. Seed is prolific, fine and dustlike, but can take up to eight years to produce a flowering stem. Flowers: June-July

By kind permission of Dorothy Forde

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By comparison with most developed countries, Ireland has given very little of its territory the strict protection for nature to be found in national parks and reserves. The biggest extension of its conservation policy has come through membership of the European Union and response, in particular, to the Habitats Directive of the EU Commission.

This has operated by scientific consensus to protect, in each country, an adequate area of each of Europe's natural habitats. These range very widely, from sand-dunes, peatland and limestone pavement to orchid-rich grasslands, wetlands and rivers. Many habitats are given priority for the protection of specially endangered species, and the most precious habitats, declared Special Areas of Conservation, are linked into a network of outstanding European sites known as Natura 2000. The SACs have been selected from the Natural Heritage Areas originally defined by Irish ecologists for their scientific importance and distinctiveness.

SACs and NHAs tend to coincide with Ireland's most scenic areas which are usually, also, the 'disadvantaged' regions of marginal farming. Some small landowners have been suspicious of the designation process, fearing that controls on development would deprive them of the right to sell land for house-building or wind-farm development, or to plant it with conifers. Conservation NGOs, on the other hand (non-governmental organisations such as the Irish Peatland Conservation Council, An Taisce, BirdWatch Ireland, Irish Wildlife Trust and Crann) successfully lobbied the EU Commission for further additions to the list of sites.

Kerry Cow

Black and white photograph of the Kerry Cow. Kerry Cows are derived from the Celtic Shorthorn cow and was brought to Ireland 2,000 years ago making it one of the oldest breeds in Europe. It is a black cow that grows a heavy coat over winter, it has horns, but was considered in the past to be a very gentle breed. It was dominant in Ireland until the end of the eighteenth century. Kerry cows are hardy, easy to calve and their milk suitable for making into cheese and butter. Although Kerry Cows do not produce as much milk as modern varieties, they are important as they hold genetic material that makes them adapted for extensive farming conditions and may be resistant to some disease that our modern highly selected breeds are not. It is essential that these breeds are conserved, as they will be needed in a return to more extensive farming practices. Farmers under the REPS scheme (the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme) can receive a grant for farming with breeds that are in danger of going extinct, such as the Kerry Cow.

Kerry Cow

Kerry Cow

Black and white photograph of the Kerry Cow. Kerry Cows are derived from the Celtic Shorthorn cow and was brought to Ireland 2,000 years ago making it one of the oldest breeds in Europe. It is a black cow that grows a heavy coat over winter, it has horns, but was considered in the past to be a very gentle breed. It was dominant in Ireland until the end of the eighteenth century. Kerry cows are hardy, easy to calve and their milk suitable for making into cheese and butter. Although Kerry Cows do not produce as much milk as modern varieties, they are important as they hold genetic material that makes them adapted for extensive farming conditions and may be resistant to some disease that our modern highly selected breeds are not. It is essential that these breeds are conserved, as they will be needed in a return to more extensive farming practices. Farmers under the REPS scheme (the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme) can receive a grant for farming with breeds that are in danger of going extinct, such as the Kerry Cow.

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By 2002 the proposed Special Areas of Conservation covered almost one million hectares - some ten per cent of the Republic's lake and land area - together with four per cent of marine areas (including, for example, the whole of the Shannon Estuary). Farmers' acceptance of the EU policy has been eased by extra cash grants offered in the Rural Environment Protection Scheme, which pays them to manage their land in ways that satisfy a wider concern for the countryside. This is also partly the purpose of changes in EU agricultural policy that 'decouple' rural subsidies from intensive production of crops and livestock.

Commercial forestry is transforming Ireland's landscape on a scale unprecedented in the island's history, and the great tracts of conifers that blanket many upland bogs have brought a general dismay to naturalists. New ecological forestry standards, developed in Europe after the Rio Earth Summit of 1992, have brought impressive commitments to encourage biodiversity from Coillte, the state forestry company, and the Forestry Service. Reshaping of existing forests to respect the natural contours of the landscape, and the introduction of more varied and broadleaved species is already widely under way.

As sheep numbers are controlled on the hills, a different approach to upland husbandry is offered by experiments in 'restoration ecology' by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The replacement of sheep by small Kerry cattle, an old traditional breed, and restoration of native hill woodland with Scots pine and vanished dwarf shrubs, such as juniper and cowberry, are under trial in the Killarney National Park.

In the lowlands, the destruction of roadside hedgerows for garden walls and parking-space has become a substantial form of ecological degradation and one for which local planners need to find alternatives. The appointment of Heritage Officers to local authorities (one of many positive initiatives by the State-funded Heritage Council) and systematic preparation of county heritage plans, should help to promote a more enlightened direction of local planning and design.