A total of 83% of commonages have been assessed, according to the latest update from the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) assessors.
Over 90% of commonages in ACRES Breifne, ACRES Leinster, and ACRES Munster south Connacht have been assessed.
The big block of commonages in the Dublin/ Wicklow Mountains is “all but completed now,” as explained by the latest ACRES commonage update.
The assessment of commonages is undertaken by employees of the Hen Harrier Project, which is contracted to carry out this work by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) .
The ACRES commonage update stated: “Still a bit to do with the commonages outside the CP (co-operation projects) areas but these are generally smaller and the shortening days are not so much of a concern.”
Commonage Type Total Area (ha) Surveyed Area (ha) %completed ACRES Breifne CP commonage 21,759.56 20,672.02 95.00 Breifne Area non-CP commonage 783.04 294.60 37.62 ACRES Leinster CP commonage 33,251.00 32,705.34 98.36 Leinster Area non-CP commonage 5,651.87 781.10 13.82 ACRES Munster south Connacht CP commonage 25,471.50 23,333.20 91.60 Munster south Connacht non-CP commonage 10,721.00 3,090.57 28.83 Total 97,637.97 80,876.83 82.83
The staff undertaking the assessment acknowledged that there is a significant amount of work to do, “both in the field and in the office” but “are confident the team will get it done”.
“The next big step is to communicate the scores and the opportunities to increase them out to the farmers,” according to the update.
Farmers are also being asked to be “patient”, and have been told that their local team “will be in touch as soon as they can” with them.
Assessing commonages
Earlier in the month, while working on commonages in Co. Wicklow, the ACRES scoring team encountered a dotterel.
A rare migrant in Ireland, the dotterel is travelling back from spending its summer in the high Arctic.
Its presence on this Wicklow commonage shows just how important these sites are, according to the ACRES scoring team, “not just for our own breeding birds but also as stopovers for birds from further north on their long journey south for the winter”.
The scoring team said they were “delighted to make it’s acquaintance”.