By Gordon Deegan
The state is set to spend an estimated €120,000 on a national survey on the red grouse bird.
That is according to new tender documents which state that the first and last national survey for red grouse was conducted over two field seasons in 2006/07 and 2007/08.
That survey estimated a total population at just over 4,200 adults and a contraction in species range across Ireland of 50% since 1972.
Tender for red grouse survey
The tender states that with the recent departure of the UK from the European Union, the proportion of the EU red grouse population now lies exclusively within this state.
The tender by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, explains that this particular bird is listed on the EU Birds Directive.
It is also on the Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland’s Red List due to the 50% decline in the known historical breeding range.
The last survey detected 491 of the bird type and the greatest concentration was to be found in Donegal with 105 followed by Mayo (97); Galway (93), Kerry (81); and Wicklow (28).
Red grouse
The red grouse is a heavy set bird with rounded body and wings, a short tail, small bill, small head and sturdy feathered legs.
The bird’s calls are a distinctive accelerating series of loud nasal clacks, while its diet consists mostly of heather during the year, along with berries, insects and the shoots and leaves of other plant species.
The estimated €120,000 spend includes the period of the 2021/22 survey and any possible extensions.
Habitats
Farmers and bog owners may be familiar with the sight of red grouse, as the bird is associated with specific habitat types, namely heaths, blanket bogs and raised bogs.
The contract is expected to commence in mid-November and it is to concluded by end of May 2022.
The successful bidder for the work is to generate robust population estimates of red grouse and these estimates are to be broken down into estimated numbers of males, females, along with capturing any recent and/or past evidence of usage of sites using assessments of signs e.g. fresh pair roost sites.
The work will also include an assessment of the conservation status of the bird to include information on pressures and threats, acting on the population collected through the national survey.
The tender states that periodic censuses of breeding red grouse provide the necessary evidence base for obligatory reporting under the EU Birds Directive as well as enabling the conservation management of breeding birds both within the Natura network and also in the wider countryside.