EPA - Ireland's Environment 2016

Ireland’s Environment – An Assessment 2016

The Bird Atlas and Citizen Science

The Bird Atlas 2007‑2011 mapped the occurrence of Ireland’s and Great Britain’s birds during winter and breeding

seasons (Balmer

et al.

, 2013). The Atlas was a collaborative project involving BirdWatch Ireland, the Scottish

Ornithologists’ Club and the British Trust for Ornithology. In Ireland the project received funding from the National

Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), the Heritage Council and the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Atlas is an excellent example of citizen science in action, presenting

analyses of records submitted by over 40,000 volunteer birdwatchers in Great Britain and Ireland. Nearly all of the 300

species covered by the Atlas have experienced changes, such as range contractions or expansions, location shifts or

subtle changes in abundance. Key findings for the island of Ireland are that, over the last 40 years, the breeding ranges

of 47% of species have contracted, whereas 18% of species have expanded to new areas.

Two main “new” groups of concern highlighted are breeding waders and upland birds. Large range contractions are

noted for the curlew, which has declined dramatically in recent years, and also lapwing, common sandpiper, golden

plover, merlin, ring ouzel, snipe and teal. Further research is necessary to determine whether there is an overriding driver

for observed range changes, but climate change has been implicated in some cases (Balmer

et al

., 2013). The ranges of

several farmland birds declined before the end of the last century and the distribution of these birds remains restricted

today, for example corncrake, grey partridge, twite, whinchat and yellowhammer. On the other hand, a large increase in

the range of the blackcap has been noted (Figure 4.5), and 12 other species have increased in abundance, including the

bullfinch and buzzard.

Figure 4.5

The Blackcap has Experienced a 249% Increase in Range

Since the Breeding Atlas 1988‑1991 Report (Source: BirdWatch Ireland)