Much of the variety and diversity which was once such a characteristic feature of the Irish countryside has been lost.
The National Biodiversity Data Centre is hosting a month-long (virtual) Festival of Farmland Biodiversity for May. The Festival of Farmland Biodiversity will focus on challenges to addressing the biodiversity crisis across much of the farmed landscape in Ireland.
The purpose of the Festival is to encourage a more positive engagement around the topic of biodiversity and farmland and to highlight some of the ways that farmers are working to support biodiversity on their farms. The rationale for the National Biodiversity Data Centre’s approach is that if all farmers took some evidence-based actions to help biodiversity, no matter how small, the cumulative impact of these actions could address biodiversity loss in the Irish landscape.
Biodiversity and how farmland is managed are closely linked. Recent years have seen a reduction in the biodiversity value of farmland, and much of the variety and diversity which was once such a characteristic feature of the Irish countryside has been lost. But the Irish farming community presents an opportunity for arresting this decline. Farmers and their families can be a positive driver of change by ensuring that biodiversity features of value on their land are retained. These retained features could then be the basis upon which biodiversity enhancement measures could be delivered. Ensuring there is diversity in the Irish landscape is one important contribution that the farming community can make and are making to building resilience to address the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss.
Some of our wildlife needs farming to maintain their populations, farming that works with nature. The future of Ireland’s only legally protected insect, the Marsh Fritillary, is entirely dependent on the continuation of seasonal grazing by cattle to maintain the quality of semi-natural grasslands on which they depend.
The link between Corncrake and agriculture is well known; a species that was once common and widespread but whose populations now retain a toehold only in small parts of Mayo and Donegal. The wholescale switch from hay to silage, and the decline of species rich meadows sealed the fate of this grassland bird.
The following sections provide some insight on farmland biodiversity, the work of the National Biodiversity Data Centre and how to get involved in recording and monitoring biodiversity.
(Source – Irish Examiner – Farming – Staff Reporter – 27/05/2022)
Why Ireland’s pollinators are important to farming
Their decline is not only a biodiversity issue but also a farming one.
Ireland’s pollinators are made up of one species of honeybee, 100 species of wild bees (21 bumblebees and 79 solitary bees), roughly 180 species of hoverflies and other pollinating insects including butterflies, moths, beetles, wasps and ants.
A decline in pollinator population is correlated to the reduction in pollination services, impacting both on the quality and quantity of produce grown. Of the 100 species of wild bee that occur in Ireland, one third are threatened with extinction. This decline is not only a biodiversity issue but also a farming issue.
All-Ireland Pollinator Plan
Traditional farming was very pollinator friendly as it was naturally flower-rich. There were hay meadows, annual flowers in cereal crops, more wildflowers along lanes and in field corners due to less spraying, more flowers in hedgerows due to less mechanisation and we grew more of our own fruits and vegetables.
Advances in farming has reduced the amount of flowers and therefore has resulted in less bees.
There are five evidence-based actions to help make farmland more pollinator friendly:
1. Maintain native flowering hedgerows
2. Allow flowers to grow around the farm
3. Provide nesting places for wild bees
4. Minimise artificial fertiliser use
5. Reduce pesticide inputs
If you’d like to help pollinators on your farm, then check out ‘Seasonal actions for pollinators’, starting with Spring here.
Protecting Farmland Pollinators
The National Biodiversity Data Centre are currently co ordinating the ‘Protecting Farmland Pollinators’ European Innovation Partnership Project. This five-year project is working with a group of 40 farmers, across farm types (beef, dairy, mixed, and tillage) and intensities (high, medium, and low) in Co. Kildare and neighbouring counties. Through this project farmers are encouraged to provide small wildlife habitats for pollinators and biodiversity, in terms of food, safety, and shelter, on their farms using the five evidence-based actions as above.
It’s important that pollinators get food throughout their whole flight period. Five ways to increase floral resources for pollinators on the farm are:
1. Flowering hedgerows (cut hedges on a 3-year rotation). A hedgerow that is cut every year will provide little to no flowers for pollinators.
2. Plant native pollinator friendly trees.
3. Reduce pesticide inputs.
4. Increase the margins around the field and allow flowers to grow naturally.
5. Allow flowers to grow within the field cropping system, such as clover.
This year, the National Biodiversity Data Centre is also coordinating the ‘Farmer Moth Monitoring’ EIP project which focuses on moths, an important and undervalued group of pollinators. Because moths are mostly nocturnal, much of their value in the form of pollination goes unseen and it is important that we understand how they are faring in our modern agricultural landscape. From May until September, moth traps will be set up across 20 farms in Cos. Kildare and Laois to monitor these insects and to help assess their population levels on a variety of farm types.
Is grass diversity important for pollinators?
Ireland’s agricultural system is primarily dedicated to grass production, with Perennial Ryegrass dominating. You could be forgiven for thinking there is just one species of grass but in fact, there are around 100 species in Ireland. Over relying on one species or a narrow range of plants on your farm will limit biodiversity. There are many species of butterflies in Ireland that feed on grasses during the caterpillar stage, none of which are Perennial Ryegrass.
For example, the caterpillar food plant for the Ringlet are Cock’s-foot, Common Couch, False Brome, Meadow-grasses, and Tufted Hair grass. Whilst the caterpillar food plant for the Meadow Brown are Bents and Fescues, Cock’s-foot, False Brome, and Meadow-grasses.
(Source – Irish Examiner – Farming – Staff Reporter – 27/05/2022)