Great day yesterday at Lauwersmeer National Park with the International Wader Study Group @waderstudy.bsky.social
Highlight of the day being the Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus
#IWSG2025

Incredible weekend at the International Wader Study Group Confernce in Groningen, Netherlands. 250 delegates from over 40 countries!
@waderstudy.bsky.social
#IWSG2025

We're pleased to announce that our 2026 conference will be in... SPAIN 🇪🇸

🗓 Dates for your diary are 4-7th September 2026

Watch this space for more details to come!

#IWSG2026 #waders #shorebirds #ornithology

Our manager, Flo, is in Groningen for the International Wader Study Group Conference and is pictured here with Owen Murphy from Breeding Waders EIP in Ireland!

If you're there this weekend then say hello and chat all things Curlew! You can also ask Flo about our European Fieldworkers Workshop.

Forest to bog restoration takes time.

The first confirmed breeding of Dunlin after restoration occurred in year five.
Golden Plover took at least eight years to recolonise the area.
Peatland carbon dynamics unfold over millennia.

Trust the process! ⏳️

Breeding Waders EIP are currently recruiting a Post Doctoral Researcher Level 2.
This is a full time position and will be based at ATU Galway City Campus. Closing date Friday June 25th.
See our website for more details.

breedingwaders.ie/careers/

We did mention we had news?
We've just acquired all of the Sheanadh Gharráin woods east of the Bhoth Loiscthe River in the Connemara Gaeltacht.
35 acres of rainforest awesomeness are now protected, plus 47 acres of space for them to stretch into !

It's nice to be back out in the hills doing spring surveys. Merlin can be very secretive in the summer, so it was nice to pick some signs of recent activity to pin down a pair again at a traditional site. Several pellets and moth remains on hummocks gave optimism before the pair were picked up.

We were delighted to receive an update from the LIFE on Machair team. These beautiful images of Lapwing within the fenced area has truly made our week, so we had to share.
If you would like to know more about this and other projects visit our website:

www.breedingwaders.ie/resources

Collaboration and collective knowledge are key in building communities for breeding waders.
#Waders #conservation #wetlands #worldwaterday

Breeding Waders EIP are currently recruiting seasonal Field Surveyors.
Closing date COB Friday March 7th.
See our website for more details and application form.

breedingwaders.ie/careers/

Alena Kunkel, one of our Project Officers based in Donegal has joined up with Green- Schools to celebrate "World Wetlands Day".
Alena will deliver an educational talk on the Breeding Waders EIP project and the importance of wetlands for breeding waders.
@greenschoolsireland

Join us as we celebrate
“World Wetlands Day”.
The Ballinahown Community Group will kindly host a number of speakers and artists this coming Sunday, February 2nd, from 10am to 12pm in their community hall (N37 D768).

This is a free event, no pre registration is required.
We hope you can join us!

Lough Ree Visit 17.01.2025

Outgoing Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan TD. choose Lough Ree and the Black Islands for his final official site visit.

Footage of our Wader Action Zone(WAZ) Donegal visit last week to meet landowners. To learn more visit www.breedingwaders.ie

We really need this creation of resilient landscapes in Ireland

Avian communities show distinct responses to forest-to-bog restoration Since the 1990's, attempted restoration of blanket bogs which have been previously afforested with non-native conifers has taken place in Ireland and …

My second PhD paper looking at the response of bird communities to forest-to-bog restoration is now online at the Journal of Environmental Management www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @edeeyto.bsky.social

So I'll be posting updates on my PhD here and hopefully some nice photos while trying to follow other ecologists to learn as much as I can from other accounts!

*Will be very heavy on West of Ireland content as a fair warning

Between Meelick and Banagher, on the stretch of water just downriver of Shamrock Marina

Reed Bunting (1st winter female)
December 2024

Purple Sandpiper
Seafield, Co. Clare
November 2024

Greenshank and Redshank
October 2024

Kingfisher
River Shannon, Co. Offaly
September 2024

Dunlin (breeding plumage)
Bannow Bay, Co. Wexford
August 2024

Ringed Plover
Shannon Estuary, Co. Clare
July 2024

Long-tailed Tit (juvenile)
Cabragh Wetlands CES 5
June 2024
All ringing done under BTO/NPWS licencing

Juvenile Cuckoo fed by Meadow Pipit foster parent
June 2024

Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Belcarra, Co. Mayo
May 2024

Peregrine
Céide Fields, Co. Mayo
April 2024