Last month, our ornithologist attended the Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group (NIRSG) Conference in Enniskillen, county Fermanagh. The conference had a line of interesting speakers making it an exciting and educational event.
The NIRSG was founded in 1991 and is a group of volunteers, who visit known raptor breeding and wintering sites and search for new ones across Northern Ireland. Collected data is invaluable for conserving these raptor species, including peregrine falcon, hen harrier, white-tailed eagle, golden eagle, red kite, merlin, and kestrel.
The first presentation by Dr. Eimear Rooney and Dr. Marc Ruddock was about the petition to ban the possession of harmful pesticides. They explained how pesticides, that are often toxic to non-target plants and animals, despite being ‘banned for use’, are used to harm protected birds of prey. They also pointed out the missing list of banned chemicals in legislation, contributing to the inability to procure the legislation. This petition is a way to help create a new law that includes a specific list of highly toxic chemicals that are not only a threat to wildlife and the wider environment but to humans as well.
Dr Rudy Tingay discussed the wildlife conflict between raptors and grouse moor owners and how the grouse licence is seemingly ineffective in tackling raptor persecution. Dr Tingay is involved in raptor research and campaigns and explained how scientific evidence is crucial in taking legal actions. Dr Tingay co-founded Wild Justice with Chris Packham and Mark Avery.
Police Constable Gavin Ross, the Scottish Investigative Support Officer in the National Wildlife Crime Unit, talked about the unit and wildlife crime. His presentation included an investigation of the illegal possession and selling of wild peregrine falcon chicks and the process and methods they used to build a case. This included DNA testing, which helped identify the chicks and link them to other individuals.
Jim Wells, a founding member of the NIRSG, gave a capturing talk about his almost half-century-long study of Peregrines in Northern Ireland. He presented many interesting facts about this beautiful raptor, the fastest animal on the planet.
David Anderson is a researcher, field worker and Scottish Raptor Study Group member. He talked about his lifelong work with raptors using various methods including satellite tagging. He is not only involved in many raptor conservation projects but also contributed to various TV productions such as Landward and Springwatch.
There were also a couple of guest speakers from abroad, Dr Shane McPherson from South Africa and Dr Petra Sumasgutner from Austria. Dr McPherson presented his research on African Crowned Eagles living in the suburbs of Durban. In these areas, pets are often potential prey and can lead to conflict between people and the birds of prey. The latest research combined the tracking data with photographs of prey from the nest cameras to better understand their hunting behaviour and wildlife conflict. Dr Sumasgutner talked about various projects she was and is involved in, including using biologging methods in her research on kestrels.
The last presentation was delivered by Dr. Allan Mee, who managed the reintroduction of the White-tailed Sea Eagle to Ireland. Among other subjects, he talked about the reintroduction programme and how it helped to restore Ireland’s largest native raptor.
Our ornithologists encounter a lot of raptor species during their fieldwork and the information shared at this conference further broadened their knowledge about these enigmatic birds.