The Rural Life

Red grouse numbers have declined to dangerously low levels in recent years and have featured on the Bird Watch Ireland Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland since 1999. Moate man Vincie Flannelly plans to reverse the worrying trend. Born and reared on a farm in Templeboy in West Sligo, 50-year old Vincie has held matters of the countryside dear ever since. It's since moving to Moate eight years ago that the battle, perhaps of his life, has begun however. "I've been involved in hunting and shooting and fishing all my life," father-of-five Vincie says. He's adamant not that shooting of red grouse birds will be banned in Ireland, but instead that red grouse numbers will be allowed to prosper to a sustainable level. To this end he's asking gunmen who shoot game to perhaps consider not shooting red grouse for the moment, even though it's legal to do so during the month of September every year. Rescuing the red grouse from possible extinction is not just a personal battle for Vincie however, though it is certainly that too. He's part of a larger professional body working on the challenge. Vincie has been on the Executive Board of the Countryside Alliance Ireland, an organisation that campaigns for the countryside, country sports and the rural way of life, since 2010. After raising the matter of the "serious decline" in red grouse numbers in moorland and raised bogs and the urgent need to do something to stop the decline at an executive board meeting, a topic which has also been recognised at EU level, Vincie was asked to chair an organisation set up to work specifically on the issue - the Irish Red Grouse Association. The organisation has been in existence since November 3, 2010, and Vincie says that it's working directly with twelve designated sites to promote increased red grouse numbers as well as a number of relevant partner bodies. The organisation's active on-the-ground work involves managing heather in the twelve sites. Heather is the main foodstuff for the red grouse. Work also includes predator management and all relevant conservation works concerning red grouse. The work, which is done on a voluntary basis by all members of the working committee, is done at "weekends, nights, evenings… whenever time permits," Vincie says. A group from the Irish Red Grouse Association meets with local groups, and offers ongoing support with the project by supplying the necessary materials and knowledge needed to make a real difference. The group also supplies grit to sites, which the red grouse needs to break up the footstuff it takes in from heather. "It's a multitude of many things that formulates good grouse management," he says. "The red grouse is the king of the game birds," Vincie says. "It is one of the most cherished birds in the British Isles, and particularly in Ireland." Ongoing work since the foundation of the Irish Red Grouse Association has seen red grouse numbers on the twelve sites the body works with increase by 43.7 percent according to Vincie. Though other separate groups work with additional sites, Vincie explains that the Irish Red Grouse Association currently works with sites in Galway, Tipperary, Cavan, Fermanagh, Donegal, Kildare, Louth and Wicklow that cover a total of 62,000 acres of moorland and raised bog. The group is hoping to work with Bord na Mona in the future on further projects, but even now Vincie says efforts are making a difference to reed grouse, which would have otherwise definitely died out, and that in itself is hugely satisfying. "There's no greater satisfaction than to see grouse reappear and to thrive," he says. He adds that the conservation work that focuses on the grouse also benefits other birds and raises numbers of other species in existence too. The real downfall of the red grouse was not hunting, according to Vincie, but instead overgrazing of moorlands and raised bogs and a lack of "positive moorland management". Of course while Vincie may be convinced declining numbers are down to something other than shooting, an increase in numbers will depend on co-operation from game hunters. Co-operation, Vincie suggests, would mean a voluntary moratorium on red grouse shooting. "We cannot start telling the Minister for Justice to stop issuing gun licences," Vincie says. "It's legal to shoot grouse in the month of September. What we would suggest is not a ban, but that you consider refraining shooting grouse until numbers are sustainable." The Irish Red Grouse Association recently held its annual conference in the Grand Hotel in Moate, with delegates from all over the country flocking to the Midlands town for the event. MEP Marian Harkin was included on the event's guest list, which also attracted representatives from Countryside Alliance Ireland, IFA Countryside, National Parks and Wildlife Service and Field Trial Clubs in Ireland. Speakers at the conference included Dr Douglas Butler, Dr Judit Kelemen, Dr Mark Ruddock and James Sheridan, and Vincie says the event was an "overwhelming success". The main message from the conference, he says, is that we must all work together to tackle the problem and leave healthy numbers of red grouse in existence into the future. "Let us leave something that's part of our culture in a state that's healthy," Vincie says. "I'm very passionate as an individual that the rights to all rural pursuits have to be maintained and cherished. Let the generations who follow us to speak of our actions and what we've done for the conservation of grouse." Though it's a tough challenge, Vincie also firmly believes there's no point wasting time with regrets. "We're not blaming anybody," he says. "We can't change the past. We want to work from here." Fortunately, Vincie says the task of returning red grouse to such numbers that the species is removed from a list of endangered species is at last beginning to look achievable. Anyone interested in finding out more about the work of the Irish Red Grouse Association can get in touch with the Countryside Alliance at www.countrysideallianceireland.org or email Vincie at nessa.od@hotmail.com.