{"id":578346,"date":"2026-08-01T05:09:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/578346\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T05:09:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:09:34","slug":"what-was-a-beautiful-habitat-now-is-black-soot-irelands-wildfires-devastate-wildlife-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/578346\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018What was a beautiful habitat now is black soot\u2019: Ireland\u2019s wildfires devastate wildlife \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland\u2019s wildfires might not have threatened human life to anything close to the extent of those in France and Spain<\/a>, but they have had a devastating impact on wildlife and habitats.<\/p>\n

Firefighters have spent the past week battling not only a big blaze at Slievenamon <\/a>in Co Tipperary, but large gorse fires near Glencree<\/a>, Co Wicklow, and at the Comeragh Mountains<\/a> in Co Waterford.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aren\u2019t quite sure of the size of it \u2013 we\u2019ve measured it so many times \u2013 but it is well over 300 hectares now,\u201d says Damian Clarke, manager of Wicklow Mountains National Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never seen a smokier fire. People in Bray and Greystones could smell it, people in Blessington too. So the air quality has taken a serious knock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clarke and his colleagues are constantly monitoring the scene of the large blaze on the edge of the Wicklow-Dublin county boundary, and he says it will not be \u201cout, out\u201d until there is sustained heavy rainfall. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is still smouldering. It is like a large turf fire \u2013 peat briquettes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we ever get our rain \u2013 this is all going to wash into the water. If this does end up in treatment plants, it will significantly increase the price of treating water \u2013 it\u2019s just all sediment.”<\/p>\n

The damage to wildlife and habitat has been substantial. Clarke reports seeing a badger set being burnt over. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d wonder how they\u2019d survive in there,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

He has also spotted hares and deer wandering through the smouldering peat, their homes ruined.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the vegetation is destroyed, the moss and heather,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou are standing on what was a beautiful habitat; now it is just black soot. Anything living in there that is non-mobile or can\u2019t fly away will have been killed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The damage caused affects various species.<\/p>\n

\"OisinOisin O’Neill says critically endangered curlews and snipes, which nest along the ground, are losing their lose nests, while larger mammals lose shelter and food. Photograph: Jim Campbell <\/p>\n

\u201cThe immediate impact really hammers mammals, small reptiles and amphibians,\u201d says Ois\u00edn \u00d3 N\u00e9ill of the Irish Wildlife Trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvertebrates too, which are a really important food source for birds; they simply can\u2019t move fast enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says critically endangered curlews and snipes, which nest along the ground, are losing their nests, while larger mammals lose shelter and food.<\/p>\n

\u201cHen harriers are in very serious trouble. We\u2019d be most concerned about them,\u201d says Oonagh Duggan of Birdwatch Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some cases, the young might be still close to the nests they were born in. And that is an amber-listed species of concern. It is in dire straits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duggan cites figures showing that the hen harrier population has been in significant decline over the past two decades, with warnings that the species could become extinct here within the next 25 years. This is despite the introduction of six \u201cspecial protected areas\u201d in upland areas under the EU birds directive.<\/p>\n

She says conservationists are more accustomed to fires during the spring months of March and April when farmers would have traditionally lit upland fires to create edible grazing for livestock.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of birds would have \u2018fledged\u2019 so they can fly away,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u2018Monoculture\u2019 for fire conditions<\/p>\n

\u201cFires would have a big impact in the spring when the birds have eggs or chicks and can\u2019t move. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut it is the habitat destruction that will have long-term impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like \u00d3 N\u00e9ill, Duggan says other \u201cslow-moving\u201d species such as frogs and insects will have been caught in the paths of these fires. She shares pictures of the bodies of charred frogs and destroyed bird nests.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s desperate to see,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Conservationists are united in their view that Ireland\u2019s landscape is particularly vulnerable to these types of events.<\/p>\n

\u00d3 N\u00e9ill says a \u201cmonoculture\u201d has emerged that creates the conditions for fires.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur ecological history is one in which we cut down our trees,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe drained our peat lands, the uplands are heavily grazed by deer and sheep.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"OonaghOonagh Duggan says other ‘slow-moving’ species such as frogs and insects will have been caught in the paths of these fires.
\nPhotograph courtesy Cllr Michael Brennan <\/p>\n

He says this \u201csimplified\u201d sort of landscape has been compounded by the replacement of native woodland with conifer plantations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are especially vulnerable to fires,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no ground vegetation around them. Instead, you have even-aged tree stands. They have a lot of needles that dry very fast and provide the fuel for fires.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the firefighting work goes into preventing fires from spreading to these plantations. They are essentially tinder boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duggan worries about the long-term consequences of the fires. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe destruction could last several years,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome plants, the opportunistic ones, will come back but the habitat will only recover slowly \u2013 especially peat soil, where you can see the scars from burning.\u201d<\/p>\n

More work is needed, she says, to restore habitats in the uplands for nesting birds. She notes that more birds are thought to be nesting outside the designated special protection areas than inside them. This is down to their poor condition, she believes.<\/p>\n

\"HelicoptersHelicopters were attempting to douse wildfires on Slievenamon, Co Tipperary, on Sunday. Photograph: Se\u00e1n Ryan <\/p>\n

\u00d3 N\u00e9ill says work needs to go into \u201crestoring and rewilding\u201d the uplands, saying this would reduce the likelihood of wildfires in the future by creating cooler, wetter conditions.<\/p>\n

Damian Clarke reports<\/a> that the Wicklow fire came very close to the boundary of its special conservation area, where peat and woodland restoration has been taking place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe managed to hold the line,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it could have set back a project we have been at for two years \u2013 it would have been back to square one.”<\/p>\n

As for who is to blame, Clarke is adamant that the most recent blaze was not the work of farmers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t agricultural,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have two periods of fire during the year \u2013 you\u2019ll know them. [Agricultural fires] are lit late at night. There are people up there [Wicklow National Park] all the time at the moment and they saw it. Two Wednesdays ago \u2013 it was at one o\u2019clock in the afternoon just at the side of the road. That\u2019s not agricultural; that\u2019s carelessness or maliciousness.”<\/p>\n

The impact on the Wicklow National Park is on Clarke\u2019s mind at present.<\/p>\n

\u201cA national park is meant to be the pinnacle of natural heritage in the State, and this is one of the most beautiful areas \u2013 the viewscapes are spectacular,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it is just smouldering. It\u2019s not how we want it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s wildfires might not have threatened human life to anything close to the extent of those in France…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,243873,43],"class_list":["post-578346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-wildfires","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}