BirdWatch Ireland says that the Lapwing, one of Ireland's rarest breeding bird species, has had a bumper breeding season on North Mayo’s Mullet peninsula.
A total of 67 pairs of the wading birds successfully raised at least 143 chicks at the Annagh Marsh Nature Reserve on the peninsula over this past summer, it says.
It gives the population of the nationally endangered species a much-needed boost, it says
"This incredible conservation project hasn't been without its challenges, but as a result of plenty of hard work and dedication, as well as the necessary funding, we are thrilled to be in a position to celebrate the breeding success of these remarkable birds," Dave Suddaby, BirdWatch Ireland’s Reserves Manager, said.
"It proves that conservation does work, and that it really does help our birds and the habitats they rely on."
In 1985, Ireland’s first breeding wader survey recorded eight pairs of Lapwing breeding at Annagh Marsh Nature Reserve and the adjacent machair plain.
Just 11 years later, the breeding Lapwing population there had dwindled to just two pairs, with the species at grave risk of extinction.
To combat these stark declines, habitat restoration at Annagh Marsh began in 2001. After some initial successes which saw the Lapwing population reaching up to 17 pairs by 2004, unfortunately numbers began to decline once more.
A comprehensive investigation by BirdWatch Ireland identified foxes as the main predators of the eggs and chicks of these vulnerable ground-nesting birds.
Realising that the fox problem needed to be tackled if Lapwings were ever going to recover, a non-lethal solution was implemented in the form of a predator exclusion fence, which had proven to be a useful management ‘tool’ for protecting breeding waders from mammalian predators at another Irish site.
With the support of funding from The Heritage Council, Fiontar Chomhraic Teo, Dublin Zoo and BirdWatch Ireland’s own members, a new fence was installed in the autumn of 2011.
Importantly, working closely with the two relevant farmers, the protected area was extended to include the whole machair plain at Annagh, Birdwatch Ireland says.
The following year, three pairs of Lapwings returned and bred successfully. In 2024, the fence was upgraded to exclude Otters and American Minks, two other significant predators that were impacting the Lapwings’ breeding success.
This work was funded through the National Parks & Wildlife Service Conservation Measures Unit and the LIFE on Machair project.
Since the installation of this upgraded fence, breeding Lapwing numbers have continued to rise, to the point that the summer of 2026 has seen 67 pairs successfully rearing a minimum of 143 chicks to the flying stage.
The fenced area at Annagh Marsh now holds approximately 10% of Ireland’s national breeding Lapwing population, which was recently estimated at around 600 pairs.
That figure represents a nationwide decline in the Lapwing population of approx. 90% from pre-1990s levels, showing just how severely threatened the species is and just how important BirdWatch Ireland’s conservation efforts at Annagh Marsh have been, it says.
