Bird and Mammal Numbers on Untreated and Experimentally Treated Irish Bog

Bird numbers in relation to grazing on a grouse moor from 1957–61 to 1988–98

“…Use of this method elsewhere showed that the number heard agreed well with the number of pairs seen in daylight during dog counts, and that repeat counts were consistent (Watson & O'Hare 1979a, 1979b, Rae & Watson 1996. In 1997, A.W.…”

Breeding bird populations of Irish peatlands

“…This result contrasts with Smith et al (2001) who found that Meadow Pipit abundance declined with increasing heather but increased with grass cover on managed Red Grouse moors in Scotland. Watson & O'Hare (1979b) found that Meadow Pipits were most abundant on well drained, heatherdominated ground on a blanket bog at Glenamoy, Co. Mayo. Vanhinsbergh & Chamberlain (2001) suggested that a mosaic of heather, peatland and grassland may be the optimum habitat for Meadow Pipits in the uplands of Britain.…”

“…Snipe preferred a higher cover of lawn-forming sedges and areas with a higher proportion of open water in Clara Bog (Pohler 1996). Snipe were found to be most abundant in soft rushes and Bog Myrtle Myrica gale on a blanket bog in Co. Mayo (Watson & O'Hare 1979b). Pearce-Higgins & Grant (2006) found that Curlew and Snipe were most abundant where vegetation structure was relatively heterogeneous in moorland in southern Scotland and northern England.…”

“…As in the current study, PearceHiggins & Grant (2006) found that Sky Lark and Meadow Pipit had the greatest densities, with 7-43 Sky Larks per km 2 and 102 to 157 Meadow Pipits per km 2 . Watson & O'Hare (1979a, 1979b found densities of Red Grouse in spring on blanket bog in Co. Mayo averaged 5 per km 2 , ranging from 0 to 12 per km 2 , Meadow Pipit ranged from 4 to 20 per km 2 , Sky Lark from 0 to 7 per km 2 and Snipe from 1 to 11 per km 2 .…”

Moorland Management: A Study of Exmoor.

“…Recent research in western Ireland suggests that some other species might benefit from increases of heather at the expense of purple moor-grass. Thus, meadow pipits were found to be more abundant on heather-dominated ground than on surrounding bogland containing mainly purple moor-grass (Watson & O'Hare 1979a). Also in 91 western Ireland, A N Lance (unpublished) showed experimentally that strip-burnt vegetation with heather and purple moor-grass co-dominant consistently supported higher populations of skylarks and meadow pipits than adjacent unburnt vegetation.…”