Slieve Beagh: Concern for hen-harrier habitat after wildfires

The extent of the damage is now being assessed

An important habitat for a rare bird species may have been badly damaged by wildfire, it has been warned.

Slieve Beagh is an area of upland blanket bog straddling counties Tyrone and Fermanagh in Northern Ireland and County Monaghan in the Republic.

It is an EU protected habitat and a stronghold for the protected hen harrier.

Dr Rory Sheehan, a conservation project coordinator in the area, said an assessment of the damage is under way.

"There's been two separate fires in the area this week, on both Tuesday and Wednesday, and both have now burned themselves out," he told BBC News NI.

The upland is a stronghold for the hen harrier

Dr Sheehan, who coordinates the cross-border Collaborative Action for the Natural Network (CANN) project at Slieve Beagh, said it is an important time for ground-nesting birds,

"It is the start of the breeding season, sky larks, red grouse and hen-harriers will all have been in the area," he said.

Nests that have already been built may now be destroyed, he said, while the fire may also have robbed birds yet to nest of the habitat to do so.

Slive Beagh is also an important habitat for Ireland's only native lizard

Hen-harrier numbers have been in decline across the UK in recent years. Slieve Beagh is a designated area of special scientific interest and a special protection area because of its importance to the species.

In 2017, it was devastated by wildfire. Dr Sheehan said the most recent fires are not on the same scale.

Slieve Beagh's upland blanket bog is part of the reason it is protected

"But the impact is very real, upland areas are so important environmentally and need to be protected," he said.

It is too early to say how badly damaged the area has been by the most recent fires or how they started, Dr Sheehan added.

The now extinguished wildfires were monitored by Monaghan Fire Station crews and remained on the Northern Ireland side of the mountain range, a spokesperson for the station said.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) said that it was aware of a number of wildfires that have occurred recently throughout Northern Ireland.

"Officials and our specialist wildfire equipment were on standby to assist the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) with these incidents where required," a spokesperson for Daera said.

They said that "to-date this assistance has not been requested at Slieve Beagh SAC" (special area of conservation).

Daera highlighted the risk of wildfire and encouraged people "to be responsible in the countryside and to prevent the lighting of such fires".