Howth Peninsula, Dublin Bay

Howth Peninsula, Dublin Bay

In December, I was invited to visit the Howth Peninsula, which is on the northern side of Dublin Bay. Travel plans were disrupted by the cancellation of the key train to Manchester Airport for the satisfyingly brief encounter with RyanAir. The trusty car had to take the strain and I just made it, but using all available modes of transport, against the clock, is all part of the HT role.

On arrival, my host from Fingal County Council whisked me to a hotel and left me to meet representatives of the Irish Upland Forum. I have had some fleeting contact with this Forum before, but it was great to meet two representatives in person and exchange views about the uplands. I was intrigued to learn about the work they are doing to encourage cells of activity around the whole island of Ireland.

The following morning, I got on with the main job of inspecting the Howth Peninsula. The challenge was to review the state of the vegetation and come up with some ideas for how it might be better managed. Traditionally, the peninsula appears to have been managed mainly by grazing activity but this is no longer taking place at a level that has a significant impact. There is no planned burning, but there is potential for plenty of unplanned burning, and much of the area is inaccessible anything but the most rugged cutting machinery. Add into the mix that there are large numbers of expensive houses along the coast, a golf course, a rhododendron sanctuary, a quarry, many tracks and footpaths, critical infrastructure (in the form of radio masts and the instrument landing system for Dublin Airport, which is close by) and you can get a feel for why management of this area is a challenging undertaking.   

The Golf Course provides a diverse habitat 

There was an interesting range of people on the visit but there was a consensus that the re-introduction of grazing should form part of the future management plans, including the use of goats. Some burning could take place and those areas, where some machinery access is possible, should be cut. Health and safety is a major concern for cutting operations and it was suggested that the potential to use robotic cutting machinery, which can be very robust, could be explored.

This was a very interesting visit, as it required a bit of thinking outside the box. There is no standard solution to this sort of challenge, and I suspect that the best way forward will be to employ a range of approaches where they can be applied. The key point is that sitting back and doing nothing is not an option. This would lead inevitably to a big wildfire that will be difficult or impossible to control. I congratulate Fingal County Council for daring to address the challenge and I hope that their efforts to bring most, if not all, of the vegetation back under management are successful.

Part of the Management Challenge

Members' Briefings: Phytophthora diseases

Phytophthora & Blaeberry

This range of diseases has been shown to have a major impact on larch trees and I have concerns that it is possible that one of the variants might be found to attack dwarf shrubs on moorland.  There has been some impact on blaeberry / bilberry Vaccinium myrtillis but attacks have not been found to be widespread.  Best indications are that heather will be safe from the phytophthora diseases but I think we need to keep a close eye on these diseases.

To find out more, and to learn how to pronounce the name, read the Members' Briefing that is available from the Reading Room on the Trust's website.

This is the fourth in the series and these briefings are available for everyone, but if you are not a member a payment of £40 p.a. would correct this  - more details here.

Sell your heather to Holland

Although it may seem unlikely, there is an opportunity to sell baled heather.  There is a full description in the Reading Room section of the website, but in essence there is a requirement for cut heather in large bales to be used in a bio-filtration process in Holland. The heather needs to be old and have a stem diameter in the region of 8mm – it is the bark that is of interest for this process, not the leaves. 

Anyone who is able to provide batches of 48 bales at the side of a hard track could be able to generate some income. The value of the bales is not high enough to cover all the costs, but if this work was something that has been waiting for some time, maybe this will provide the incentive to get on with it.

The same company is also looking for some bracken in large bales to investigate using bracken as an alternative to heather.

If anyone is interested, please get in touch.

Heather eligibility

Emotions have been running high about the heather eligibility debate.  In the article in this week's Scottish Farmer, Alyn Smith, MEP argues for a pragmatic, non-emotive response to the proposals.  This must be a more sensible approach - work with the system not against it.

The rather more alarmist article in the Press & Journal on 17 March  has been used in the Outer Hebrides as justification for some large fires.  This is an attempt to remove the problem of long, ineligible heather by using fire.  This is not something that will help the argument.  Only a snapshot of the P&J article is available online but it gives a flavour for the full article.

I reported on the system introduced in Northern Ireland in my earlier Blog article, and perhaps I strayed into the more emotive camp.  However, it is an issue of fundamental importance for the management of Scotland's hills and moors and it is essential that we can maintain management of these areas by all the available means.  There are only three methods - mouth, match or machine - and we do not need to lose one.

Heather & Eligibility for SFP

There is a cloud on the horizon relating to the eligibility of heather covered land to receive single farm payment (SFP). This issue has come to a head in Northern Ireland where the EU auditors have decreed that heather over 50 cm tall is not suitable for grazing, and therefore is not eligible land for the purposes of claiming SFP.

The Scottish Farmer reported on this issue in the article on 24 March 2012.

The EU has advised the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland  (DARDNI) that heather can be considered eligible on a case-by-case basis, providing it is capable of sustaining agricultural activity, for example, grazing livestock, and is maintained in good agricultural and environmental condition. Therefore, heather can be considered eligible if it is:

• Accessible to grazing livestock, and

• Has significant forage value, and

• Is used for agricultural purposes (i.e. grazed by livestock).

In Northern Ireland this issue has spawned its own guidance booklet (see page 14) that describes how to assess what heather is eligible both in terms of height and if over 50 cm, how to assess the area of heather within a single field that can be accepted before becoming ineligible (20% > 50cm max). This is a nightmare for farmers and landowners.

Note that under the DARDNI guidance, cutting or burning of heather on its own does not make heather eligible as this management does not constitute "agricultural activity".

The issue centres around the definition of “permanent grassland" which is defined as "land used to grow grasses or other herbaceous forage naturally (self-seeded) or through cultivation (sown) and that has not been included in the crop rotation of the holding for 5 years or longer; it may include other species suitable for grazing provided that the grasses and other herbaceous forage remain predominant".

The concern is that the definition of herbaceous forage would exclude large expanses of tall heather. It may be that the current CAP regimes can continue, outside Northern Ireland as existing, but the review of the CAP, which is due to come into effect in 2014, may introduce some unpalatable changes.

This is something that The Heather Trust will be working hard on.  The situation in Northern Ireland is unacceptable, but it will be important to make sure that this epidemic of idiotic bureaucracy does not spread to the rest of the UK.  If it does it will be another example of the law of unintended consequences.  It would be bad for owners of uplands, bad for farmers, bad for heather, bad for biodiversity, but good for sales of handheld GPS units.