Over 150 delegates gathered to hear a range of presentations on bird ecology and how they have responded to human activity such as environmental change and aircraft.

Opening the meeting Professor John O'Halloran welcomed the delegates commenting on the importance of collaboration between universities, government agencies and non-governmental organisations to meet the research challenges in environmental science, and in particular, in ecology.  He said that one of the major outputs of this meeting was a directory of all ornithological research currently underway in Ireland and the opportunity for graduates and policy stakeholders to mix and discuss their ideas.  

The keynote address was delivered by Dr John Quinn, University of Oxford who provided strong evidence for the importance of predation not only to birds, but as an important consideration in species and habitat conservation.  Dr Mark Wilson, a researcher based at UCC as part of the PLANFORBIO program, delivered a paper on Hen Harriers, a rare breeding bird in Ireland, showed that while the impact of agricultural intensification on Hen Harriers in Ireland is negative, the effects of forestry on the distribution of this species are mostly positive.

Visit: http://www.ucc.ie/en/planforbio/Projects/HENHARRIER/

Hen Harrier in North Cork July 2008: Photo Richard T Mills

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