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Tipperary Branch |
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Tipperary Branch |
BirdWatch
Ireland is the largest voluntary conservation organisation in Ireland.
Established in 1968, we have over 10,000 active members and supporters and more
than 20 branches nationwide. BirdWatch Ireland is a registered charity,
supported almost entirely by membership subscriptions, donations and sponsorship
with some project funding from Government sources, the EU and other
international conservation organisations.
The organisation was formed in 1968 by a merger of three ornithological bodies - the Irish Society for the Protection of Birds, the Irish Ornithologists' Club and the Irish Wildfowl Conservancy. Since then we have grown to become Ireland's largest, most experienced and most active nature conservation body.
Our
primary interest is the conservation of wild birds and their habitats in
Ireland. We also manage nature
reserves
- places where wild birds can breed and feed without disturbance and where
people can have the opportunity to watch wildlife in their natural surroundings.
Among the best known are the Wexford Wildfowl Reserve, Little Skellig and
Bullock Island on the Shannon Callows and our newest reserve in Rogerstown,
North County Dublin.
Research and
surveys
on threatened birds and their habitats form the basis of BirdWatch Ireland's
conservation policies. Surveys are managed by professional staff and carried out
on a voluntary basis by our members and supporters. The organisation now has 14
full time professional staff and up to 12 more during the summer months. Most of
these are based in BirdWatch Ireland’s Headquarters in Newcastle, Co. Wicklow or in our Midlands Office in Banagher, Co. Offaly.
We have local voluntary branches in nearly every county in Ireland, running exciting annual programmes of outings, meetings and lectures, in addition to our various local or nationwide recruitment and fundraising campaigns. The Tipperary Branch currently has one hundred and seventy-four members throughout the county. Branch objectives are the same as those of Headquarters but with a greater emphasis on local matters. Projects currently pursued by the Tipperary Branch include the maintenance of a hide built by the Branch at Ashton’s Callows on the Little Brosna River and the development of a nature reserve at Moyaliff Wood, near Thurles. Many members take part in surveys such as the Winter Garden Bird Survey, the Irish Wetland Birds Survey and the Countryside Birds Survey. During this last summer the branch conducted a survey of breeding Nightjars and Woodcock in the southern foothills of the Galtees and, with the co-operation of the Tipperary Institute established a two-acre "Bird-table" at the TI camppus in Thurles. The Branch has also in recent years surveyed the population of Yellowhammers in the county, provided nesting boxes for Barn Owls, carried out improvements to an island in Lough Derg that hosts breeding Common Terns in the spring and summer and signed an agreement with Coillte for the management of Moyaliff Wood as a nature reserve. Throughout the year there are indoor meetings at various towns in the county as well as outings to places of ornithological interest. A Branch Newsletter has until recently been issued to members four time per year together with the BWI "Wings" magazine. Because that magazine is now distributed by a commercial company this is no longer possible but, with the co-operation of the editors, Branch news will now be periodically published in the County Tipperary local newspapers.