3.3.1 Grazing and fauna
The occurrence of grazing and the animal species involved were recorded in grassland sites where clear evidence was detected. A distinction is made between grazing animals that form part of the management of a site, e.g. cattle or sheep, and wild grazers such as hares or rabbits. Only grazing livestock that form part of the site management are shown on the graph in Figure 10. The main grazers recorded in grasslands during the ISGS were cattle, which were seen in 72% of sites. Sheep were noted as grazers in one-third of sites, while horses were present in 28% of sites. Other grazers noted at less than 5% of sites include donkeys, feral goats and alpaca.
n = 257 n = 224 n = 87 n = 90 n = 116 n = 350 n = 68
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There were regional differences in the prevalence of the main types of livestock on grasslands. For example, the proportion of sites grazed by sheep was lowest in the Mid-West region, where it was only recorded in nine of the 90 sites in the region (10%), compared to the national average of 33%; however, horse grazing was highest here of all the regions, at 34%, compared to a national average of 28%. The highest rate of sheep grazing was seen in the Border region, where it was recorded at 45% of sites. However, the most striking regional difference was seen in the Mid-East & Dublin, where cattle grazing was only recorded in 32% of sites, compared to a high of 86% in the Mid-West and a national average of 72%.
Grasslands may also be maintained by wild grazers such as hares, rabbits, or deer. During the ISGS, records were kept of wild fauna (animals and key bird and insect species) seen during the surveys, including grazers, such as rabbits and hares, and non-grazers, such as frogs and foxes. The majority of deer records were of wild deer, although there were a few sites where farmed deer were present. Figure 11 shows the occurrence of wild fauna recorded during the ISGS. Species were recorded if they were seen during the survey or information on their presence was provided by a landowner. Therefore, the occurrence of wild grazers and their contribution to the maintenance of Irish grasslands is likely to be higher than these records show.
Figure 11: Frequency of wild fauna recorded.
Frogs were by far the most frequently recorded wild species in Irish semi-natural grasslands, present in 56% of sites overall. The highest frequency of this species was seen in the Border region, where they were recorded in 75% of sites, most likely associated with the large areas of wet grassland in this region. The lowest frequency was seen in the South-East (31% of sites).
Hares were also frequent, seen in just under one-fifth of sites overall, most frequent in the Mid-West (28% of sites) and least frequent in the South-West (7% of sites) and Mid-East & Dublin (9% of sites).
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Rabbits were recorded slightly less frequently than hares, although this may be due to differences in behaviour when startled: rabbits may freeze, while hares are more likely to run away. Rabbits were often identified through the presence of droppings or burrows, rather than through sightings. Rabbit grazing was particularly evident on site 1165 Tory Island, where some areas were grazed down to bare soil and several warrens were present. Regionally, rabbits were most often recorded in the Mid- East & Dublin region (31% of sites), but in only 4% of sites in the Mid-West.
Anthills were recorded during the ISGS as they are indicative of undisturbed grassland. They were recorded most frequently in the West region, where they were noted in 22% of sites, but were not recorded from the Mid-East & Dublin region. Overall, anthills were seen in 13% of sites. They were most often associated with good quality calcareous grassland, perhaps because of the suitability of the soil (in terms of mineral content, particle size and drainage) for the formation of anthills.
As noted above, deer were recorded both as wild and farmed animals. The Mid-East & Dublin region had by far the highest proportion of sites with deer present (19%), with none recorded in the South- East and a national average of just 6% of sites with deer recorded.
Other species of note recorded during the ISGS include choughs (recorded in coastal sites), marsh fritillary, raptors (mainly buzzard and kestrel) and otter.
3.3.2 Management activities
Management activities, including grazing by livestock, were recorded and are shown in Figure 12. Grazing is by far the most frequent management activity carried out in Irish semi-natural grasslands, recorded at 91% of sites, followed by drainage, noted at 40% of sites. Mowing and fertiliser application were less frequent, both recorded at 26% of sites. Liming was recorded separately from fertiliser application, and occurred at a small proportion (2%) of sites.
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grasslands in the Border region, but only 71% of grasslands in the Mid-East & Dublin. Burning was recorded at 12% of sites in the Mid-East & Dublin, but not at all in the Mid-West region. Topping – usually of rushes – and supplementary feeding (24% and 31% of Border sites, respectively) were recorded more frequently in the Border region than in any of the other regions.