Waterford bog protection plan wins award

The great hairy willowherb, not to mention the pygmy shrew and purple loosestrife, will rest a little easier in Fenor Bog, Co Waterford, now that plans to protect this rare habitat have won a major conservation award. Far from being a barren wasteland, Fenor Bog - near the seaside resort of Tramore - consists of an alkaline fen, a boggy natural habitat which plays host to a wide variety of flora and fauna, including up to 90 species of bird, insect and animal life.

In Dublin yesterday, a project to conserve the bog emerged as this year's national winner of the Ford Irish Conservation Awards. Ford Ireland's chairman, Mr Eddie Nolan, described it as "a rare opportunity to protect a threatened freshwater ecosystem".

According to the adjudicators, who allocated it the first prize of £5,000, this joint project by the Irish Peatland Conservation Council and the Fenor Bog Group would preserve a "fundamental component of Ireland's natural environment".

Fenor's flora include sundew, butterwort, bog myrtle, great water dock, bladder wort, St John's wort, great pond sedge, water mint, yellow iris, cuckoo flower, marsh thistle and, of course, purple loosestrife and great hairy willowherb. The bog also contains a variety of trees, as well as a thriving animal community which includes foxes, badgers, rabbits, stoat, mink, otter, hedgehogs, lizards, frogs, newts and pygmy shrews. The adjudicators said conserving Fenor Bog would not only help to protect "an abundance of uncommon species from extinction", but it was also "extremely important" on a European level to safeguard Ireland's unique natural habitats - notably the bogs.

Runner-up prizes of £1,000 each went to Birdwatch Ireland, for Kilcoole Marsh, Co Wicklow (natural environment category); Earthwatch for its electric car roadshow, (conservation engineering) and Sli na nEan, Blennerville, Tralee, Co Kerry (youth).

There were joint winners in the heritage category, the Irish Rail way Preservation Society, for its restoration of the Irish State Carriage No 351 - last used by the Papal Legate, Cardinal Agagianian, in 1962 - and the restoration of Scart House on the Ring of Kerry.

The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, said efforts to protect the environment reflected a growing appreciation that this was a shared responsibility. This year's winner will represent Ireland at the Ford European Conservation Awards in Aachen, Germany, on June 14th.