An important wildlife habitat at Barna, near Galway city, will be preserved for future generations, following an enlightened decision by the owners to bequeath it to Birdwatch Ireland.
The two-and-a-half acre habitat, "Small Wood", is on the shore of Lough Rusheen, beside the bird sanctuary at Silver Strand. Most of it is wooded, mostly with oak and beech. The land was formally handed over by Dr Eoin O'Malley, a retired professor of medicine at UCD, at a ceremony there yesterday.
The area was the former family home of the O'Malley family, who lived in nearby Barna House until the 1950s. The Silver Strand bird sanctuary was established during the 1930s, partly through the efforts of Conor and Michael O'Malley, both professors in the UCG medical faculty.
According to the chairman of the local branch of Birdwatch Ireland, Mr Neil Sharkey, Lough Rusheen is an important habitat for wild birds. It is a tidal "back strand" where mud-flats at low tide provide rich pickings for a large variety of waders and other birds.
These include the curlew, redshank and ring plover; dunlin in "huge numbers"; teal, wigeon and red-breasted mergansers; and seagulls, cormorants and terns.
The bequest will give Bird watch Ireland some influence on other leisure activities. Wind-surfing and horse-riding are both carried out in the Lough Rusheen area and bird-watchers are concerned about the disruption caused to the birds by horses and their riders. Wind-surfing is considered to be less of a problem, as the activity does not usually take place at low tide.