Important Invertebrate Areas survey on the Sallymount Property in Co Wicklow

Tender description

Invertebrate survey of NPWS property at Sallymount and adjacent areas of habitat including Buckroney Fen, Co Wicklow within the Buckroney-Brittas Dunes and Fen SAC (00729). The surveys to provide baseline data for both properties and to describe the invertebrate assemblages. The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), part of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH), provides the legislative and policy framework for the conservation of nature and biodiversity in the Republic of Ireland. It also oversees its implementation, based on good science, with particular emphasis on the protection of habitats and species. NPWS owns and manages areas of land across Ireland for their nature conservation value including the National Parks and Statutory Nature Reserves. Since 2015 a programme of invertebrate surveys under the umbrella title of Important Invertebrate Areas has been carried out on nature reserves across Ireland to gather baseline information or to update historic information on the invertebrate assemblages on the sites. Examples of the results and survey methods for two such surveys is provided by the Irish Wildlife Manuals No 96 and No 127. In 2021, the site selected for survey is the Sallymount property in Co Wicklow (Figure 1). This lies within the Buckroney-Brittas Dunes and Fen SAC (00729). Another part of this SAC is Buckroney Fen inland from the coastal habitats. This area has a long history of entomological recording but as with so many sites in Ireland, recording is ad hoc and non-systematic. Many of the records are old but relatively recent recording has included new species to Ireland (see, for example, Anderson, R. (2007). Insect and invertebrate review 2005-2006. The Irish Naturalists' Journal, 28(8), 335-337.)