In a unique project, islanders on Inishbofin, Co Galway, are aiming to restore former hay meadows to support cattle rearing and at the same time provide new fields for the globally endangered corncrake.
The project, involving the island's conservation group, the local IFA, BirdWatch Ireland and the Heritage Council, centres on fields once mown for hay which have either been overgrown by rushes or become sheep pasture.
By closing the fields to grazing animals at the outset of the season, the aim is to return them to meadow by mowing at the end of the summer and using a round-baler brought in from the mainland.
The project will supply farmers with hay or silage saved from these fields, together with ring feeders, to enable easier feeding of cattle over winter, while providing new fields for corncrakes to nest in.
Cattle farming has declined on the island in recent years, as has hay, with fewer people available for the labour-intensive task of making hay-reeks.
Providing fodder for animals in winter is one of the main difficulties for cattle farmers. "We hope this project will support cattle-rearing at a time when island farmers are considering pulling out of cattle," says Pat Coyne, local landowner and the island's IFA spokesman.
Five local landowners have joined the scheme with nine fields totalling 24 acres. It is hoped that at least some of the fields will be used by the island's expanding population of corncrakes.
"The island once had more corncrakes than could be counted," says BirdWatch Ireland's Brian Caffrey, "but numbers dwindled to zero by 1994".
"Thanks to conservation efforts here and on neighbouring islands, especially Omey Island, the birds have made a comeback. This year, five corncrakes have been heard at the island's East End and Westquarter villages, plus one at Middlequarter village, which is the first one heard here for 20 years and which has been calling for the last few weeks between three of the restored meadows."
Jackie Jefferson, co-ordinator of Inishbofin Conservation Initiative said: "We realised that without cattle farmers and meadows being saved for winter fodder, there would soon be nowhere for the corncrakes to go. So we came up with this idea and were lucky to get Heritage Council backing."
Ms Jefferson, a qualified vet who commutes from the island to the Western Veterinary Clinic in Clifden each week, has already overseen an award-winning conservation project to restore the island's dune system.
"We are grateful to the Heritage Council," she says. "The meadow restoration project could not have gone ahead without their support."