A significant turnaround in wildlife and biodiversity seen at the CAFRE Hill Farm at Glenwherry in Co Antrim is due to best practice predator control and habitat management, a Stormont committee of MLAs has been told.

Addressing a meeting of the Agriculture committee on the farm last Thursday, Merlin Becker from the Irish Grouse Conservation Trust (IGCT) outlined the success of the Glenwherry Hill Regeneration Partnership (GHRP) since it was set up in 2009.

The partnership, which is centred on the 2,500 acre CAFRE unit, but also involves 18 neighbouring farms, has seen a remarkable increase in the likes of Irish hare, grouse, curlew and lapwing across the area.

Best estimates suggest Glenwherrry is now home to 60% of NI’s grouse, 23% of all curlew, 15% of NI’s Irish hares and 7% of our lapwing, said Becker, who is also the head gamekeeper on the farm.

He believes it is now also the best hill area anywhere in Ireland to see birds of prey such as peregrine hen harrier, merlin, golden eagle, sea eagle, sparrowhawk and kestrel, with these birds attracted to the area because there is food for them to eat. On too many other hill farms across Ireland and Britain predators have taken over, leaving a barren landscape when it comes to diverse wildlife.

Control

The main predators controlled on the CAFRE farm include foxes, hooded crows, rats and stoats.

“We don’t have apex predators anymore and a lot of the balance of the environment has been totally out of skew. It’s a little evil for a greater good and without stepping in and doing predator control, species just fall off the edge of a cliff. We’re just getting predators down to an acceptable level that lets other species survive,” said Becker.

However, he said it has taken a lot of time and effort to get wildlife groups etc convinced about the need to control predators. Instead people have been “sticking their head in the sand”.

That tendency has led to a situation where there are only around 250 pairs of curlew left in the Republic of Ireland.

“My concern is that it is potentially too late for Southern Ireland,” said Becker.

Landscape

The other key to biodiversity is to manage habitats and on the CAFRE farm at Glenwherry that includes controlled burning and flailing of heather along with strategic grazing with cattle and sheep. The outcome is a mosaic of heather across the landscape, which allows different species to thrive, while also being a low risk for wildfire.

“In England they’ve banned burning on deep peat, which is quite interesting because they’re trying to stop wildfires but they’re taking away the means that we can control the fuel load, which is very erroneous in my opinion,” said Becker.

Dogs important in managing predators

A private members’ bill taken forward at Stormont by South Antrim Alliance MLA John Blair, which aims to ban hunting of wild mammals with dogs in NI, would negatively impact predator control at Glenwherry, maintained Merlin Becker.

Blair, who is a member of the Agriculture Committee, was unable to attend last week’s meeting.

“He was the main man that I was hoping to be here today. It would have been great to actually show him a lot of the examples,” said Becker.

He estimated that while around 70% of his work is done without dogs (shooting and use of snares), the likes of terriers are very important to flush out foxes, especially in the spring.

The Blair legislation to ban hunting using dogs would bring NI into line with the likes of Scotland, where Becker maintained a lot of gamekeeper colleagues have effectively now given up on predator control, to the detriment of wildlife.

“People are just going to have to make a decision. Do you want wildlife or do you not?” he said.

Badgers shouldn’t escape need for control

During his evidence session, Merlin Becker was asked for his view on research from Queen’s University which has suggested that badger numbers in some parts of NI could be grossly underestimated.

Speaking in a personal capacity, he said there is clear evidence that badgers contribute to the overall TB situation.

“If an animal has such a high population like with the foxes – if there’s 50,000 foxes in NI and there’s only 400 grouse, common sense would say, we’re going to have to control the fox,” he responded.

He also told the committee he has seen firsthand the damage badgers can do to lapwing nests and that it has been an issue raised by some conservationists. “Why aren’t we talking about it and being honest about it rather than sort of ignoring it?” he said.

Nature recovery takes a long time

The Glenwherry Hill Regeneration Partnership (GHRP) is probably the best example of a large-scale nature recovery project anywhere across Ireland or Britain.

However, achieving change takes significant time, well beyond typical five-year agreements in agri-environment schemes, said Merlin Becker.

“The resounding success of this project has been the longevity [running since 2009] and that’s one of the big issues we have with our schemes. In Mother Nature and the natural world, five years is just a blink and then funding dries out and it goes downhill again,” he said.

25 cows outwintered at Glenwherry

A group of 25 suckler cows outwintered on a 70ha site at the CAFRE Hill Farm in Glenwherry have fewer health issues and are fitter at calving, Mark Scott from CAFRE told last Thursday’s committee.

The cows are not fed during the winter and virtual fencing collars are used to ensure they graze across the site.

The aim is to create an ideal habitat for breeding waders in the spring.

“Too many stock on a habitat is a bad thing. But also, not enough stock – land abandonment and rewilding as such, is not a good thing either,” he said.

Restored

He also told MLAs that peatland restoration on a 68ha site where conifer trees were removed in 2019, has been successful.

“That has recovered really well. We’re going to be able to get sheep back onto that much quicker than we expected,” said Scott.

Open day planned for September

A major open day for farmers is to take place at the CAFRE Hill Farm at Glenwherry on Wednesday 3 September 2025.