Moves are under way to import grey partridge from Poland to breed with and, hopefully, prevent the extinction of the Irish grey partridge population.
Only 26 of these endangered birds remain in Ireland, according to Dr Brendan Kavanagh, who is co-ordinating the Grey Partridge Conservation Project on the Boora bogs, west of Tullamore, Co Offaly.
"We are down to 24 here on the bogs at Boora and there was an official sighting of two other birds in Lullymore, Co Kildare. There are no others left in the country," he said this week.
Dr Kavanagh, who lectures at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, has been working for the past nine years to save the remaining Irish partridge (pedrix perdix). He has charted the decline of the population in that time from several hundred birds to the current level. It is now unsustainable without foreign intervention.
"The birds have survived only in the two areas where there were conservation measures put into place. Where there was no such work the birds have disappeared."
He said the good news was that the 24 birds left in the bogs were in six coveys - family groups - and were proof of the success of the conservation strategy adopted at Boora.
Dr Kavanagh said that in 1999, Bord na Mona agreed to lease the largest remaining block of underdeveloped cutaway bog in the Boora complex for the continuation of the project. The Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, which had supported the project over the years, agreed to another three-year programme involving the importation of birds from Poland.
He said the decision to import wild birds was taken as it was difficult to see the last of the partridges surviving more than five years unless there was intervention.
"We carried out extensive tests, including DNA and blood sampling, to determine which of the remaining European stocks were closest to our birds and we came up with the Polish ones.
"We sought the help of the Partridge, Quails and Francolins Specialist Group, hunting organisations and other bodies across Europe to make this determination. Because the Polish birds are the same race as our Irish partridge, this source of birds in genetically compatible with our remaining ones," he said.
"We intend to import about 30 birds per year from Poland and, using a game management system developed in France, the Montebello system, hope that breeding will begin next year."
He said the project would have to be careful not to swamp the Irish population, thus retaining the Irish strain.
This week, Dr Kavanagh, with the gamekeeper who has been managing the partridge grounds, Mr Kieran Buckley, met the local Duchas regional officer, Mr Val Swan, to begin working on preparing a welcome for the visitors.
This involves growing special crops which will provide cover and food for the partridge. The crops include quinoa kale, stubble turnip and a special mix of grasses, including Canary grass.
With the help of Bord na Mona, special high-breeding banks have been created in the area on which it is hoped the Irish birds will breed this spring and integrate with the imported birds next year.
Dr Kavanagh praised the support given to the project by local farmers and community groups which have shown a great interest in the survival of the birds.
Dr Kavanagh can be contacted at 01-4022333 of Fax 014022355.