Wintering whooper swans have caused severe damage to a farm in the west because of the restrictions the Heritage Service has placed on farming activities in the area. The swans, which spent most of the winter feeding on silver-weed roots in fields which flood annually, pockmarked acres of land with craters up to 9 inches deep when they pulled up the plants to feed.
Where grass normally grew when the floods receded, there are now huge uneven tracts of land without any grass. Already the owner has lost one sheep, which fell into one of the craters on its back and could not get out.
Mr Sean Treacy, of Ballinturley, Athleague, near Roscommon town, has blamed the restrictions placed on his farming activities for the damage caused to the turlough, which is designated a natural heritage area and a special area of conservation. His farm was so designated because of the rich flora growing on the turlough, which makes up more than half of his 75-acre farm.
"This area has been exceptionally important because of the plants and herbs which grow on it and because it is also a very important wintering ground for migrating birds", he said. "It has always been like that, but four years ago the Wildlife Service with the Department of Agriculture drew up a plan which forbade the use of any fertiliser on the turlough.
"Traditionally, farmers in this area would use small amounts of fertiliser, say a hundredweight to the acre, when the water levels re ceded, and this would encourage grass growth and encourage sheep and cattle to eat it. Since the restriction was placed on the farm, silver-weed has taken over and has gone out of control, and it was silver-weed roots which the swans were feeding on over the winter", he said. As many as 400 whooper and Berwick swans wintered on his and adjoining lands and had caused the damage by pulling the silver-weed roots out, disturbing the ground underneath the water.
"I complained to the authorities, but they had the gall to tell me the damage had been caused by sheep even though the damaged area was still covered by water and sheep will stay away from wet ground.
"While I am very fond of swans, I don't farm them. I farm sheep and the compensation I am paid under the Rural Environment Protection Scheme will in no way compensate me for the loss of grazing this summer."
Mr Treacy continued: "If the rules are not changed, I might be forced to frighten off the swans next winter when they come back here, because I cannot afford to feed them and I cannot allow them to continue to damage my farm.
"All I want to do is to farm in a traditional way, the way we always did around here, where there was a balance between man and nature. That is all I am seeking."
Other farmers in the area and along the River Suck had experienced similar difficulties, but his farm appeared to have taken the brunt of the damage, he said.