Breeding Waders EIP: paid habitat work for farmers

It is run for the Department of Agriculture and the National Parks and Wildlife Service by a consortium led by Irish Rural Link, based in Moate, Co. Westmeath. The project does not publish a fixed rate: payments are agreed in each farm's land management agreement.

What you can be paid for

"These payments can be for individual actions undertaken by individual participants and also for collaborative, landscape payments which reward groups of landowners for working together for waders (Wader Co-Operatives or Farm Clusters for Breeding Waders)."

The project also funds capital works on farms: temporary predator-exclusion fencing, wader scrapes (shallow wet hollows where chicks feed) and scrub clearance. Ministers said "it will provide support to farmers that are willing to carry out habitat enhancements above and beyond regulatory standards."

Who can join

"The project will train and recruit up to 650 farmers, who farm land in Breeding Wader hotspots, known as Wader Action Zones." The project team contacts farmers in these zones and trains them. If you farm wet grassland, bog edges, callows or machair where you see or hear curlew or lapwing, ask the team whether your land is in a zone.

The project works in the same areas as ACRES Co-operation, and gives its planners advice on wader actions, so ask the team how the two fit on your farm.

Where the money comes from

"The project involves a total investment of €25 million, of which NPWS is providing an investment of €17.5 million, with an investment of €7.5 million from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine." It was launched in May 2024 under the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027.

How to get involved

Phone the Breeding Waders EIP on 090 64 82744 or email info@breedingwaders.ie. You can also report a sighting of a wader on breedingwaders.ie, which helps the team map where birds are breeding.

Common questions

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