Minister for Lands Tom Fitzpatrick opens The Wexford Wildfowl Reserve.
The first major project of its kind in Ireland, the Wexford Wildfowl Reserve encompasses 400 acres and is part of a European programme of bird and wetland conservation.
Located on the northern shore of Wexford Harbour, the scheme has been four years in the making. The project a collaboration between the Department of Lands and the Irish Wild Bird Conservancy, with funding from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Fergus O'Gorman explains, the North Slob is a wintering ground of international significance for the Greenland white-fronted goose and an ideal location for a wildfowl sanctuary,
It’s a wetland in every sense of the word and there’s very good feeding as a result.
During the winter up to twenty five thousand birds in total feed and roost here.
Ireland hosts seventy five per cent of the world’s Greenland white-fronted goose population, and about half of those birds (numbering up to seven thousand) winter here in the reserve and on the Wexford Slobs.
Large numbers of birdwatchers have already been visiting the site, with an increase expected now that all facilities are fully open. The welfare of birds takes priority, and everything has been designed with them in mind so that visitors can,
Look at the birds without disturbing them.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 15 February 1974. Some sections of this report are without sound.
