Seán Ronayne: Cork ornithologist advocates for bird preservation

BBC News

13-03-2025

With more than half of Ireland's birds at risk of extinction, an Irish ornithologist is utilising recordings he has made to advocate for their preservation.Originally from Cobh in County Cork, Seán Ronayne has approximately 12,000 recordings of Irish birds and other wildlife in his possession.A documentary team have followed his mission as he attempts to capture recordings of every species of bird in Ireland.However, Seán believes "it's not just birds that are at risk of extinction, these are a symptom of something much greater".
Having been immersed in nature from a young age, Seán Ronayne's project didn't begin until he moved to Spain in 2018.While living in Barcelona, Seán said he started record birds "because there were so many new species there"."I bought a sound recorder to give myself a chance to figure out what I was listening to and then realised that there was value in sharing the sounds with people," he told BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme."People reacted to it and I realised that I enjoyed telling their stories."Seán then returned to Ireland and decided to record "every bird sound".
With almost 200 native birds already recorded, he has three species left on his list - the grey partridge, great skua and the red-breasted merganser.All three are increasingly difficult to locate, he explained.Seán said the great skua will even attack humans. "A tough bird, they're seabirds, they wait for other birds to catch food, they chase them down, they attack them and then steal the food from them."Even if the bird has swallowed the food, Seán explained, "they'll attack them until they regurgitate it"."They'll even attack you too, if you go near their nesting area."
The grey partridge, Seán continued, is "a species that's almost extinct in Ireland"."[It's] a ground-nesting species that suffered very much at the hands of the mechanisation of our agricultural practices, remaining in one site in the midlands, in County Offaly."Even at that, they're a species that had to be reintroduced, supplemented by birds from Scandinavia."
'Destruction and greed'
When pursuing this amass of birds to add to the portfolio, Seán said in Ireland's landscape he has seen "destruction and greed".The region is "ecologically devastated", he said.However, "it's not too late", he added."There are fragments of beauty and hope out there, that we can build out from."When you go to places outside of Ireland, it really hits home."
Speaking to BBC News NI from Seattle, Seán said in parts of the US "it's illegal to cut down a tree"."You need to have permission, and when you do cut it down you have to replace it with a mature tree," he said.Irish people "should be taking example from places like this", he said."63% of Irish birds are at risk of extinction, and that's the canary in the mine."It's not just birds that are at risk of extinction, these are a symptom of something much greater."