116. Deputy John Paul Phelan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide details of the results of recent scientific surveys of teal numbers and trends in Ireland; and if there is currently a species action plan in place for teal. [43378/24]

There is a large population of Teal (Anas crecca) that migrate to Ireland to ‘over-winter’ for the non-breeding period, and a relatively small population that breeds in Ireland and is considered resident.

The Irish Wetland Bird Survey (I-WeBS) is the national programme for monitoring population trends of wintering waterbirds and the habitats they use. The I-WeBS is delivered under contract by BirdWatch Ireland to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of my Department and is the primary tool to survey and monitoring non-breeding Teal in Ireland. In a 2018 publication, the national population of Teal over-wintering in Ireland during the non-breeding period was estimated to be 27,644 individuals, based on data gathered during the period 2011-2016. A more recent analysis estimated that the over-wintering population of Teal increased by 19.4% from winter 1995/96 to winter 2018/19.

The most recent estimate of the size and trends of the breeding population of Teal in Ireland is from the period 2008-2011, at which point the population was estimated to be between 531 and 885 breeding pairs. At that point, the population was considered stable during the short term (1991-2011) but having declined in the long term (1972-2011). Teal breeding distribution is primarily monitoring through the breeding bird atlas projects, and the breeding distribution was estimated to have increased by 24% between 1991 and 2011, but to have declined by 43% between 1972 and 2011.

There is currently no species action plan in place for Teal in terms of their non-breeding or breeding populations.

For more information, see:

Ireland’s 2019 report under Article 12 of the Birds Directive: cdr.eionet.europa.eu/Converters/run_conversion?file=ie/eu/art12/envxztxxq/IE_birds_reports_20191031-130157.xml&conv=612&source=remote

National population trend analysis from I-WeBS data: birdwatchireland.ie/app/uploads/2022/04/iwebs_trends_00000_National.html#Teal

Burke, B., Lewis, L. J., Fitzgerald, N., Frost, T., Austin, G. & Tierney, T. D. (2018) Estimates of waterbird numbers wintering in Ireland, 2011/12 – 2015/16. Irish Birds 11, 1-12.