Nest Protection Officer Training Programme
episodePreviously titled “The Lapwing” — renamed by the publisher on Sep 26, 2026
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Why are ground‑nesting birds like the lapwing under threat and how do predators impact them?
Well, that is the very distinctive call of the lapwing, once a very familiar sound over wet fields across Ireland, but it's now one of our most threatened birds, and there are lots of reasons for that. But one of them is that these birds nest on the ground and it leaves their eggs and their chicks exposed to predators like invasive American mink and also our native fox. And that is where nest protection officers come in. During the breeding season, they work. To make sure critically endangered birds like Lapwing can raise their young safely without being eaten. It is skilled and dedicated work, but until now there's actually been no formal recognition for the people who are doing it. And that all changed at the ploughing championships a few weeks ago, when no fewer than two ministers, Martin Hayden and Christopher O'Sullivan, launched Ireland's first certified nest protection officer training programme.
It was developed by Owen Murphy and Donal Beggan of the publicly funded Breeding Waders EIP, along with the training body Lantra, and it's supported by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Department of Agriculture. And this new qualification will set a professional standard for the first time. Well, Donal is Nest Protection Manager with the Breeding Waders EIP, and he joins me this morning. Good morning, Donal.
Morning Anna.
What exactly does a Nest Protection Officer do to safeguard vulnerable bird nests?
Uh for listeners who've never heard of the job, what briefly does a nest protection officer actually do?
Yeah, so an S protection officer, I suppose it's it's a fairly broad term, but in essence they deliver predation risk management on the ground. um for these vulnerable species such as lapwing um that are are threatened. And and their their aim during breeding season is to Ensure the security of of both nests and young lapwing chicks or l young waiter chicks in order to increase their product so that we can have an increase in population. And
just to be clear, nesting
birds.
Yeah, just to be clear about this, I mean you're talking about both killing animals like American mink that are invasive and will take, you know, as many chicks as they can find within a few minutes, but not just killing, it's also putting up fences and all the rest, is it?
Yeah, so it's it's a variety of, you know, humane, um, lethal and and non lethal control, um, as well as other techniques that that are are out there, innovative techniques to safeguard nests and to safeguard chicks, for example, nest fencing or um diversionary feeding tactics as well.
And you've developed this course um with a formal Lantra accredited qualification. I suppose people have been protecting nests for many years, you've been doing it for many years, without formal training and qualifications. Why do you think it's so important?
So look, I suppose from from the outset in the Breed and Water IP, a lot of this was about gaining recognition for the individuals that have been, you know, delivering this on the ground for a long a long period of time um and and formalising their professionalism and recognising their professionalism.
Why was a formal, accredited Nest Protection Officer qualification needed?
Um but as well as that it's about trying to encourage a new a new tranche of of Nest Protection Officers. Yeah. the age demograph of of nest protection officers isn't getting any younger. Um so we want to try and encourage this as a profession going forward. You know, this is a a sector That isn't going away in in the in the short to medium term. Um ground nesting birds are in huge decline across the country and and nest protection officers are going to be required going forward. So I think it's really important that we try and instill this in into a a career option for for the youth of today.
And the qualification itself, um, what will it involve?
What are the three training units and skills covered in the new qualification?
What will people have to learn? Is it in the classroom? Is it a field assessment? Or both?
Yeah, it's both. So it's it's a mixture of theory in classroom and then we have some practical elements of it as well. So at the minute we have three units. We have unit one, which is proficiency with rifle and night shooting. The theory, I suppose, aspects of that um are focused largely around etiquette uh and safety.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
Why are ground‑nesting birds like the lapwing under threat and how do predators impact them?
0:03–1:16
2
What exactly does a Nest Protection Officer do to safeguard vulnerable bird nests?
1:16–2:59
3
Why was a formal, accredited Nest Protection Officer qualification needed?
2:59–3:44
4
What are the three training units and skills covered in the new qualification?
3:44–4:25
5
How does the programme ensure ethical and humane predator control?
4:25–5:41
6
Will the Nest Protection Officer training be opened to a wider audience beyond the EIP?
5:41–6:28