‘Kestrel Cam’ live stream from Irish quarry

Earth Day sees launch of live stream from kestrel nest at a Mannok quarry in Ireland  

IRELAND’s first-ever ‘Kestrel Cam’ has been installed at one of Mannok’s quarries and will be live streamed online over the coming months, giving viewers an exclusive look inside an Irish kestrel nest throughout the breeding season.

The live stream, which can be viewed via the Mannok website, was launched on Earth Day (22 April) to highlight the need to protect both local wildlife and wider ecosystems, particularly with the common kestrel having recently been placed on the Red List as a species now at risk of extinction in Ireland.

Two discrete cameras have been installed in the nesting location under license from National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) and in partnership with Netwatch, allowing Queen’s University to study the birds and raise awareness of the need to protect the species and other wildlife across Ireland.

Queen’s PhD student Kez Armstrong will study the nesting pair of kestrels, who have returned to the same nesting site over the last few years to breed successfully.

Commenting on the Kestrel Cam project, Mannok’s chief executive officer, Liam McCaffrey, said: ‘This initiative is part of our drive to protect and enhance biodiversity on our land and across our local region as an important element of our wider sustainability commitment. We’re very pleased to be in a position to help highlight the need to protect our native wildlife and the recently red-listed kestrel in particular.

‘Our environmental team have worked very closely with Queen’s University’s Kez Armstrong and Netwatch’s John Kennedy to ensure the safe installation of the cameras, with the welfare of the kestrels as the top priority.

‘This is an opportunity to highlight the risk to wildlife and to bring that into focus for a wider audience, and we will be working closely with educational institutions and wildlife and biodiversity groups, as well as engaging the wider public through the Kestrel Cam stream and a Kestrel Blog from Kez, to play our part in helping to raise awareness and understanding.

‘It is fitting that the live stream from within the nest was launched on Earth Day, which helps to focus all our minds on the bigger picture and what we can all do to help ensure a more sustainable future for our planet.

‘As a large manufacturer and employer in our region, we have a very important role to play in this sustainability drive and it’s a responsibility we take incredibly seriously.’