When assessing a site’s ecological importance, one of the first questions is often whether it lies within or near a designated conservation area. This question matters, particularly where Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas or Natural Heritage Areas may be affected. But it is not the only question.
Some of Ireland’s most valuable ecological features lie outside formally designated sites. Hedgerows, drainage ditches, streams, mature trees, scrub, small wetlands, old buildings and even brownfield land can provide wildlife habitat, connect larger habitats and support species protected by law.
For organisations managing land or planning development, a blank space on a protected-sites map should not be read as an ecological blank canvas.
Protected sites are only part of the picture
Ireland’s Special Areas of Conservation contain habitats and species considered important at European level, while Special Protection Areas protect important bird populations. These designations are an important part of Ireland’s nature conservation framework.
But ecological value does not stop at their boundaries. Ireland’s latest assessment of habitats and species protected under the EU Habitats Directive makes the significance of the wider countryside particularly clear. The 2025 Article 17 assessment considers their status across their national ranges, including both designated Special Areas of Conservation and the wider countryside. It found that 90% of the protected habitats assessed were in unfavourable conservation status, with 51% showing deteriorating trends.
That wider perspective matters. For habitats and species to survive in the long term, conservation cannot be confined to isolated protected areas.
Protected species do not recognise planning boundaries
An important legal consideration also applies. Some protected species can occur almost anywhere suitable habitat exists. All Irish bat species, for example, are strictly protected under the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011, as amended. NPWS notes that Annex IV species may occur throughout the country and that their protection is not geographically limited to designated conservation areas.
A mature tree, bridge, warehouse or old house outside any designated site may therefore support a protected bat roost. An apparently ordinary watercourse may provide habitat or a movement corridor for otters. Scrub and hedgerows can provide nesting and feeding habitat for birds.
The Wildlife Acts also protect all wild bird species and many other animals and plants. The practical message is straightforward: checking whether a property overlaps a designated site is useful, but it is not an ecological assessment.
Small features can have a larger function
A feature’s ecological value is not necessarily proportional to its size. A hedgerow may occupy only a narrow strip within a large development site, yet it can provide food, shelter and a route through the landscape for wildlife. A drainage ditch may seem insignificant, yet it could hydrologically connect a development site to a river or wetland some distance away. A line of mature trees may provide feeding or commuting habitat for bats. A patch of scrub can support breeding birds.
Small areas can also function as stepping-stone habitats. A pocket of woodland, scrub, wet grassland, marsh or other semi-natural habitat may allow species to feed, rest, shelter or disperse between larger areas of suitable habitat. These features can form part of a wider ecological network, even when they appear relatively insignificant when viewed in isolation. NPWS specifically considers ecological corridors and stepping stones when assessing development proposals.
Brownfield sites deserve similar care. Some have little ecological interest, while others can develop varied vegetation and habitat if left undisturbed. Their ecological value should be based on the conditions actually present, not on assumptions arising from their previous land use.
Connectivity increasingly matters
One weakness of focusing only on protected areas is that wildlife does not necessarily remain within them. Many species have large home ranges, disperse across the landscape and use different habitats for feeding, breeding, resting or shelter at different times of year. A site can therefore have ecological significance because of how it contributes to the wider landscape, rather than because it contains a large or obviously important habitat in its own right.
Otters provide a useful example. The Otter Survey of Ireland 2023-24 cites Irish research indicating that adult females typically range approximately 7 km and males approximately 13 km. In one recorded case, a male expanded its range from around 10 km to 20 km within days of a neighbouring territorial male’s death.
The same report found otters widespread throughout Ireland and recorded them in 95% of 10 km grid squares, with records dating back to 1905. It also found positive associations between otter occurrence and features such as broad-leaved woodland, bankside trees, shrubs and relatively natural riverbanks. This illustrates why a watercourse, riparian strip or apparently modest habitat feature should not always be considered solely in relation to the red-line boundary around a development site. It may be part of a much larger area used by a mobile species.
Hedgerows, river corridors, treelines, wetlands and stepping-stone habitats can help maintain connections through otherwise intensively managed or developed landscapes. Removing one small feature may therefore have consequences beyond the area it physically occupies.
For organisations with extensive property portfolios, this creates an opportunity to look beyond individual parcels of land. A relatively modest feature on one property may form part of a much larger ecological network when considered alongside neighbouring land, rivers, woodland or other habitats. Understanding those connections can also help organisations identify where biodiversity investment is likely to produce a meaningful result, rather than simply creating an isolated feature.
Look at the landholding, not just the designation map
None of this means that every hedgerow, ditch or area of scrub is a development constraint. Nor does land outside a protected site automatically require extensive ecological survey. The appropriate level of assessment should reflect the location, habitats present, proposed activity and potential ecological effects. An early ecological review can show whether further work is needed before a project progresses too far.
For larger landowners, corporations and public bodies, the same principle applies at portfolio level. Understanding existing habitats, ecological connections, stepping-stone habitats, protected-species potential and areas suitable for enhancement provides a much more useful picture than simply mapping designated sites.
Protected areas remain central to nature conservation in Ireland. Yet much of the ecological fabric connecting them lies outside their boundaries. For anyone making decisions about land, the important question is therefore not simply, “Is this site designated?” It is: “What is actually here, and how does it connect with what surrounds it?”