Blue and green can be seen

The colour red is synonymous with Cork city but new research has shown how blue and green Leeside is too.

This new research from UCC, revealed on Wednesday, that almost two-thirds of the urban landscape of Cork city supports biodiversity with close to four out of ten bird species within the city environment listed as a conservation concern.

The research team, based in UCC’s Department of Geography and Environmental Research Institute, used satellite imagery to create a fine-scale land cover map of the city.

The team also undertook a survey of bird diversity, and then analysed the configuration of the urban landscape of the city and its impact on the recorded biodiversity.

The team estimate that almost two-thirds of Cork city can be considered green or blue, with these spaces positively impacting bird diversity and abundance.

Of note were the so-called ‘invisible’ green spaces like gardens, hedgerows and ponds, which when considered at a city-scale suggest that Cork has a well-connected green and blue network, with this connectivity central to supporting biodiversity.

Importantly, the team identified that 38 per cent of the species recorded are listed as being of conservation concern in Ireland, highlighting how urban spaces can provide habitats for vulnerable species.

Lead author Luke Lambert spoke about the importance of the project: “Birds can be a key indicator for gauging the health of green and blue spaces as natural habitats. The recording of kingfishers and grey wagtails during the surveys indicated that the waters of the River Lee are in a healthy state and sustaining an important freshwater ecosystem.

“The Lee and its tributaries also proved to provide an important connective network for birds to move from one green space to another with relative ease. Additionally, the species recorded in Glen River Park, Atlantic Pond and the recently opened Tramore Valley Park highlighted the importance of mixed habitats, with these sites recording the highest total species counts in the city.”

Co-author Dr Fiona Cawkwell said: “High spatial resolution satellite sensors that acquire images across visible and infrared wavelengths, such as the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 instruments, are invaluable for mapping large areas in detail and capturing change over time.

“Current publicly available land cover products derived from satellite imagery tend to be either out-of-date, or at too low a level of spatial detail to capture small areas such as gardens, and thus cannot provide a realistic measure of the green and blue spaces that are critical for biodiversity studies, and informing management and policy.”

The findings are published in the journal Geographies.