Shannon Callows, Ireland
The River Shannon is the longest river in the British Isles and the Shannon Callows represent the largest unregulated floodplains in north-west Europe. These floodplains provide numerous ecosystem services, including water storage, flood attenuation, carbon storage and biodiversity protection. The habitats on the Shannon Callows are composed of a mosaic of habitat types which support a wealth of wildlife, including, plants, insects, birds and mammals. Many of these diverse habitats depend on traditional agricultural practices to support the wildlife that flourishes there.
Within the Shannon Callows, we are running three RBAPS measures to help support the agricultural practices that benefit biodiversity:
- the RBAPS Breeding Wader Measure ; and
- the RBAPS Species-rich Flood Meadow Measure; and
- the RBAPS Species-rich Flood Meadow suitable for Ground-nesting Birds Measure

The purple-flowered Marsh pea, a rare plant outside the Shannon Callows, but it flourishes on the meadows at Clonmacnoise.