The remote location of many of Irish Lights’ off shore Stations makes them ideal breeding grounds for wildlife, and birdlife in particular. We tend to think of wildlife conservation as a recent development in response to climate challenges and destruction of natural habitats.

However, as early as 19th century, bird populations and their migratory patterns became a focus for scientific research in Britain and Ireland. Richard Manliffe Barrington (1849-1925) was an Irish naturalist and ornithologist. In 1881 he applied to the Commissioners of Irish Lights for permission to begin correspondence with Lightkeepers and Masters of Lightships around the coast. He sought their help in tracking the migratory patterns of birds. The Board granted permission, and at his request, purchased copies of publications on British and Irish birds for circulation among the Lightkeepers to assist them in their observations.

The Lightkeepers and Masters responded enthusiastically. Over the next eighteen years, about thirty thousand observations on bird movements were sent to Barrington, along with the specimens of more than two thousand birds. These birds were either passed on to the National Museum in Dublin or preserved in Barrington’s private museum. Barrington regularly provided updates and exhibited specimens to the Board. The results of his work were published in "The migration of birds as observed at Irish lighthouses and lightships (1900)". Barrington insisted that copies of his work were distributed as a gesture on thanks to Stations around the coast including: Tuskar; Blackwater; Coningbeg; Rockabill; Inishtearaght; Skelligs; Rathlin O’Birne; Inishtrahull’ Arklow South; and Lucifer shoals.Barrington’s work remains one of the seminal works in Irish ornithology and would not have been possible without the voluntary (and enthusiastic) co-operation of Irish Lights employees around the coast.
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