The creatures on the endangered list...

FLAPPER SKATE

Flat, diamond-shaped relatives of sharks that can grow to have a three-metre wingspan, they are slow-growing and late to mature, making them highly susceptible to overfishing.

PORBEAGLE SHARK

Once commonly found on the coasts of Galway, Clare and Cork, they are now listed as ‘critically endangered’.

CORNCRAKE

Now threatened with global extinction having suffered a massive population decline, corncrakes are now present only in north Donegal and western parts of Mayo and Connacht.

GOLDEN EAGLE

On the Government’s Red List, golden eagles actually became extinct here in the early 1900s before reintroduction efforts began in 2001, but they remain critically endangered.

ANGEL SHARK

Listed as ‘critically endangered’ on the Red List, only 20 angel sharks have been recorded in Ireland since 2000, compared to an average 65 tagged annually in the 1980s.

FRESHWATER PEARL MUSSEL

Ireland’s longest-living animal can survive up to 140 years. Due to overfishing and pollution, they are now at critical risk of extinction here.

CURLEW

Easily recognisable by its long curving bill, the curlew’s loss of habitat has placed it on the Irish Red List of endangered species.

QUAIL

Another species devastated by habitat destruction, numbers of quail, pictured, have greatly diminished in Ireland and it is now believed to be almost extinct here.