Get closer to the wild side of Ireland
In general Ireland’s local authorities seem to see roadside verges and hedgerows as areas to be trimmed and tamed. You see evidence of verge cutting and the decimation of hedgerows everywhere as you drive around the country. Neatly side-stepping the law in the name of health and safety, local authorities relentlessly slash hedges, ripping them [...]
The team of volunteer experts at Colebrooke Estate in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland were crowned “All Ireland BioBlitz Champions” for 2013 over the weekend with an impressive closing tally of 1,086 species in 24 hours. Colebrooke beat Lough Key Forest Park, Co. Rosscommon (959 species); The Burren National Park, Co. Clare (947 species) and Wicklow National [...]
A group of postgraduate students at the School of Natural Sciences in Dublin has come up with an innovative way of engaging with the Irish public about the importance of biodiversity. They’ve produced a set of eight “Biodiversity Beermats”, each featuring a fun biodiversity fact, and beautifully designed and illustrated by Aileen Crossley from Rathfarnham, [...]
The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) and wildlife records and mapping website Biology.ie have joined forces to encourage more people in Ireland to submit their wildlife sightings online. According to a post on the IWT website the hope is that the initiative will “contribute to the growing level of ‘citizen science’ in Ireland”. Visitors the the [...]
Glengarriff Nature Reserve in West Cork was crowned BioBlitz Champion 2012 over the weekend with an incredible tally of 1,020 species over 24 hours. The team at Glengarriff beat stiff competition from Crawfordsburn Country Park in Co. Down, Lough Boora Country Park in Co. Offaly and Dublin’s Phoenix Park, coming from behind to take the [...]
The final countdown is on for Ireland’s island wide BioBlitz 2012, with four sites across the island competing for Ireland’s biodiversity crown. Killarney National Park took the title last year, and I’m off to Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve in West cork later today to do whatever I can to help bring the title back down [...]
Are you interested in learning how to identify Irish butterflies? Would you like to contribute to butterfly conservation in Ireland? Can you make it to Tralee, Co. Kerry on Saturday 28 April? Butterfly Monitoring Workshop Date: Saturday 28 April 2012 Time: 10:30 am to 3:00 pm Venue: Business/IT Building, North Campus, Tralee Institute of Technology [...]
A new initiative to help authorities make informed decisions about landscape conservation for Ireland’s bat species was launched in Dublin earlier this week by Dr Liam Lysaght, director of the National Biodiversity Data Centre (NBDC). A joint project by Bat Conservation Ireland (BCI) and the Centre for Irish Bat Research (CIBR), the “‘Landscape Conservation for [...]
Ireland’s National Biodiversity Data Centre has just announced it’s programme of workshops for the coming year. The full programme is available for download in PDF format from the Centre’s website by following the link below. Biodiversity Data Centre 2012 Workshop Programme This year the centre is offering a more extensive range of workshops with a [...]
Biology.ie is an online personal biodiversity monitoring resource that was established in 2005 by naturalist Paul Whelan. The site lets you keep track of your personal wildlife sightings, and is a bit like an online field notebook with built in mapping and species lists that helps you to monitor what you see, when and where. [...]
Connect with Ireland's Wildlife