Trevor Halpin

A beaver dam constructed from intricately woven sticks and branches spans across a small stream in a lush woodland setting. The dam creates a small pond on one side whilst allowing water to flow through on the other. Tall grasses and sedges grow around the water's edge, with dense green vegetation and trees creating a natural canopy overhead. The engineering shows the characteristic beaver construction technique of tightly packed timber creating an effective water barrier.

This is a handful of the most interesting facts from the latest episode of the podcast about the impacts of beavers on salmonids, featuring Dr. Rob Needham's groundbreaking research on fish passage through beaver dams. 🌍🦤🦊🧪
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Dingoes are not domestic dogs – new evidence shows these native canines are on their own evolutionary path New research suggests dingoes are distinct enough to have their own scientific name. If this is accepted, it will have far-reaching consequences

theconversation.com/dingoes-are-...

#Nomow driveway

Garden wildlife, ringlet butterfly, tadpoles, bumble bees and foxglove.

Nice to see an urban tree with plants around the base like this one in #Naas. It would be great to see more #suds landscaping in our towns & cities. #urbantree #Kildare

Like Conor Pass, the ambition is to expand the number of national parks and protect biodiversity Community is key if we want to protect biodiversity, writes Minister of State Christopher O’Sullivan.

"Like Conor Pass, the ambition is to expand the number of national parks and protect biodiversity"
- Minister of State for Biodiversity, Christopher O'Sullivan.

With all our EXISTING national parks severely overgrazed, rectifying *that* should be the priority.
www.thejournal.ie/readme/biodi...

Ant hills and yellow rattle in the garden.

A small part of our #miniforest, 2021 v 2025. #miyawaki

Lovely, heard one in East Clare yesterday. Unfortunately I've never heard one near me.

YouTube video by Lost Soundscapes Iron Age Soundscape: Glastonbury Lake Villages 165 BC

Have you ever wondered what the Somerset Levels might have sounded like in the late Iron Age?

Worth a watch....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0l8... #soundscapes #SomersetLevels #Birds #birdsong #IronAge

Fairly tame #fox has appeared in the garden. Good to see it keeping rodents in check.

Do you know of any large old Elms in Ireland?
We're looking for really big old elms which have survived elm disease, despite it spreading everywhere across the country.
Please visit our dedicated website and let us know about any veteran elms out there!
www.wych-hunt.ie

Britain’s food supply is precarious – and Trump’s chaos is spreading. I have a plan. Do you? | George Monbiot I’ve started a stockpile, but that isn’t the answer. If crisis strikes, the government needs a strategy to protect us all, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

1. Against my own political instincts, I’ve taken what feels like a drastic step, and started stockpiling food. This week’s column explains why.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Plus a brief thread.

Some #frog spawn in the ditch along the #Barrow towpath Levitstown today.

Early Butternut Squash An early butternut type squash that has medium sized fruits weighing about 1.2-1.8kg. They have rich slightly nutty delicious flavours. The fruit typically stores well (ca. 3-4 months).  Unlike sever...

Thinking of growing butternut squash this summer?

If you are, why not try our open pollinated early butternut squash?

Most early butternut squashes are F1 hybrids. Ours isn't and it is seed saving friendly.

wolfseeds.ie/product/wint...

Reintroducing wolves to Highlands could help native woodlands, says study Researchers say the animals could keep red deer numbers under control, leading to storage of 1m tonnes of CO2

Prof Dominick Spracklen just explained on @channel4news.bsky.social how reintroducing 167 wolves in the Scottish Highlands could reduce red deer population enough to boost woodland regeneration, leading to 1 million tons of CO2 sequestred per year.
🤞 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Seems unhelpful: artificial feeders in woodland, feeding competitors & occasional nest predators, at a vanishingly rare site that still has Willow Tits in southern England.

Putting up feeders in Willow Tit habitat is like going to a Little Tern colony and throwing bread for the gulls. #ukbirding

HOME | Rewild! Join a growing network of people in Ireland taking action in the face of the biodiversity emergency

Welcome to Rewild!

If you have land in Ireland and you want to rewild it but are not sure how, this is the site for you!

www.rewildyourland.ie

Garden birds are being poisoned by pet flea treatments - Pesticide Action Network UK Garden birds, such as blue tits and great tits, are being poisoned by pesticides found in pet tick and flea treatments.

We knew pet tick & flea treatments contaminate every river via domestic effluents. Now we see they are poisoning bird nests too. These hideously ecotoxic compounds are already banned in agriculture so why are they still freely available for pets? www.pan-uk.org/garden-birds...

Found what I think is a #squirrel drey on the ground in Avondale, Wicklow today. Knocked by recent storms. I thought it was moss initially, but it's shredded bark. Possibly from these nearby conifers.

There's something about gate lodges... Avondale #Wicklow

There's something absolutely tragic about the #Brigid's light atop the historic Hill of Allen, seat of Fionn MacCumhaill, shining out over the Kildare countryside, while metres away Roadstone have quarried away our collective heritage.

I will never understand how this was allowed

"Between a rock and hard place" garden in #Carlow town. It was planted up last year, so it'll be interesting to see how it develops as the plants become established.

By dawns early light... I was worried that the scots pine wouldn't keep up with the birch, oak and alder, but I guess I was wrong.

Reminder for Irish readers. Oleg owns Aughinish Alumina near Foynes; an environmental time-bomb also, as it happens.

Snowdrops under a hedge near Doune, West Perthshire. In the failing light a black and white filter gave the photo an interesting look

Did you know that Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) aren’t native, but an introduction from Europe first recorded in the wild here in 1778? Another fun fact - the highest Snowdrops recorded in Britain were at 1,345 ft, above Ullswater in the Lakes. #wildflowerhour
plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9...

Arguably money going missing in government is part of our heritage so...

That's the thing with #invasive species, one day it's a neat little hedge in granny's garden, the next it's rampaging through a local woodland. In this case it's Lonicera nitida.

#Yew trees in Oak Park, Carlow. Lots of younger trees planted throughout the woods also.

Fellow corncrake conservationist Phelim Doran assisting in corncrake nettle bed maintenance on the farm. Huge amount of work done at the weekend....