First white-tailed eagle born in Waterford in 150 years The first confirmed birth of a white-tailed eagle in Co Waterford for over 150 years has taken place.

The first confirmed birth of a white-tailed eagle in Co Waterford for over 150 years has taken place

Leaves from three species of endemic whitebeam, all from Arran. Top left is Arran Whitebeam, top right is Arran Service-tree, bottom is Catacol Whitebeam, arguably one of the rarest trees on the planet with only a single mature individual left in the wild. Plant Atlas: share.google/1KLV7i0QyxC7...

Aspen, restricted to just two islands on the lough. Haven't recorded it on any other lough islands but occurs very sparingly on some mainland coastal cliff sites.

Yew berry.

Rock Whitebeam with Derryclare conifer plantation and hill in the background. The species seems to favour the western, more exposed sides of islands. Probably doesn't tolerate too much shading from bigger trees but as a result is often quite wind-burnt and stunted.

Mature Yew tree. Red Deer are starting to have a negative effect on vegetation structure and tree regeneration. They happily swim out to these little oasises for shelter and productive feeding.

Nice day out on the islands of Derryclare Lough on Tuesday. We were out to collect Yew berries & cuttings for propagation for further planting locally. We were also hoping to collect some Rock Whitebeam berries as well but didn't find any unfortunately. Quite a rare species away from Killarney.

A highlight of 2024: mapping isolated wild trees in the Kerry uplands, supported by the @npwsireland.bsky.social small recorders grant. Lots of oak, aspen, and other relic woodland vegetation on inaccessible ledges and islands.

Meet up at Bertrá Dunes Friday July 18th 2 - 5pm to install sand fencing , bring mallets if you have them or just bring yourself , please like and share to your contacts 💙

Bug splats dwindle: UK survey shows 63pc decline in flying insects since 2021, raising fears over biodiversity loss | Malay Mail LONDON, May 1 — A UK-wide decline in bug splats recorded on car number plates indicates an “alarming” fall in the number of flying insects, UK scientists said in a survey...

A 63% decline in flying insects in just 3 years.

WE CANNOT SURVIVE WITHOUT INSECTS.

A sane society would be doing EVERYTHING in its power to reverse our unprecedented biodiversity loss.

Instead we’re led by growth-obsessed psychopaths intent on hastening it.

BIODIVERSITY WEEK: The All Ireland Pollinator Plan | Country Life | National Museum of Ireland Find out more about the important work of the National Biodiversity Data Centre and how you can become involved in pollinator monitoring schemes with Dr Michelle Larkin

www.museum.ie/en-IE/Museum... 🐞 🐝 🦋 Dr Michelle Larkin will give a fascinating and insightful Pollinators talk at Museum of Country Life , Turlough ,Castlebar , Co.Mayo May 17th . ( Click the link , booking required )

BIODIVERSITY WEEK: The All Ireland Pollinator Plan | Country Life | National Museum of Ireland Find out more about the important work of the National Biodiversity Data Centre and how you can become involved in pollinator monitoring schemes with Dr Michelle Larkin

www.museum.ie/en-IE/Museum... 🐞 🐝 🦋 Dr Michelle Larkin will give a fascinating and insightful Pollinators talk at Museum of Country Life , Turlough ,Castlebar , Co.Mayo May 17th . ( Click the link , booking required )

The perfect use for Spanish Bluebells for May Day Irish tradition to bring good luck and by picking the non-natives their pollen isn’t destroying our beautiful native Bluebells , disappearing at an alarming rate .

consult.mayo.ie/en/content/p... Westport Town Hall 30th April Pre-Draft in person consultant of Biodiversity Action Plan 7 - 9 pm 🐝

consult.mayo.ie/en/content/p... Westport Town Hall 30th April Pre-Draft in person consultant of Biodiversity Action Plan 7 - 9 pm 🐝

Its my experience that gardeners & non-gardeners love knowing more about and how to do something for our pollinators it really really makes a difference , you can be sure I’m looking forward to chatting about planting a pollinator garden Tues 15th 10.45am @ Carrowbeg House Westport Co.Mayo 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

This week we found out:

We’re driving fungi - vital to all life - to extinction.
We’re rapidly destroying soil - the stuff that gives us food.
And we’re causing the decline in every species & ecosystem on the planet.

But, y’know, Harry & Meghan.

We’re being idiot-ed to death.

Huge credit to Westport Community Garden Volunteers for their Biodiversity efforts and to Circet Broadband who sponsored many native trees and the digging of this substantial wildlife pond 8 x 5 metres . Next year we hope to see many frogs a hopping 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

Great advice on helping someone who is grieving.

Irish dry stone wall construction added to UNESCO list The practice of dry stone wall construction in Ireland has been added to UNESCO's list of protected cultural heritages around the world.

The practice of dry stone wall construction in Ireland has been added to UNESCO's list of protected cultural heritages around the world

YouTube video by Off The Ball 'There's no weakness in it' | Padraig O'Hora on talking about mental health | Movember

youtu.be/1yKwE9yRE_E?... Padraig O’Hora Mayo GAA Footballer on Mental Health

I’m looking forward to Westport Tidy Towns AGM 8pm 27th February - Westport Town Hall . Guest Speakers - Mayo footballer Padraig O’Hora ( Mental Health Advocate ) and Simon Wall ( County Architect)

New initiative to remove invasive species at the Westport Community Garden biodiversity area F28 H1K6 . Every Saturday 10.30 am for an hour . if anyone would like to help , starting easy of course ☺️ 🌳 🐝

🌤 Weathers looking good tomorrow for a new initiative to remove some invasive species at the Westport Community Garden biodiversity area F28 H1K6 . Saturday 11th 10.30 am if anyone would like to help , starting easy of course ☺️ 🌳 🐝

"Less than 0.1% – one thousandth – of Ireland is now ancient forest. That figure compares, for eg, to 2.5% in England, ie over 25x less.

But it’s even worse: here, most of these tiny refuges are being killed off by overgrazing."

My piece in today's Irish Times.
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024...