Irish Wildlife Trust - Winter 2025

Winter Beneath the Surface

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Image Credit: Mike Brown

Contents page credits:

Cover Image: Dipper in a stream

Photo: Joshua Harris Wildlife | StreamScapes

Snakelock Anemone (Anemonia viridis).

Photos: Ann Haigh @w.i.l.dlife on Instagram

The native White-clawed crayfish and invasive Zebra Mussels. Photo Daniel Fildes

Chairperson’s Comment

Dear Members of the Irish Wildlife Trust,

“Beneath the surface of winter, the miracle of spring is already in preparation.” – John O’Donohue

We have come to the close of another year. Winter is often spoken of as a season of scarcity but, as O’Donohue reminds us, it is also a time of quiet preparation. What appears still on the surface is rich with unseen potential.

because it gives excellent information on our activities and progress. It’s easy to do: go to our website https://iwt.ie/ and click the link “Join Our Mailing List ”. If you haven’t been able to attend any of the talks, please note that the recordings are available on YouTube. I take them with me on my walks. The woods are quieter now, the stags have stopped bellowing, the birds are more subdued. The talks make excellent company.

Manx Shearwater in flight. Photo: Ric Else, LIFE Raft Project, RSPB NI Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber)

Photo: iStockphotos

Tachypodoiulus niger (White-legged Snake Millipede).

Photo: iStockphoto

The Dipper’s habitat in Ireland Photo: Mike Brown

All articles © 2025 No part of this publication including the images used may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher. Opinions and comments expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publisher. While every effort has been made to ensure that all information contained in this publication is factual and correct at time of going to press, Ashville Media Group and the Irish Wildlife Trust cannot be held responsible for any inadvertent errors or omissions contained herein.

Printed on

This sense of hidden renewal feels especially relevant in the wake of COP30, which has just concluded as I write this. While the absence of the world’s three largest polluters was enraging and speaks volumes, the summit nonetheless delivered a surprisingly constructive outcome. It was heartening to see commitments based on concrete actions rather than the vague rhetoric we have become all too familiar with. Progress never feels fast enough, but the direction of travel matters, and this year’s steps give some reason for cautious hope.

Winter gets an unfair reputation, but I’ve always loved it. As an early-to-bed, early-torise person, summer’s lovely long evenings mean I rarely see the dark. In winter, the sunrises and sunsets bookend my days beautifully, bringing a quiet joy that is hard to find at any other time. I also love the muted tones that wash across the landscape and that particular quality of light that is unique to an Irish winter.

I hope you’ve been able to catch one of the monthly rewilding talks we have been running this autumn. They’ve been so popular they book out immediately once our newsletter goes out. If you’re not subscribed to our newsletter please make sure you do

Nature gifted us a moment of excitement recently when a rare Bufflehead duck appeared on Lough Leane. The first ever recorded in Kerry. A small visitor from North America, technically known as a “vagrant bird” because he’s out of his own habitat. I didn’t manage to spot him myself but moments like this capture the surprises and simple pleasure that nature can bring.

Your energy, resilience, and deep love for nature are the heartbeat of this organisation. The thoughtful work happening across our branches, and the steady dedication of our staff, remind me continually that real change is possible. Thank you for standing with us, for speaking up, and for holding fast. Together we will keep moving forward. The natural world is depending on us, and I truly believe we are up to the task.

As we approach Grianstad an Gheimhridh, I wish you all a gentle season of rest and renewal. Enjoy the gifts of this winter, and I look forward to speaking with you again in the spring.

Warm regards, Anne

Hannan

Chair, Irish Wildlife Trust

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Editorial Team: Kieran Flood & Marion Jammet

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About Us

The Irish Wildlife Trust was founded in 1979. Our mission is to protect and restore biodiversity in Ireland by motivating and supporting people to take action for nature.

The IWT is dedicated to creating a better future for Ireland’s wildlife through:

Motivating and supporting people to take action for wildlife.

Education and raising awareness of all aspects of Irish wildlife and conservation issues.

Research of the natural environment. Acquiring and managing nature reserves to safeguard species and habitats.

Lobbying decision-makers at all levels to promote policy in Ireland that provides a sustainable future for wildlife and people. Working in partnership with other organisations to achieve results that matter for conservation.

Irish Wildlife is published quarterly by the IWT.

How can you help?

You, our members, make the IWT what it is. Through your subscriptions and support we can undertake the projects that are benefiting Ireland’s wildlife. If you would like to help more, here’s what you can do:

• Make a one-off donation to the IWT.

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The IWT encourages action at a local level and has a number of branches around the country:

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- Waterford Branch

• Do you have land that you would like used for conservation? We are always on the lookout to establish new sites to enhance wildlife or provide education opportunities.

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• Set up a branch. Are you passionate about wildlife and are in a county that does not have an IWT branch? Contact the office and we can give you the support you need to get up and running.

5 Common Hermit Crabs (Pagurus bernhardus)

6 Banded Demoiselle, Dromore Riparian Zone. Photo: Sinéad Hogan

By Kieran Flood, IWT General Manager

IWT STRATEGY UPDATE

PEOPLE with Nature

The Feature article of this winter issue of Irish Wildlife deals with the chronic disfunctionality in the protection of freshwater ecosystems in Ireland. Billy Flynn highlights issues with enforcement and polluter accountability in the light of the Blackwater fish kill. However, Billy also highlights great work happening on the ground at community level to actively protect freshwater. This is a theme our Community Update article expands on. Sinéad Hogan informs us of the inspirational work our Monaghan Branch has been doing in the Dromore River catchment.

Communities for Nature is one of the strategic pillars of our work at the IWT and it is abundantly clear that if we are to protect and restore nature in Ireland, the bulk of the work will be carried out from the ground up by empowered and informed communities. At IWT we will always continue to lobby and advocate for state action through appropriate legislation, policies and funding, but we

DUBLIN BRANCH UPDATE

At the Dublin Branch we had an eventful few months with outdoor events and a monthly Green Drinks talk. In October we had our annual outing to Phoenix Park, to see the deer rut when fallow deer bucks face off against each other to compete for the females. In November, we had a very interesting fossil hunt in Portmarnock, led by Aodhan Ó Gogáin and we also held our rockpooling event with Dr Amy Geraghty and her friend and colleague, teacher Kevin Delahunty, who delivered a totally brilliant and engaging outing. We came across a huge variety of species - why? Well Storm Claudia helped, because the number of species thrown up on the shore was unbelievable. We had Sea Mouses (Mice?),

"Communities for Nature is one of the strategic pillars of our work at the IWT"

Starfish, Dogfish, Lobsters, Crabs, and deep sea species. We must schedule rockpooling for appalling East Coast storms in the future.

For our Green Drinks series, in August Oisín O’Neill of the Gaelic Woodland Project told us about their efforts to remove Cherry Laurel and how it should be classed as an invasive species. In September Matt Smith of Hometree told us of their successful attempts to persuade farmers in the west of Ireland to embrace rewilding native woods. In October we heard from Kevin Delahunty from the Dublin Bat Group about the amazing world of bats, and in November Ricky Whelan informed us about the fascinating world of those intelligent birds, crows.

KERRY BRANCH UPDATE

Over the last few months we have been quite active at the Kerry Branch with a number of events and projects, from celebrating the biodiversity of our hedgerows in conjunction with Kerry County Council to exploring the Tralee to Fenit greenway as part of the Community Biodiversity Action Plan project with Tralee Tidy Towns. The New Year promises to be a busy time with a number of events currently at the planning stage. Keep an eye on social media pages of the Kerry Branch on Facebook and Instagram for announcements.

know that the really impactful and essential change happens at community level and through people power. Thank you for being part of this movement to protect and restore nature in Ireland.

Irish Wildlife Trust members at the National Climate March this November

COMMUNITY UPDATE

By Sinéad Hogan

with

additional reporting from Candice Moen (IWT Monaghan Branch) and Ross McDonald (Friends of the Dromore)

MARGINAL GAINS

DROMORE RIVER CATCHMENT UPDATE

The wildlife of Co. Monaghan (and consequently members of the Monaghan branch of the Irish Wildlife Trust) tend to be found in two types of places, either in hedgerows or wetlands. These two habitats (both severely under threat) have a shared characteristic; when thriving they are refuges for wildlife and diverse plant species and if intact, they form networks that offer connected habitat and microclimate protection, particularly important as surrounding areas are highly modified, monocultured and exposed. They are also literally ‘marginal lands’ in all senses of the term. We have found that the restoration of water quality and rewilding for biodiversity in Monaghan equates to letting these margins thrive, expand and connect [1]

Flourishing riparian and wetland zones have a high level of biodiversity providing interdependent aquatic and terrestrial habitats and function as buffer zones, filtering and slowing the waters entering a river. In a landscape of competing human demands, it is crucial to find a way to link and restore these wildlife refuges and highlight the marginal zones as a rich

"In a landscape of competing human demands, it is crucial to find a way to link and restore these wildlife refuges and highlight the marginal zones as a rich resource"

resource. Our local, small scale set of actions resonates with wider global approaches to conservation connectivity [2].

In 2024, the IWT Monaghan branch (with the Friends of the Dromore) were awarded funding through the Heritage Council and the NPWS and biodiversity office of Monaghan County council, to map our river catchment as a potential biodiversity corridor. We produced a range of mapping tools to help coordinate our activities. Working with professional GIS researcher Dominic Robinson, we constructed an online database with key information such as biodiversity records and pollution impact points and from this developed a range of printable maps. Satellite-sourced national datasets on the streams and wetlands were found to be often inaccurate or missed minor streams, so the core group had to get out and ‘ground-truth’,

find and validate the gaps, which shows local knowledge as a key resource. An observant contributor noticed that the borders of townlands were often created by streams, so where a connection was missing, we could check against the townland border and almost inevitably it indicated where the stream went [3].

Working with website designer Laura Butler, we created an online portal to gather all links and information[4]. We also produced an illustrated bi-lingual poster that visualises some less known species in the catchment [5]. One of the most effective communication tools has turned out to be a 3D model of the river catchment, developed and designed by artist Mel Galley [6]. It offers the viewer a highly effective way to understand the catchment as a physical water-basin. It aids spatial imagination and gives shape to how

 Wetlands of Dromore still from drone footage, Photo: Patrick McCabe.

things are connected by the river. To see how the waters follow the twists and falls of the landscape contours has an informative impact that beats any explaining through words. It draws out a level of fascination from everyone who encounters it. There’s usually a period of silence where each person finds a place they know, followed by tracing the run of the river there, then inevitably an intense conversation ensues around the character and ‘logic’ of our shared and particular wet-land-scape. Designed in modular sections so as it can be easily transported, this map-model has visited many locations and public spaces including biodiversity and water conferences, international study groups and even dairy cow breeder events. Part of the effectiveness may be how it literally gathers people around it as a focus, creating a sense of ‘finding your place’ and making connections, in a process that is akin to how the river itself operates.

Human dwellings historically often developed where rivers offer crossing points. We decided to include the townland names in Irish on the 3D model as a way for people to orient themselves when looking at the catchment model, as these are still a very active part of people’s sense of place. But also, this activates a search for the more extended cultural memory of our co-habitation within natural features.

Places such as Carnaveagh/Carn na bhFiach meaning something like ‘rockpile of the Ravens’ or many townlands starting or ending with ‘eanach’ (in English usually transliterated as ‘anny’) meaning ‘marsh’ or Achadh na Muileann/Aghnamullen- mill field etc. Beal Átha Beithe (meaning something like the ‘opening to the ford of the birches’) is the name in Irish for the town of Ballybay that lies roughly at the centre of the Dromore catchment. When ‘bay’ becomes recollected as ‘beith/birch’ the name actually makes sense and a species suited to an area suggests itself to current occupants who might be working on nature restoration. We often have good-natured debates as to the correct translations, spellings and histories embedded in these names. It is another way to accentuate interconnection as the character of environment. But also the related example of the regeneration of a marginalised language that has expanded from its refuge areas to currently becom-

ing healthy, aspirational and reconnected to the everyday is a pretty hopeful model to be aligned with. Who in the 1970s or 1980s would have predicted we would be able to say that? And what would it be like if nature restoration followed the same trajectory in the next decades?

The IWT Monaghan branch is also working with the Ballybay GAA football club to address flooding issues affecting one of their football pitches. A tributary of the Dromore river regularly floods the artificial pitch and creates septic tank leakage, as it was built on what used to be a wetland. Unfortunately in 2022, in trying to address these issues, Monaghan Co. Council dredged the river causing major damage to the river’s hydromorphology and its biodiversity populations, without resolving the flooding. IWT Monaghan Branch approached the Ballybay GAA and council with a suggestion to utilise nature-based solutions and assisted in the

securing of funding to put in a successful reedbed septic water management system, as the most urgent initial action. In 2024, with funding from LAWPRO’s Community Water Development Fund we completed a preliminary study, which concluded that due to the complex hydrology of the river and linked lake beds, any changes to river channel levels (e.g. dredging) would have negligible effect on reducing flood risk and may even increase flooding in the vicinity of the pitch. We now need to complete an in-depth hydrological study, so everyone can better understand the complex dynamic movement of the waters [7]

Speaking with Ross McDonald, the source protection officer for the local (Stranooden) group water scheme, it is heartening to hear some good news, that since 2022, the trend for phosphate levels in their water source has started to decline, (according to the most recent EPA report)

"The core group had to get out and ‘groundtruth’, find and validate the gaps, which shows local knowledge as a key resource"

 Riverbank Restoration, Dromore. Photo: Ross McDonald

 Banded Demoiselle, Dromore Riparian Zone. Photo: Sinéad Hogan

"IWT Monaghan Branch approached the Ballybay GAA and council with a suggestion to utilise nature-based solutions"

and they have recently been given agency status for the ‘farming for water EIP’. In the past 12 months alone they have worked with farmers and homeowners installing 4km of fencing, 3 solar drinkers for cattle, restored 2 acres of extended buffer zones, planted 1.8km of hedging, 4ha of woodlands (with plans pending for another 10ha) and created 8 attenuation ponds (reed beds/wetland ponds). They are also leading on a pilot project with DKIT and UCD to explore mitigation methods for poorly performing septic tanks, studying the use of comfrey plants as a naturebased solution to absorb nutrients in the percolation areas of septic tanks in areas with poorly draining soils. Our mapping tools are aiding them in identifying and supporting neighbourhood water-woodlands and identifying areas suitable for schemes such as the Native Tree Area Scheme [8]

FOOTNOTES

1. This article will focus on the Dromore River Catchment Project but we would hope to update readers in future on the native tree and seed project (book and video) led by IWT Monaghan branch members, John McKeown and Liam Murtagh, that is soon to be made public and the excellent work in the other two river catchments on the county.

2. “Promoting habitat configurations that enhance connectivity within developed landscapes is one of [the]… general measures that can be taken to counter the effects of habitat fragmentation and isolation on wildlife… it provides the opportunity to achieve conservation goals through managing linked systems of habitat, rather than single blocks. Limitations of a reserve-based approach to conservation suggest that such linked systems should extend beyond reserve boundaries and encompass habitats throughout the landscape.

Our catchment mapping project was a finalist for the National Lottery Good Causes Awards. We have other good news in the pipeline about a community trust saving a high-nature-value fenland and plans for a riparian-plant nursery… So while we know the challenges are steep [9] , step-by-step we are making cumulative progress, not least in a growing awareness amongst many different actors in our catchment of the real nature-based solutions for change and the wealth hidden in our margins.

About the author: Sinéad Hogan is a member of the IWT Monaghan Branch and a Trustee of the IWT.

An integrated landscape approach to nature conservation requires planning at broad spatial scales, protection of key areas of habitat, co-ordination of conservation values across land tenures, maintenance and restoration of landscape connectivity, and integration of conservation with surrounding land uses.” (Bennett, Andrew. 2003. Linkages in the Landscape).

https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/268036809_Linkages_ in_the_Landscape_The_Role_of_ Corridors_and_Connectivity_in_Wildlife_ Conservation p.176

3. Or would have travelled prior to drainage etc.

4. https://dromorerivercatchment.ie

5. Species illustrated by Aoife Quinn and wetland landscape illustration by Mel Galley https://dromorerivercatchment. ie/?page_id=699

6. https://www.melgalley.co.uk/

7. The initial stages of this project features in the TG4 documentary Tuilte available for viewing at: https://www.tg4.ie/en/ search/play/?pid=6347254332112&title =Tuilte&series=Tuilte&genre=Faisneis&p code=654676. Issues identified include the historic drainage during the early 20thC of two upstream lakes that acted as reservoirs.

8. https://teagasc.ie/crops/forestry/grants/ native-tree-area-scheme/

9. I refer to Billy Flynn’s article in this magazine and note that the waters of Co. Monaghan’s cleanest and only blue-dot river, the Scotstown River, flow eventually into Lough Neagh… In that fact is the clearest evidence for the requirement to restore effective riparian buffer zones along all waterways as a matter of urgency and for them to be prioritised as essential infrastructure.

 Dromore catchment 3D model

Branched Burr Reed, Dromore Riparian Zone.

Photo: Sinéad Hogan

PROTECTION MARINE

By Grace Carr

Focal na Farraige

A VOICE FOR THE SEA AT HOME AND ABROAD

At the Irish Wildlife Trust, we have been advocating and lobbying on marine protection issues both in Brussels and on Irish shores.

In October we headed over to Brussels to take part in EU Ocean Week. This was an important opportunity to meet with Members of the European Parliaments (MEPs), the EU Commissioner for Oceans and Fisheries and to take part in events. Alongside Fair Seas, we helped to organise an Irish language event in the Irish Embassy called ‘Focal na Farraige’ where one of the Fair Seas films was screened as Gaeilge followed by a bilingual panel discussion with Irish researchers and

"We spoke at an event hosted by MEP Isabella Lovin called ‘Small Fish, Big Impact’ on the importance of protecting forage fish"

conservationists. We also took part in an event highlighting the urgent need for legislative action to safeguard some of the world’s most vulnerable species - sharks. In 2022, 1.1. Million EU citizens signed an initiative demanding a ban on all trade of shark fins in the EU, this event was attended by policy makers and aimed to keep the topic at the top of the legislative agenda.

Finally, we spoke at an event hosted by MEP Isabella Lovin called ‘Small Fish, Big

Impact’ on the importance of protecting forage fish. Forage fish are small pelagic fish (example sprat, anchovy, pilchard) which are preyed upon by larger fish, mammals and birds and play a vital role in the health of marine ecosystems.

Alongside Blue Marine Foundation and FishSec we highlighted issues facing this vital species. Ahead of the event, we engaged with the National Inshore Fishing Association to ensure our presentation highlighted some of the main issues

Seagrass meadow Photo by Gordon Leonard

around effectively protecting forage fish as well as the broader marine environment and the livelihoods of small scale fishing communities. This event was attended by members of the European Commission working in the maritime and fisheries sector. During that week, we also made sure to meet with policy makers. We met with several MEPs and spoke with the European Commissioner for Fisheries and the Ocean, Costas Kadis, who we also met back in May to discuss issues around effectively protecting Ireland's maritime space and how the Commission can support this.

Back in Ireland, we have continued to meet with Ministers and TDs to lobby for marine protected areas legislation and more effectively managed, sustainable fisheries. In August and September, we met with the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with special responsibility for Fisheries, Timmy Dooley alongside Coastwatch Ireland and members of Fish Producer Organisations. We discussed issues surrounding the implementation of the EU Common Fisheries Policy in Ireland and the sustainability of fisheries.

Fair Seas, which IWT is a founding member of, have been campaigning for new Marine Protected Area (MPA) legislation for several years. The legislation was promised by Summer 2024, but unfortunately for a number of reasons, including the complexity of the Bill and disagreements across government departments, the Bill never materialised. There was then a General Election at the end of 2024 and so new TDs and Ministers were elected. We continued to lobby with newly elected officials to keep this important piece of legislation on the agenda for the new government. The marine team of civil servants working on drafting the Bill then underwent a transition from the Department of Housing to the Department of Environment. This was a move which aims to have most marine environmental issues such as offshore renewable energy and MPAs under the same department (although protected areas under the European Habitats and Birds Directives still remain under the Department of Housing). This caused a delay in releasing new legislation as a transfer of powers and

"Back in Ireland, we have continued to meet with Ministers and TDs to lobby for marine protected areas legislation and more effectively managed, sustainable fisheries"

duties had to be undertaken. They officially moved on August 1st 2025. It has now been stated several times that there will not be standalone marine protected area legislation and the Maritime Area Planning Act will be amended to include a section on MPAs. One of the reasons behind this is that the

DMAP (Designated Maritime Area Plans) process has already been agreed across Departments and so the Government's line is that enacting MPAs through this process will in fact be quicker. We have responded and stated that a different process than the one used to designate sites for offshore renewable energy

Fair Seas team in the European Parliament

through DMAPs will be needed for MPAs. Fair Seas’ response is that as long as the legislative framework is ambitious, robust and contains their main asks, then we will still be able to effectively protect Irish waters. We have also been assured by officials that while there has been a delay in the release of a legislative framework to effectively protect Irish waters, there has been work happening behind the scenes to designate and protect more areas. While the Government approved the preparation of the General Scheme (which highlights the key priorities within the Bill) in November, there are still no timelines in

"We helped to organise an Irish language event in the Irish Embassy called ‘Focal na Farraige’ where one of the Fair Seas films was screened as Gaeilge followed by a bilingual panel discussion with Irish researchers and conservationists"

Focal na Farraige event in the Irish Embassy in Brussels, co hosted with Conradh na Gaeilge

‘Small fish, Big impact’ event in the European Parliament

place for the release of this, which is worrying considering the significant delays so far. The Government has also confirmed that there will be an in-depth stakeholder engagement process which is promising to hear as that is one of the main issues with EU protected area legislation. However, if work is happening behind the scenes on the designation of new areas, there has so far been no stakeholder engagement on this.

Several environmental NGOs including the IWT were due to address the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Fisheries in regards to MPAs in November.

Unfortunately, this was postponed due to the Presidential inauguration but we hope to address the Committee either before the end of the year or in January. This will be an opportunity to highlight our main asks for the MPA Amendment Bill which will include ensuring management plans are released alongside the designation of protected areas (at the moment it can take years to draft a management plan for an area after it has been designated as protected), that effective monitoring of the area takes place and that early and ongoing stakeholder engagement (which is adhered to and not just a box ticking exercise) is prioritised.

Fair Seas is a coalition of Ireland’s leading marine environmental NGOs. We aim to protect, conserve and restore Ireland’s unique marine environment. Fair Seas’ ambition is to see Ireland become a world leader in marine protection, giving Ireland’s species, habitats and coastal communities the opportunity to thrive. We work together within Fair Seas to advocate for effective marine protection using each organisation's individual skillset to highlight the issue across as many relevant areas as possible.

CONNECTING WITH NATURE

By Charlotte Salter-Townshend

Places to connect:

Old Coast Guard Station, Co. Cork

EXPLORING ROCKPOOLS IN WEST CORK

Spending time outdoors in nature can benefit your wellbeing and develop your understanding of your local environment. In this new series of articles, we share recommendations of nature reserves and wild areas where you can go to encounter biodiverse ecosystems. At the IWT we want to support our community to reconnect with nature and we hope this series of articles will inspire you to get out and explore.

Our Winter Recommendation

In winter it can feel like nature is asleep. By the sea, the water may look grey and uninviting, but underneath the water there are astonishingly vibrant communities of life. The good news is you don’t need to don a diving suit or even a snorkel to join the party. All you need to do is put on a pair of wellies, head to the coast, and find some rockpools.

There are rockpools all around Ireland’s coastline, but some are safer to get to than others. In the parish of Castlehaven in West Cork there are some readily accessible ones that are home to a myriad of colourful species. Here I highlight the Old Coast Guard Station but can also recommend the nearby Castlehaven Strand and Tragumna Beach. Teeming with life, Irish rockpools are like mini aquaria, showcasing some of our rich coastal biodiversity. They contain highly specialised animals and seaweeds leading remarkable lives. This liminal and everchanging habitat is known as the inter-tidal zone. It is the area of the shore that is alternately covered by water during high

tide and exposed to air during low tide. Few other places on Earth experience such regular and dramatic environmental changes. Organisms living here transition from being submerged in water to being exposed to air twice daily, and must endure changes in temperature, salinity, and other environmental factors. They have developed many special adaptations to survive.

Though the inter-tidal zone may look like a placid place, with seemingly stationary organisms, every animal is on the move. While the tide is in, unassuming Common Limpets (Patella vulgata) move gradually across the rocks grazing on algae before returning to their preferred patch when it goes back out. They follow a mucus trail to find their way back to a "home scar" on the rock that they create over time. They use a muscular foot to move and can attach to rocks with great strength, conserving moisture during low tide. Meanwhile, carnivorous sea snails such as the Dog Whelk (Nucella lapillus) are on the hunt. It feeds on limpets, mussels, and barnacles by boring through their shells. It then injects enzymes to digest the prey within its shell, sucking the resulting “liquid soup” out through its proboscis. Keep an eye out on the beach for empty shells with tiny holes in them – a grisly relic of this process. Animals encountered year-round also include anemones, periwinkles, crabs, starfish, and prawns. If you are fortunate, you may detect some masters of disguise.

At extreme low tide you may find Green Sea Urchins (Psammechinus miliaris). These are a type of echinoderm (meaning “spiny skin”) and are relatives of starfish and sea cucumbers. Urchins live underwater, feeding mainly on seaweed and creatures such as sponges, barnacles, mussels, and marine worms. Covering themselves with seaweed is a tactic to stay out of sight (see photo, left).

Think you need to travel to distant shores for colour this time of year? Just look at some of the exotic-looking anemones that adorn our rockpools at low tide. The mesmerising Snakelock Anemone (Anemonia viridis) is a case in point. They are known for their long, green tentacles with purple tips, which host symbiotic algae that photosynthesise. For this reason, they stay in sunnier rockpools and rarely retract their tentacles. Like other anemones, they use their stinging tentacles to capture prey such as prawns, small fish, and sea snails. Their sting can occasionally be painful to humans, so it is best to avoid touching them (better for them too). Beadlet Anemone (Actinia equina) are very common. When out of the water, they look like dark-red jelly blobs attached to the rocks. Underwater, their tentacles unfurl. They have a ring of beautiful bright blue beads beneath their tentacles that are packed full of stinging cells, which they use to fight off other anemones and defend their patch.

If you spot a periwinkle or whelk shell

"The good news is you don’t need to don a diving suit or even a snorkel to join the party"

HABITAT TYPE: Rockpools/Inter-tidal Zone

LOCATION: Old Coast Guard Station, Castletownshend, West Cork

COORDINATES: 51.526290, -9.172967

 Green Sea Urchin (Psammechinus miliaris) on the Old Coast Guard Station, Castletownshend. It has covered itself with Dillisk (red seaweed) to keep a low profile.

Photo: Ann Haigh @w.i.l.dlife on Instagram

"Teeming with life, Irish rockpools are like mini aquaria, showcasing some of our rich coastal biodiversity"

crawling, chances are you’ve found a Common Hermit Crab (Pagurus bernhardus). When I was a child, I spent many hours gazing into rockpools with friends visiting from urban areas. We were particularly enamoured with this one. Despite their name, they are often found in groups called aggregations. Their social structure is based on environmental conditions, and they engage in both aggressive and cooperative behaviours to secure resources, such as a new shell. Studies have shown that Common Hermit Crabs have individual personalities and can be more or less aggressive, suggesting a degree of social complexity.

You can also find a great diversity of critters by carefully lifting rocks exposed by the retreating tide in the lower shore area. Always be careful to leave everything as you found it - replace any rocks you turn over, put back any creatures and be sure not to scrape anything off its rocky home. If you want to learn more about our rockpool life, check out Coastwatch Ireland and the Explore Your Shore! resources from the National Biodiversity Data Centre. You can help by logging your findings with the National Biodiversity Data Centre.

Planning your trip

A word of caution – it is easy to slip and fall on wet rocks. Green seaweeds such as Gut Weed (Ulva intestinalis) are particularly treacherous to walk on when wet. Of course, it also plays a role in the ecosystem - dense growths of Gutweed provide a habitat for creatures, with their moist fronds providing a refuge during low tide. Keep a close eye on tide times so you don't get stranded! Check the weather and the tides before heading for the shore. Ideally, aim to be there 1-2 hours before low tide and leave the shore as the tide turns. Tide Tables are widely available online. Tell someone where you are going and when you expect to be back. Dress for the weather and wear sturdy shoes or boots as the shore will be uneven and slippery, with sharp shells. Beware of

YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS

getting trapped by the incoming tide and if you need help or rescue call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coast Guard.

The West Cork Connect bus service runs almost hourly from Cork city - Skibbereen. See their website for times and stops. Castletownshend is about 11km from Skibbereen. A Local Link bus (Route 266) travels between Baltimore – Skibbereen – Castletownshend. The timetable is available on Transport for Ireland. The 266 bus stops at the top of the famously steep hill. The walk from the bus stop to the beach takes less than 10 minutes. Turn right at the Two Trees and walk down the Mall Road towards the sea. You will reach some stone steps that lead onto the stony beach. If you are driving, you can park anywhere along the Mall Road.

At low tide, the rockpools are to both your right and your left when you get to the bottom of the steps.

If you have a recommendation of a favourite place to connect with nature, please let us know? We do not want to put pressure on sensitive habitats, so we ask that you share suggestions of places that have an existing path network.

Please send your suggestions to editor@iwt.ie with the subject: Connecting with Nature.

View across the Old Coast Guard Station, Castletownshend.

Photo: Phil Ryan

Common Hermit Crabs (Pagurus bernhardus) Snakelock Anemone (Anemonia viridis). Photos: Ann Haigh @w.i.l.dlife on Instagram

By Marion Jammet

Where the City Meets the Wild UPDATE EU POLICY

INITIATIVES TO RECONNECT CITIES WITH NATURE

BY MARION JAMMET

Studies have shown that people with a stronger connection to nature tend to experience better health and overall wellbeing. The COVID-19 era and subsequent lockdowns highlighted the vital importance of having access to nature within local communities.

Yet, in today’s world, we are increasingly losing touch with nature. According to a recent global study of how people relate to the natural world, Ireland is one of the least “nature connected” nations in the world (1). This loss of personal contact with nature has been referred to by American lepidopterist, Robert Pyle as an “extinction

experience”, as it discourages positive emotions, attitudes, and behaviour with regard to the environment, and ultimately contributes to biodiversity loss.

In recent years, as severe weather events become more frequent and intense, many European cities have begun developing and implementing greening strategies. These range from Copenhagen’s sponge city strategy to Paris’ target to plant 170,000 new trees by 2026 and Milan’s plans to plant 3 million trees by 2030 and will soon be complemented by EU wide policy targets*. This article explores some of the strategies and initiatives (big and small) implemented across Europe, and their impact on nature and nature connections among urban dwellers.

5 Coulée verte René-Dumont, an ecological corridor in the heart of Paris.

Photo by Marion Jammet

Copenhagen: Towards a City-Wide Sponge City Planning Approach

After a one-in-1,000-year storm inundated the Danish capital in 2011, costing billions of euros, the city developed a Cloudburst Management Plan to get spongier and improve its climate resilience. Inspired by ancient Chinese agricultural approaches to water management, a sponge city is an urban area with an abundance of natural or ‘green’ features that, in the event of flooding, can absorb water. These areas range from trees and green spaces to parks, lakes and even roofs. In Copenhagen, this first meant separating rainwater from sewerage through blue-green surface solutions mitigating both flood risk and environmental and health impacts, and redesigning parks and streets to retain and absorb vast amounts of stormwater like a sponge at critical periods. Key to this approach, and its cost-effectiveness, is the constant search for multifunctionality, ensuring that blue and green infrastructure also help nature thrive, while providing recreational value and reinvigorating nature connection. For instance, the plan intentionally created new habitats like wetlands, green and blue spaces that function as ecological corridors, and in some cases, “daylighted" (brought above ground) and revegetated streams.

Making ways for wildlife: The role of ecological corridors

According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), habitat fragmentation is a major cause of biodiversity loss globally. In built up areas, buildings, car parks and other infrastructure, can all prevent and influence the dispersal of species. To enhance habitat connectivity within urban areas, and between cities and adjacent rural areas, a growing number of local authorities are mapping existing and potential green, blue and dark ecological corridors, and developing new ones. Private gardens, parks, green roofs, rivers, and canals, as well as in-use and abandoned transport infrastructure, can all be part of vibrant ecological corridors.

In Paris, the Coulée verte René-Dumont, is a notable example of the latter. It is a 4.5-kilometre linear park constructed atop the disused Vincennes railway line,

connecting Bastille to Vincennes. Following its decommissioning in 1969, the abandoned rail infrastructure became a place for unlawful activities - raising concerns around public safety, until its regeneration in the early 1990s. Located in a dense urban setting, this green corridor connects a series of distinct parks, hence supporting urban biodiversity. Consistent with the environmental policies applied across all municipal green spaces in Paris, the project avoids synthetic chemical fertilisers and employs a dynamic horticultural approach to encourage the natural evolution of local flora. As multifunctionality is critical in any urban greening projects, the park spans from manicured terraces to wilder spaces, and is used for educational purposes.

Reverting soil sealing and promoting green roofs

The recently launched green to grey project (www.greentogrey.eu) shows how Europe is squandering the little nature it has left,

estimating that 1,500km² of nature are lost annually to construction. Yet, a growing number of cities and citizens recognise the importance of reverting soil sealing not only to be more resilient, but also to better protect biodiversity. While Dublin City Council recently urged residents to stop paving over their front gardens due to negative environmental impacts, a number of European countries and cities are going further.

In the Netherlands, Dutch cities compete annually in the National Tile-Flipping Championship, NK Tegelwippen, to see who can unseal the most surface area. Residents are encouraged to pull up slabs, bricks or tiles and to register their removals online. Each city’s tally is then updated live on a national leader board. The city of The Hague was the first to win this trophy (2017), with over 5 million tiles having been removed since the creation of the championship. Some Dutch and French cities have also introduced “greening

 Jardin Partagé Sahel: An allotment alongside the coulée verte

Photo: Marion Jammet.

"A growing number of cities and citizens recognise the importance of reverting soil sealing not only to be more resilient, but also to better protect biodiversity"

permission”, allowing homeowners to unseal a certain part of the pavement in front of their home to add plants to support biodiversity.

In the Swiss city of Basel, financial incentives and regulations are used to

USEFUL RESOURCES

Guidance documents developed by the All Ireland Pollinator Plan: https://pollinators.ie/resources/.

Wildlife in Buildings Linking our built and natural heritage, available at: https://www.heritagecouncil.ie/content/ files/Wildlife-in-Buildings-linking-ourbuilt-and-natural-heritage.pdf.

Local Authority Waters Programme (2025), Implementation of Urban Nature-based Solutions Guidance Document for Planners, Developers and Developer Agents. Available at: www. lawaters.ie.

REFERENCES

(1) Richardson, M., Lengieza, M., White, M.P. et al. Macro-level determinants of nature connectedness: An exploratory analysis of 61 countries. Ambio (2025).

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-02502275-w

promote green roofs. Since 2002, under the Building and Construction Law every new and retrofitted building with a flat roof has to have a green roof. With 5.71 m2/ inhabitant, Basel has the largest area of green roofs per capita in the world. Although green roofs are not a panacea for biodiversity, their use in densely populated areas and variations in substrate depth can contribute to aiding biodiversity recovery.

Conclusion

None of these actions will be sufficient on their own to reverse the biodiversity crisis, nor the “extinction experience” leading to apathy, but a multifunctional approach to green and blue infrastructure in our towns and cities can be part of the solution. Each project must not only be used as an opportunity to enhance climate resilience and provide recreational space, but also, to improve biodiversity and our societal understanding of it. No article nor documentary can replace the sensory experience of observing a foraging bird or walking on dead leaves in a park.

As illustrated by these few examples, ambitious policies and regulations are critical, but we must get them right. As a growing number of cities commit to planting more trees, and as regulations such as the Nature Restoration Law* introduce targets, we should not forget to look beyond quantitative data. For instance, while urban trees provide many ecosystem services, they are also associated with some potential disservices, from health and safety issues like allergies to infrastructure damage from roots. Urban trees are exposed to many stressors, from light and air pollution to soil compaction to name a few and have a much lower life expectancy than their rural counterparts. Consequently, it’s about more than numbers, it’s also about planting the right tree in the right place.

While individual actions are insufficient to drive change at speed and scale, in Ireland, we are fortunate to have a wealth of resources to green our gardens and balconies. Readers interested in this topic are encouraged to look at the useful resources section.

* Under the EU Nature Restoration Law, Member States must ensure there is no net loss of urban tree canopy cover by December 31, 2030, and that the trend in urban tree cover increases after.

 Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber), have recently returned naturally to Brussels and been re-introduced in London, showing what is possible in urban areas if we give nature a chance

Photo: iStokpohots

NATURE RECOVERY NEWS

By Charlotte Salter-Townshend

MANX SHEARWATER RETURN TO RATHLIN ISLAND AND PUFFINS TO ISLE OF MUCK

For the first time in decades, Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) have been confirmed as breeding on Rathlin land off Co. Antrim. Historically, this island was home to a considerable colony of these seabirds. Globally, the largest breeding populations are found off Ireland and Britain, including the Blaskets in Kerry. They are an amber-listed bird, meaning they are of conservation concern and need all the help we can give them.

Rathlin Island is home to Northern Ireland’s largest seabird colony, including breeding populations of Razorbills, Guillemots, and Great Skua. The project to restore seabird colonies is becoming successful thanks to the coordinated efforts of the Rathlin Island community.

The Manx Shearwater vanished from Rathlin by the end of the 20th century due to pressure from introduced Brown Rats and Ferrets. Since 2021, the Royal Society for Protection of Birds Northern Ireland (RSPB NI) have coordinated a project focusing on removal of these introduced predators, giving the burrow-nesting birds a chance to re-establish. These efforts finally came to fruition in September, when ornithologists captured footage of chicks fledging from their burrows by night in a remote area of the island. Prior to that, islanders had reported the eerie cries of the night-flying bird during breeding season (from March-September).

Now that breeding season is over, the birds will have returned to winter on the South Atlantic Ocean, off South America. That’s an 11,000km journey that they complete in 21 days or less. Those who have witnessed the bird travelling at sea will recognise its distinctive stiff-winged flight, gliding from side-to-side, practically skimming the surface of the waves with their wingtips. This "shearing" flight is how they earned their name and allows them to use wind currents just above the waves to conserve energy. Their legs are set back far on their body, making them more efficient

Island Restoration

"Globally, the largest breeding populations are found off Ireland and Britain"

divers but this puts them at a disadvantage on land, making them highly vulnerable to land-based predators.

The RSPB NI launched the LIFE Raft (Rathlin Acting for Tomorrow project) four years ago, in partnership with the Rathlin Development and Community Association and the Causeway Coast & Glens Heritage Trust, with funding from EU LIFE. There have been no confirmed Ferret sightings since November 2023, and the project team is confident in their progress towards being the first island globally to successfully eradicate invasive Ferrets. The project continues to work on removing Brown Rats,

with scarce sightings reported in 2025.

From Puffinus puffinus (the scientific name for Manx Shearwater) to Puffins (Fratercula arctica)! Further good news reaches us in November as Ulster Wildlife confirms that these iconic seabirds have returned to the Isle of Muck, off Islandmagee. Like Rathlin Island, their recovery is mostly down to a programme of removing invasive predators (Brown Rats), with benefits for other ground-nesting species too, such as Eider Ducks.

Andy Crory, Nature Reserves Manager with Ulster Wildlife, said:

“…while a handful of puffins on a tiny island may seem small, this moment is huge – it proves that seabird restoration works.”

Sources: rathlin360.com/life-raft/ ulsterwildlife.org

"The resulting reef acts as a natural buffer against erosion and storm impacts, while also improving water quality and supporting biodiversity"

Ecological Engineers

BUILDING RESILIENCE ON IRISH COASTS THROUGH OYSTER REEF RESTORATION

Oysters (Ostrea edulis) are a keystone species that support a wide range of marine life when they gather in numbers. Oyster reefs build up as the young larvae (spat) settle on the shells of older or non-living oysters over many generations. The resulting reef acts as a natural buffer against erosion and storm impacts, while also improving water quality and supporting biodiversity. These living shorelines stabilize sediment, filter water, and create habitats for other marine life, making them an effective nature-based solution to coastal challenges such as sea-level rise, pollution, and warming oceans.

A new €1.5m biodiversity programme will see native oyster reefs restored along the Irish coast to explore their potential to protect and sustain marine biodiversity. University College Dublin (UCD) is leading Building Resilient Irish Coasts through Oyster Restoration (BRICONS), an all-island partnership of universities. The five-year project is funded by the Marine Institute and is working closely with Irish ports, harbour authorities, and coastal community groups.

Community-led projects are also underway to revive historic oyster habitats. Arklow was once home to 90km of oyster reefs. The Wicklow town was the epicentre of oyster production in the colonial era. In 1863 alone 40 million oysters were harvested, while today Ireland’s harvest is about 2.1 million each year (according to norri.ie). Native

Oyster Reef Restoration Ireland (NORRI) is working in Arklow Bay North and South to restore these historic oyster reefs. The project is integrated with restoration of Kelp and other degraded coastal habitats and received funding from the Rural Development program, LEADER grant, and the Co. Wicklow Partnership for East Coast Oyster and Kelp Biodiversity Project. Support also comes from the EU Native Oyster Restoration Alliance (NORA). NORRI’s vision is to restore native oyster population and habitats in the Arklow area, and establish a Living Labs in Arklow Harbour for research, education, and outreach.

Meanwhile, on the west coast, the Galway Bay Native Oyster Restoration Project is a collaboration between Cuan Beo (a community environmental group), the Marine Institute, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, and local oyster fishermen. Since 2020, the project has deployed shell substrate at two restoration sites in the St George's fishery order area for oysters to settle and grow on. The project is focused on identifying optimal restoration habitats, managing fisheries, and cataloguing biodiversity to enable reef development and spill over effects. It also aims to improve water quality by raising community awareness and monitoring oyster health. This is one of the most successful oyster restoration projects in Europe in terms of geographic scale and number of oysters. So far, over 20 million juvenile oysters have settled on the shell substrate that they have deployed. Cuan Beo also runs a Source to Sea Education and Outreach Programme which you can find on their website.

This work shows that through working with nature and engaging communities, we can build resilience as we face the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Sources: Norri.ie | briconsproject.com | noraeurope.eu cuanbeo.com | nativeoysternetwork.org

 Eare scallop shells used as a base for oyster reef building at Inner Galway Bay.

Photo: Michael Officer, Cuan Beo

Manx Shearwater in flight.

Photo: Ric Else, LIFE Raft Project, RSPB NI

INSPIRATION in the bog

KILTEEVAN PRIMARY SCHOOL

STUDENTS DRAW INSPIRATION FROM THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BOG

The children learnt about butterfly species and then got to spot them on the bog and spent time, with artist Annie Holland

BY HELEN SHAW, TÓCHAR STORIES

The small national school in the village of Kilteevan, Roscommon is just a few kilometres from Lough Ree SAC and the Cloonlarge Bog loop where Kilteevan Tidy Towns have helped shape a beautiful community-led nature walk, celebrating biodiversity but also honouring the culture, heritage and tradition of the people and the place. The loop boasts a beautiful butterfly trail showcasing beauties like the Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) and the rarer Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas auriniaI), the only protected butterfly species in Ireland.

In June, Eileen Fahey, Chair of Kilteevan Tidy Towns and Tóchar Stories, a community engagement project under Tóchar Wetlands Restoration, spent a week with the school on a butterfly nature and art

project. The children learnt about butterfly species and then got to spot them on the bog and spent time, with artist Annie Holland, creating their own artwork for an end of term exhibition in the community hall next door to the school. Parents, siblings and grandparents turned up to see the work while the children got to tell their butterfly eco-stories, make badges of their own art

pieces and take the paintings home. The Tóchar team then returned to the school to present a postcard series to the children so they could send their art out to the world.

Tóchar Wetlands Restoration in the Midlands is co-funded by the Irish Government and EU under Just Transition Programme in Ireland and managed by the NPWS. Tóchar Stories is a two year community engagement strand supporting people, places and nature across the region. To find out more go to www.tocharwetlands.ie/tochar-stories

Kilteevan NS group shot with postcards and Eileen Fahey

Butterfly postcards at Kilteevan National School

IS THERE HOPE FOR IRELAND’S FRESHWATER HABITATS?

Blackwater and BLUE DOTS

River Cong. Photo: Pádraic Fogarty

BY BILLY FLYNN

About three months before this article was penned, a massive ecological calamity occurred on the River Blackwater in County Cork. It is estimated that somewhere around 50,000 fish were killed. These included salmon, trout, lamprey and eels. The first sightings of dead fish were on Saturday 9 August. Anglers and others shared photographs and accounts of what they saw. Some of these were shocking. Heavily marked and discoloured fish were seen over a stretch of river as long as 40km. Masses of dead fish were found, and severely injured live fish were also recorded. Fish that had been blinded by whatever had caused the event struggled through the water. Accounts kept coming in over the weeks that followed. Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) were finding dead fish up until the 22nd of August and marked or ailing fish until the 5th of September.

So what caused this disaster? Incredibly, at time of writing, it is still not known. What’s worse, it probably never will be. An investigation was launched led by IFI, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Cork County Council and the Marine Institute. They investigated no fewer than 31 EPA-regulated sites within the River Blackwater catchment, including industrial facilities, waste water treatment plants and drinking water treatment plants and found no causal link to the event. They also investigated 20 light industry and other commercial sites within the catchment and found no causal link to the event. They investigated 14 agricultural activities within the catchment and found no causal link to the event. Water quality was tested. Previous water quality results were examined. Despite all these efforts, no ‘smoking gun’ was found. Investigators were seeking what is known as a ‘point source’ of the pollution. A single location or activity that gave rise to sufficient pollution to overwhelm the river

Food industries make massive profits that run to millions. Their advertising frequently leans heavily on Ireland’s green landscape and unspoiled environment. But when they have been found to have been despoiling this environment with toxic pollution, the fines are a mere pittance

ecosystem to such an extent. It was never found. The nature of river pollution is such that it is probable that it never will be.

To say that there was outcry would be belittling the reaction to this. Some experienced anglers were certain that it was a novel disease that was affecting the fish. To have a pathogen causing such impacts across a range of species would be unlikely. Indeed, an examination of the fish killed found no evidence of such a disease-causing organism. Others were certain that the cause was industrial in origin. However, water quality testing found no evidence of chemical or heavy metal pollution and no such residue was found in the afflicted fish species. Others blamed a malfunctioning or overloaded wastewater treatment plant, while others placed the blame on agricultural sources. Again, water quality testing did not back this up.

While this author believes it is likely that no one source, be it point or diffuse, will ever be found, there is one thing that is certain. Our system of fines, when a culprit is identified and brought to book, is absolutely inadequate. Food industries make massive profits that run to millions. Their advertising frequently leans heavily on Ireland’s green landscape and unspoiled environment. But when they have been found to have been despoiling this environment with toxic pollution, the fines are a mere pittance to organisations such as theirs, running to the few thousands that could never be a realistic deterrent to pollution.

Uisce Eireann is another substantial body that has been responsible for fish kills but when fined for these it is a light wrist-slap. If the government

If businesses want to trade on the image of our natural environment, they should be made accountable to protect it as they have agreed to do

showed that it is serious about punishing polluters, then events such as the Blackwater disaster would be far less likely. It will take this river years to recover from this event. Fines of millions for polluters, that can well bear the cost, could be used to improve our monitoring and testing capability. Reactions to events such as this could be much faster. The gun could be found while it is still smoking and whoever was responsible for the discharge could be held to account. Another tool that the government may wield is the EPA licence. It is an unfortunate fact that many businesses breach the terms of their licences on an ongoing basis. This was borne out amid the investigations that the EPA and Cork County Council carried out in the wake of the Blackwater fiasco. Suspending the licence of industries that deliberately flout the conditions that they signed up to would hurt these businesses in the pocket too. If businesses want to trade on the image of our natural environment,

River Blackwater fish kill. Over 50,000 fish have perished, many of them mature, wild trout that are irreplaceable.

Photo: Mallow Trout Anglers Facebook page

The native White-clawed crayfish and invasive Zebra Mussels in Lough Owel. This image tells a story of the pressure on Irish freshwater ecosystems.

Photo Daniel Fildes

they should be made accountable to protect it as they have agreed to do.

The EPA’s 2025 river quality report indicates an overall decline in water quality, with 52% of Ireland's rivers, lakes, and estuaries being in satisfactory condition, down from 54% in the previous assessment. While a decrease in river Nitrogen levels was recorded, despite some targeted improvements in Phosphorus, the overall quality of Ireland's rivers, lakes, and estuaries has worsened. Things are not, it seems, going in the right direction.

Hope

It would be a shame to have this year-end article conclude on a gloomy or grumpy note. For a much happier story we will go north. In fact, all the way north to be within sight of the border with Northern Ireland. This story is also about a river but is set in a completely different catchment and has a nicer outcome. Last year, the author, along with a team of other scientists, were engaged on an unusual project on the Scotstown River in County Monaghan. This is a river catchment that has the proud claim to being a ‘Blue Dot’ catchment. In just the same way as a great beach can be named a Blue Flag Beach, rivers that reach and sustain the highest levels of water quality can be honoured with the Blue Dot title. There are only a handful of these in the whole country and this is the only one in Co. Monaghan. The project was an unusual one. It was to carry out a ‘deep dive’ into the ecology of the Scotstown catchment and identify what exactly makes it so good. Not only that but the team was charged with identifying any existing or potential threats to the pristine status that the river holds.

The project was conceived by the Tydavnet Group Water Scheme which is a key stakeholder in clean water in this area. It was supported by Monaghan County Council and the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO), as well as the nearest local authority across the border in Northern Ireland. A fun aspect of the project was that we also had to get everyone in the relevant areas involved. This included householders, schools, and farmers. A leaflet went to every door in the catchment telling them that this project was underway. Events with the two National Schools in the Scotstown catchment were arranged which saw dozens of children getting to look for creepy-crawlies in the river, see electrofishing being carried out and getting to hold brown trout, stone loach and crayfish in their hands.

Community engagement was an important element and events both outdoor and indoor were held. World Water Day was celebrated, a schools poster competition was held, and a farm walk was organised. Now this last one, I will admit, filled me with some trepidation. The event involved us leading farmers of the catchment along a stretch of river on land owned by a very kind farmer who

In just the same way as a great beach can be named a Blue Flag Beach, rivers that reach and sustain the highest levels of water quality can be honoured with the Blue Dot title

had allowed us all in for the day. Part of our job was to point out how agricultural activities could have negative impacts on the river and how these might be amended. Would any farmers actually give up their time to show up for this? How might our host take to suggestions for improvements?

In the end, we needn’t have worried. Despite it being a rainy day, the turnout was amazing. Volunteers had to be asked to assist with the attendees finding parking along the boreens around the site. Farmers and landowners were more than happy to wander along the river and discuss the various aspects that have made the river as good as it is and ways that it might be kept that way. While we might have feared pushback on some of the recommendations we were making, such as keeping livestock back from the river and allowing natural vegetation to act as a buffer zone, these fears turned out to be unfounded. Several of the farmers even shared information on how they have managed their lands in ways that are kind to watercourses. An amusing moment came when one farmer said that he had to spray herbicide to keep plants from growing to reach his electric fencing and another suggested that his neighbour was simply too lazy to go out and cut it.

The survey work we were required to do could scarcely be described as work. It was an opportunity to walk the length of one of the best quality rivers in the country. Some of the natural and semi-natural habitats that have developed there were diverse, beautiful and key to the river’s health. A rare plant was found, too, adding a little extra to the experience.

One great learning of the project was that we found people more than willing to understand why the catchment water quality is so good and why this is so important. The willingness of statutory bodies including the local authority and Inland Fisheries Ireland to assist was very reassuring. Another good lesson was learned on the ground. The natural barriers to pollution that exist are invaluable. They also provide flood and disease prevention, and they are free. All they take to exist is understanding and a little bit of management and they will do the rest.

The Dipper's habitat in Ireland is exclusively tied to fast-flowing, fresh waterways, especially in upland areas.

Photo: Mike Brown

BY TIM CLABON

OMillipedes A Marching of Feet

ne species of Irish wildlife frequently encountered is the Millipede. They are a member of an important group of animals worthy of exploration, the detritivores.

Let's start with their scientific classification. All animals are classified into groups based on body structure, developmental stages and evolutionary relationships. The classification starts at Kingdom for example the animal or plant kingdom. It then works its way down

through Phylum, Subphylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus until we get to the unique Species. Millipedes belong to the phylum Arthropoda (meaning ‘jointed feet’), the subphylum myriapoda (meaning ‘ten thousand feet’) and the class Diplopoda (meaning ‘double feet’). They share their sub-phylum with centipedes, who belong to another class called Chilopoda (meaning ‘hundred foot’).

That's a lot of feet! However, despite the naming, which is misleading, millipedes don’t have thousands of feet (nor do centipedes have hundreds of feet). For millipedes though, their class name Diplopoda (double feet) is not too far from the truth as millipedes have two pairs of feet per segment. Millipedes can be told apart from centipedes as millipedes have two pairs of feet per segment while

Millipedes can be told apart from centipedes as millipedes have two pairs of feet per segment while centipedes have only one pair

 Cylindroiulus punctatus (Blunt-Tailed Snake Millipede), usually found in woodland (photo taken in Germany)

Photo: iStockphoto

centipedes have only one pair. See the accompanying close-up photo of a millipede where you can make out the pairs situated close together on each body segment.

Millipedes prefer moist, sheltered spaces, such as that found under rocks, logs and leaf litter in a variety of woodland or grassland habitats. Millipedes can be found all year long and are frequently encountered in gardens however they are most often encountered in the spring and summer time as they have a tendency to come into people’s homes at that time of the year. No one quite knows the reason why they come indoors. It is likely that a change in humidity or temperature triggers a migration into people's homes. While not everyone sees millipedes invading their homes, quite often dead millipedes are found during spring cleans when furniture is moved.

The commonest millipede in Ireland is the black millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger), also called the white-legged snake millipede. Reports of this millipede invading homes in large numbers may not be an exaggeration. Despite their slow movements they seem to be good climbers, scaling walls with ease. In the wild they are frequently observed climbing trees to feed on algae and lichens. The Blunt-tailed Snake Millipede (Cylindroiulus punctatus) is another commonly encountered millipede living among decaying wood and leaf litter. The Blunt-tailed Snake Millipede can be identified by a club-like extension on its

telson (tail). Unlike the White Legged Snake Millipede, it doesn't like climbing so much.

But What Do Millipedes Do

Millipedes belong to the detrivores, a group of underrated organisms equally as important as the better known pollinators. The role they play in the ecosystem is helping with the breakdown of organic matter. They chew through dead leaves, wood and other organic matter quite often to get to fungal mycelium - thread-like structures of fungus. As they shred the decaying plant matter, they help microbes further breakdown organic matter which eventually gets returned to the soil as important nutrients which provide food for plants, which in-turn support the all-important pollinators. In actual fact, without these unseen and often un-noticed detritivores we wouldn’t have flowers at all!

Millipedes are believed to be one of the oldest land animals in existence (Brookfield. M. E et al 2020). In Scotland, a fossilised millipede-like creature, called Kampecaris obanensis, was discovered and dated to be around 425 million years old. Inhabiting a

Millipedes are believed to be one of the oldest land animals in existence

lakeside environment Kampecaris obanensis most probably ate decomposing plants. Fossils of the oldest known plant with a stem called cooksonia were found in the same region.

Around 65 species of millipede occur in the UK and Ireland, 10 of which are non-native and restricted to glasshouse environments. The White-legged Snake Millipede can reach up to 60mm in length (though usually seen around 40mm). The smallest millipede is the Bristly Millipede (Polyxenus lagurus), found in coastal habitats and measures at only 3mm. A medium sized millipede (Polydesmus sp) is frequently found in grassland or woodland habitats and often gets mistaken for predatory centipedes due to their flattened appearance. But a check of the number of legs per segment tells you they are millipedes. Like many species of millipedes, a close examination is needed to identify them to species level.

As well as being detritivores, important recyclers, millipedes provide food for species such as hedgehogs and shrews. Occasionally, they also turn up in spider webs. They have evolved to deal with their place as prey in the food web, and apart from the armoured exoskeleton (a feature shared by most arthropods) millipedes can also excrete an unpleasant liquid to put off potential predators.

So, while millipedes do create revulsion among some, they are a species to count on for maintaining a healthy functioning ecosystem. The next time you see one of these many legged creatures why not stop to consider their role in the web of life that we share with them.

References & Resources

You can find more info on millepedes on the MilliBase website here - https://millibase.org/

Brookfield, M. E., Catlos, E. J., & Suarez, S. E. (2020). Myriapod divergence times differ between molecular clock and fossil evidence: U/Pb zircon ages of the earliest fossil millipede-bearing sediments and their significance. Historical Biology, 33(10), 2009–2013. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2020.1761351

Tachypodoiulus niger (White-legged Snake Millipede), usually found under rocks or in rotting trees in gardens and woodland (photo taken in Germany)

Photo: iStockphoto”

BY ANNE SUNDERMANN

TALE Tar Spot’s

WHAT A COMMON FUNGUS CAN TELL US ABOUT OUR ENVIRONMENT

Winter’s leaf litter is a treasure trove for Ireland’s woodlands, providing organic material that will enrich the environment, create habitat for small animals and insects, and act as a nursery for seeds, fungi, lichen and other organisms. Many of the leaves are burdened with a tar-like black blotches. These leaves, often from sycamores or members of the Acer genus, have been overtaken by the fungus Rhytisma acerinum.

A plant pathogen, R. acerinum grows, feeds, and reproduces on its host tree. Because it extracts nutrients from living tissue, the fungi cannot grow apart from its host. Rhytisma acerinum is the cause of tar spot disease, but

Rhytisma acerinum is the cause of tar spot disease, but does little harm to its host. In fact, it is a harbinger of good air quality

does little harm to its host. In fact, it is a harbinger of good air quality.

Leaf-based Life Cycle

Rhytisma acerinum evolved in forested habitats with little exposure or tolerance for manmade stressors such as sulphur dioxide (SO2). It depends on healthy host tree species: if the host tree is stressed, then the fungal life cycle, which follows seasonally with its host tree, may be disrupted.

The first signs of infection by tar spot disease usually show up in late spring as pale yellow spots appear on leaves. These blotches enlarge over time into dark brown lesions, often with a yellow border. By summer’s end, the spots grow further still—up to 4 cm in diameter—with bumpy ridged surfaces, looking more or less like tar droplets. These lesions may cause leaves to drop prematurely in autumn, but the damage is mostly cosmetic. The Rhytisma fungus spends its winter tucked away in the stromata (connective tissue) and infects new leaf growth in spring.

Inside the lesions, Rhytisma forms a sterile tissue (stromata) inside the leaf. The stromata then grow mats of hyphae (branching filaments that form mycelium, the basic structure of a fungus), which in turn develop spore-producing bodies. The spores are ultimately ejected and transported by the wind.

Sentinel Species

Many species or communities of animals, plants, bacteria, fungi, algae, lichens, and planktons act as bioindicators, and are used to make inferences on the quality of the environment. Their presence or absence, and population changes over time can reflect robust or compromised environmental quality. Researchers use fungi not only as passive indicators of environmental health, but also as active agents in both biomonitoring and remediation, termed mycoindicators. Warnasuriya and colleagues (2023) define mycoindicators as representing “the effective individual species of fungi, fungal communities, symbiotic associations with a fungal component, cellular and molecular biomarkers of fungi which can be used to assess environmental conditions.”

Naturally occurring fungi in the soil, sediment, and water have inherent capabilities to survive undesirable conditions. Fungi respond rapidly to environmental alterations and stressors, and are often host-specific. Fungi have been used to indicate freshwater ecosystem quality, soil contamination (particularly with heavy metals), and changes in air quality.

Easy to Spot

In the case of R. acerinum, its characteristic black tar spot is reduced or absent on Acer leaves in urban and industrial areas with high sulphur dioxide (SO2) or other air pollution, while more abundant in rural, less-polluted settings. Bevan & Greenhalgh (1976) showed that the number of tar-spot lesions per unit leaf area was inversely correlated with average atmospheric SO2 concentrations (tolerance limit ~ 90 µg/m-3). This sensitivity to air pollutants such as SO2 makes it an attractive and easily identified environmental indicator.

A UK-based citizen-science survey showed that although elevated SO2 was a major cause of absence of tar-spot symptoms in the 1970s, there is more recent influence by elevated nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and other environmental drivers such as temperature and rainfall (Gosling et al., 2016).

Recent work on lichenized fungi by Spanish researchers (Rodriguez et al., 2025) further illustrates the general sensitivity of fungi to air quality such as sulphur and nitrogen dioxide

deposition, and other man-made environmental disturbances. In addition, research by Maurya and Pachauri (2022) concludes that “fungal communities can biodegrade or bio-transform the toxic organic and inorganic pollutants into less harmful form, which suggests their role in bioremediation of environmental pollutants.”

Tar spots from R. acerinum act as a sort of shorthand for general air quality. Rhytisma’s cellular and metabolic sensitivity to SO2 leads to oxidative stress, which damages its proteins, enzymes, and membranes. This resultant sensitivity to air pollutants such as SO2 may lead to a failure in spore production. When R. acerinum appears in abundance, it suggests a relatively undisturbed ecosystem that includes retained leaf litter, healthy tree hosts, and low air pollutant burden. When the R. acerinum population declines, that absence may indicate environmental disturbances in habitat, such as increased pollution.

Bioindicators are a cost-effective and reliable means to evaluate environmental changes, according to Maurya & Pachauri (2022) . Monitoring tar-spot incidence over time and space can provide a low-cost, integrative measure of habitat conditions and provide valuable insights in environmental quality of forests and woodlands.

RESOURCES

Bevan, R.J., & Greenhalgh, G.N. (1976). Rhytisma acerinum as a biological indicator of pollution, Environmental Pollution, 10(4) 271-285,

Ediriweera, A. N., Karunarathna, S. C., Yapa, P. N., Schaefer, D. A., Ranasinghe, A. K., Suwannarach, N., & Xu, J. (2022). Ectomycorrhizal Mushrooms as a Natural Bio-Indicator for Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution. Agronomy, 12(5), 1041. https://doi.org/10.3390/ agronomy12051041

Gosling, L., Ashmore, M., Sparks, T., & Bell, N. (2016), Citizen science identifies the effects of nitrogen dioxide and other environmental drivers on tar spot of sycamore. Environmental Pollution, Jul;214:549-555.

Maurya, G.K., & Pachauri, S. (2022). Fungi: The indicators of pollution, in Freshwater Mycology, Bandh, S. A., & Shafi, S. (Eds.). Elsevier, pp. 277-296.

Warnasuriya, S.D., Udayanga, D., Manamgoda, D.S., & Biles, C. (2023). Fungi as environmental bioindicators, Science of The Total Environment, 892, 164583.

Researchers use fungi not only as passive indicators of environmental health, but also as active agents in both biomonitoring and remediation, termed mycoindicators

Macro view of Rhytisma acerinum (Tar Spot Fungus) on Acer (Maple) leaf. Photo: iStockphoto

Chytisma acerinum (Tar Spot Fungus) on leaf litter. Photo: iStockphoto

HIDE AND SEEK

in Ireland’s Wild Places

CAMERA TRAPS SHEDDING LIGHT ON IRISH MAMMAL POPULATIONS

BY DR ADAM F. SMITH

Dr Adam F. Smith is a Wildlife Ecologist and Postdoctoral Researcher at University College Dublin’s Laboratory of Wildlife Ecology and Behaviour. He has worked from east to west across Europe, studying large mammals and coordinating biodiversity monitoring in protected areas such as nature reserves and national parks.

Everyone can attest to the sheer thrill of observing wildlife. We are biologically programmed to be in awe of nature, and watching animals evokes a deeply rooted emotional link to our ancestral past as hunters and cohabitants of the same environments. It is something so intrinsically human that, thankfully, most people retain such emotions throughout their lives. One might therefore be forgiven for thinking that deploying hundreds of wildlife cameras (“camera traps”) across Ireland is simply an excuse to indulge a fascination with the wildlife all around us. However, there is a far deeper and more strategic scientific purpose behind these efforts—one that brings an entirely new dimension to observing wildlife.

A Story of Collaboration

In 2021, we initiated a small pilot cameratrap survey of just twenty locations in central County Wicklow, with the goal of ensuring Ireland’s representation in a new

Europe-wide project called Snapshot Europe. The concept of the project is simple yet powerful: numerous research groups across Europe follow a shared methodology and pool their data to advance research on the continent’s mammals.

Following the success of that pilot, recognition of the value of such collaborative data collection has grown considerably. We have spurred a wave of new efforts to support the conservation and management of Ireland’s wildlife through systematic monitoring using wildlife camera traps—and, as a result, the Irish branches of the Snapshot Europe tree have flourished.

This year, more than 175 cameras are operating across nine Irish projects. While Wicklow remains the largest single project by camera number, County Kerry now hosts the greatest array of project sites, including Killarney National Park, Uragh Wood Nature Reserve, and the newly established Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara on the Dingle Peninsula. Representation from Wild Nephin (Mayo)

and Connemara (Galway) National Parks continues into a third year, and 2025 will see new survey areas added in Moore Hall (Mayo), Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve (Cork), and the Slieve Bloom Mountains (Laois) additionally to the Kerry project areas. None of this would be possible without the assistance of numerous enthusiastic individuals, volunteers, and project partners. The dedicated volunteers of ReWild Wicklow, for example, steward camera traps in their localities. National Parks and Wildlife Service rangers deploy and retrieve cameras and facilitate access to Ireland’s natural treasures. Both Coillte and private landowners have provided access to forests across the country. Moreover, scientists from University College Dublin, Atlantic Technological University, Munster Technological University, and University College Cork have all recognised that the potential for collaboration and collective data collection far exceeds what any one institution could achieve alone.

From Photos to Data

When an animal passes in front of a camera trap, an infrared sensor is triggered, activating the device and capturing a burst of photographs. This process is replicated across dozens of cameras operating for months at a time, after which the photographs are retrieved from memory cards. The thousands of resulting images are



Irish Hare Connemara

Photo: Dr Adam F. Smith

processed in specialised software that groups them into sequences for review by a combination of automated computervision tools and trained human observers.

The end product is a dataset of species observations, each tagged with spatial and temporal information, ready for scientific analysis. But what wildlife do these datasets actually reveal?

We eagerly await the first images from the new projects in Mayo, Kerry, Cork, and Laois. Meanwhile, we can reflect on nearly four years of accumulated photo data— comprising hundreds of thousands of images—from the Wicklow, Wild Nephin, and Connemara projects. Virtually all terrestrial mammals known from Ireland have now been recorded, from tiny field mice to red deer stags weighing several hundred kilograms. Even birds make occasional appearances, with woodpeckers and buzzards often stealing the show.

In Wicklow, sika deer dominate the mammal community, comprising a heavily skewed 80–90 % of all detections annually—and every camera deployed to date (more than 150 in total) has recorded them. In Connemara and Wild Nephin National Parks, detections are sheepdominated, although red fox, Irish hare, and red deer also feature prominently. The contrasts between these sites illustrate how landscape structure shapes wildlife communities: the open habitats of Connemara yield more detections of Irish hares and red deer, whereas the forested sites of Wild Nephin and Wicklow record comparatively more foxes and badgers.

From Data to Action

The collected data allow us to assess and analyse mammal abundance, habitat preferences, behaviour, and temporal trends. Comparing sites enables us to identify where and why mammal communities differ. Such indices form the cornerstone of evidence-based wildlife management and conservation—an area

that Ireland has, regrettably, long underprioritised. The old adage rings true: “That which is not measured cannot be improved.” And I am sure we all agree, there is much room for improvement.

One of the most urgent management needs across our study sites is the development of data-informed deer management to bring overabundant populations to sustainable levels. When implemented properly, this benefits both the deer themselves and the wider ecosystem by alleviating browsing pressure on regenerating native trees and other vegetation. Moreover, it supports safer and more sustainable human–deer coexistence

in landscapes shared with roads, agriculture, and forestry.

Similar logic applies to domestic grazers, such as free-roaming sheep in Connemara and Wild Nephin, or the feral goats which are occasionally recorded and have little ecological justification for their presence in national parks.

These data also enable monitoring of invasive species, such as the American mink and grey squirrel, as well as rare native species, like stoats, helping us understand the factors that underpin their presence and absence in different areas. We can investigate how their abundances and behaviours relate to environmental factors such as climate or human disturbance, or how they interact with their predators and their prey. For instance, the recovery of the pine marten is an undoubted success story—but what drives this resurgence in the different locales? Is it prey abundance, forest composition, or human tolerance? How can we further facilitate their population expansion and range recovery? Right now, these questions and management concerns are on the table, and are being examined by scientists and students.

Looking Forward

The concept of the project is simple yet powerful: numerous research groups across Europe follow a shared

methodology

and pool

their

data

to

advance research on the continent’s mammals

The Irish contingent of the Snapshot Europe project demonstrates that scientific collaboration, ambition, and dedication are a winning formula for monitoring Ireland’s wildlife. We are proud of the connections forged with local communities, funders, and partner organisations that sustain this work. Ultimately, the data we collect are instrumental in helping to restore balance to Ireland’s ecosystems and relieve the pressures that threaten its natural heritage. Measured and directed actions to improve our natural world are only possible with good information, and we are sure this is one great leap in the right direction.

 Pine Marten Wicklow

Photo: Dr Adam F. Smith

 Badger Wild Nephin Photo: Dr Adam F. Smith

GORDON D'ARCY

- 25 years on Forest Park Terryland

GORDON D’ARCY

The creation of an urban forest extending from Galway city boundary to its heart more than a quarter of a century ago was an unprecedented endeavour. It has involved the commitment of hundreds of individuals, mainly volunteers - resident groups, scientists, educators, planners and others. More than 150,000 trees have been planted and a variety of other habitats have been established along the length of this ecological mosaic.

To give readers a flavour of the Park and provide insights into this widely acclaimed project, I interviewed Brendan Smith, a founding member of the Terryland Forest Park project and chairperson of the Tuatha volunteers.

Gd’A: The 25th anniversary of Terryland Forest Park in the centre of Galway City was an outstanding success, not least because of the attendance of the president of Ireland who has been an avid supporter of the project from its early days. What are your thoughts on the event and the disparate organisations and individuals attending?

BS: The June 6th event officiated by President Michael D. Higgins was a wonderful positive celebration of 25 years of Ireland’s first urban native woodland. It represented a fitting finale to the park’s first quarter of a century and an inspiring vision for its future. In front of an audience of school children,

CELEBRATING IRELAND’S FIRST URBAN NATIVE WOODLAND

students, teachers, national politicians, city councillors, scientists, community activists, artists, senior local government officials, businesses, park volunteers and the Mayor of Galway city, the President paid tribute to a remarkable transformation, due to a proactive partnership of City Hall and community volunteers, of an urban landscape of bare fields, rubble and a litter-strewn river into a wonderful mosaic of woods, meadows, wetlands, pasture and native orchards populated by a diverse range of fauna and flora.

GdA: You coined the word 'Plantathon'. Can you explain this enormously successful concept?

BS: The term refers to a large-scale planting of trees and wildflowers by community volunteers over the course of one day. It is meant to inspire the general public and specific groups such as schools and workplaces to come together in large numbers for a thematic event that could truly transform a landscape, for instance from a relatively sterile field into biodiversity-rich woods or meadows. We endeavour to accompany these ‘Plantathons’, often held on an bi-annual or annual basis, with music and art workshops in order to foster an atmosphere of friendliness and fun as well as a sense of community spirit and civic pride. Over 30,000 trees have been planted by community volunteers through these ‘Plantathons’.

plantathon 2000. Photo: Brendan Smith

GdA: It was decided from the outset that only native Irish trees would be planted; of the dozen or more species which were more successful and why?

BS: Thanks to your goodself Gordon, the park from its inception adopted a policy of planting native Irish trees only. This was in order to encourage the development of ecosystems that would hark back to the temperate rainforests that once covered much of Ireland until the period of colonial plantations.

GdA: It has been argued that the Park is as much about people as trees. Do you agree?

BS: Absolutely! The park was from the beginning officially labelled both the “Green Lungs of Galway City” and the “People’s Park”. There was at the time a call, from the local government and the park’s multi-sectoral steering committee, to citizens to claim ownership of this exciting addition to the city’s landscape. This was collaboration at its best; all of Galway working towards the new concept of an ‘eco’ or ‘green’ city, tackling climate change and biodiversity loss whilst promoting eco-culture, cross-community engagement, art and health in nature programmes well before these terms went mainstream or were properly understood.

GdA: What is the Galway Tuatha? How has it been involved in the Park?

BS: ‘Túath’ or ‘Tuatha’ in Old Irish can mean both a geographical territory as well as the people who lived in that area. In ancient Ireland, there was a belief that people were part of Nature and not separate from it. So we use this term to refer to the volunteers who work in the Terryland Forest Park who understand that by their actions they are bringing the ‘jungle’ back into our everyday urban lives. Today’s ‘take, make and waste’ linear economy is contributing to the global climate and biodiversity crises. So we need to conserve, nurture and respect the natural world especially on a planet that is increasingly becoming urbanised. The Terryland Forest Park is part of the process of safeguarding the thousands of non-human species that can live in a city.

GdA: Do you have any data on biodiversity? Is it known how many species of flora and fauna inhabit the Park?

BS: Volunteers and other groups such as university and school science students undertake regular biodiversity surveys of the

Park. For instance in the case of fauna, we have confirmed 53 species of birds, 12 species of butterfly, 6 species of Bumblebee, 12 species of Damselfly and Dragonfly, 6 species of bats as well as 10 other species of mammals. With its wonderful mix of habitats which include meadows, orchards, woods, wetlands and rock outcrops, - many of which were developed by volunteers - our mantra has been “Build it and they will come.”

GdA: Do you think that a balance between nature and recreation has been achieved? Are there any issues with anti-social behaviour or vandalism in the Park?

BS: Sadly not yet. It is always difficult to set up and protect areas for wildlife in a city that is expanding and where there is understandably pressure to build more housing and infrastructure of roads and recreational facilities. But the last government’s decision to fund climate offices and biodiversity officers for local authorities was a game-changer; allowing the protection of wildlife habitats and for environmental policies to be prioritised. However, we urgently need the establishment in Galway of a full time properly funded and human resourced unit of park rangers and wardens, with new bye-laws to be enacted to protect Terryland and other parks from anti-social behaviour.

GdA: I know that for many years you have been involved in using the Park as an 'outdoor classroom' for students at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Could you elaborate on this?

BS: The natural world has to be central to all aspects of the educational curriculum. Hosting classrooms amongst the trees is an important aspect of this tenet.

The best teacher for our children and indeed humanity is Nature. We could learn so much from the natural world in science, engineering, technology, wellbeing, art and literature. For instance the best example of the so-called Circular Economy is a tree: it is powered by renewable energy (Sun), uses locally sourced materials (nutrients from soil & CO2 from the air) to produce foodstuffs (sugars) and life-giving oxygen, filters out toxics in the air and generates no environmentally-damaging discharges or waste from its manufacturing process.

GdA: What about the future? Could you see the example of Terryland Forest Park being incorporated into the expansionist plans of other cities?

BS: Cities of the future need to be ‘Smart’ and ‘Green’, characterised by vibrant rainforests, clean rivers and a network of greenways, hedgerows, waterways and other types of ecological corridors connecting into their hinterlands. This is what is happening all across the world with cities such as Adelaide, Breda, Chattanooga and London earning the status of ‘National Park Cities’.

The idea of active living urban green spaces rich in biodiversity, acting as ‘carbon sinks’, ‘tranquil zones’ and outdoor classrooms, labs and gyms such as Terryland Forest Park are essential to the sustainable future of all cities.

The Terryland Forest Park is part of the process of safeguarding the thousands of non-human species that can live in a city

Plantathon 2025. Photo: Brendan Smith

1. Stonechat by Aaron O’Hara

2. Humpbacks, Donegal Bay by Jamie Quirke

3. Kingfisher by Martine Boer-Reid

4. Phoenix Park by Mark Cullen

5. Irish Hare scratching his nose by Philip Smyth

6. Comma butterfly by Matt Smyth

COMPETITION

For this season’s members only competition you have a chance to win a copy of Frog Routes, Polka-Dot Newts and Other Treasures of Irish Nature by Anja Murray

by Anja Murray

FROG ROUTES, POLKA-DOT NEWTS AND OTHER TREASURES OF IRISH

NATURE

Beneath our feet, in our hedgerows, trees and under our seas lies a complex community of beings that goes unseen and unheard by us humans. Soil is the stuff of life itself, bustling with microbes, fungi, beetles and earthworms that soften seeds, nurture saplings and provide all the potential for spring’s bounty. Ferns, primroses, wild violet and canopy leaves of overhead trees are the framework for the hidden power behind a butterfly wing or the singing of a wren.

Entry instructions

Here, Anja Murray fills us with wonder for the wonderful world of Ireland’s wild plants and animals through the seasons. From fungi to the origins of feral pigeons, primroses to sea turtles, each piece contains elements of science, history and folklore. Witness the extraordinary mating rituals of frogs and hares. Discover the incredible secret language of mice in their epic daily battle to survive and avoid capture with the swoop of the sparrowhawk.

To enter the competition just answer this yes / no question -

Are hermit crabs found in Irish waters?

This is an IWT members only competition. To enter the draw send your answer, name, and address to magazinecomp@iwt.ie by 1st February 2026.

iwt.ie/get-involved/badger-club/