Get Planting In Your Community!

By RACHEL BUDD Horticulturist, IRD Duhallow

Biodiversity, like many, is a word which is thrown around so often these days that we all know the word, but we don’t necessarily understand the reality of the loss of our native species, and how it is vital that they be preserved.

We as a species are not an island, to massively misquote John Donne; we cannot survive without the intricate ecosystem that we are a part of. And yet we wilfully damage and destroy systems that have taken millennia to evolve and develop, and we don’t even yet know or understand exactly how many different species of flora, fauna, micro and macroorganisms, bacteria, and fungi make up these systems or how they interact with each other. Often we only notice the loss of species when their disappearance starts impacting on other more familiar species.

The Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland assessment in 2021 showed that 25% of Ireland’s regularly occurring bird species are in severe decline with an additional 37% showing moderate declines.

All together 63% of Ireland’s bird species are in serious trouble. We might start to notice the lack of familiar birds in the skies, but have we noticed the huge decline in the insects that they need to eat, or the destruction of nesting sites and food sources through intensive farming practices and hedgerow destruction? And birds are only one example; species decline is happening across the board and is one the largest threats to our survival.

So what can we do? How can we change this?

The first step in any recovery is to recognise that there is a problem. Only then can we start working to remedy it. Small steps do work, we can’t on our own change global agricultural and industrial practices, but we can, in our own spaces and our communities, be mindful of our own behaviour. We can stop using

harmful pesticides, we can leave wild spaces alone, just to be wild and we can allow other previously managed ground to become wild. We don’t have to be in control of everything all of the time.

And we can plant trees, and hedgerows, and flowering shrubs, and fruit trees and sustainable wild flowers all around our community spaces. Each and every one of these plants will provide food and shelter to a variety of wild species, even if we cannot see them, and each of these will support a further range of species and so on until natural systems can reassert themselves.

Luckily, our LEADER funded Communities Planting for Biodiversity Programme at IRD Duhallow is running for a second year, providing native trees, hedging, shrubs, and flowers to all communities. This funding supports community groups and schools to work together to promote biodiversity in every town and village in Duhallow.

To find out more about this project, please contact Helen O’Sullivan or Rachel Budd at IRD Duhallow 029 60633 or duhallow@irdduhallow.com.

And get planting!