4th July Green Drinks - Gardening for Wildlife

This month Dublin Green Drinks heard Ricky Whelan of the IWT Laois Offaly Branch give a talk on Gardening With Wildlife In Mind - in other words how to develop any space to be more friendly and inviting to wildlife and wild plants. This could involve habitat creation like having a pond in your garden, or a wild space for the nettles, or it could involve planting pollinator friendly plants, native species.

Ricky gave a very informative talk, full of amusing anecdotes, and stressed how easy it was for even the person with the least knowledge of gardening or tiniest space to contribute to wildlife. Even a window box can be a help! Hopefully  those attending were inspired to go home with a fresh enthusiasm for gardening with wildlife in mind!

Ricky Whelan also works as a Project Officer for BirdWatch Ireland and is heavily involved in the Abbeyleix Bog project in south Laois. 

Ricky showing us a bat box

July 5th - Green Drinks: "What can be done to keep the bee"

This July the Dublin Branch gathered to hear Kieran Flood, IWT Conservation Officer talking about the important issue of the threats facing our pollinating insects, especially bees, and asking the question: "What can be done to keep the bee?

According to Kieran, bee numbers have been declining in Ireland, Europe and beyond, due to loss of habitat and insecticides. This is a matter of major concern as so many of our plants cannot bear fruit unless they are pollinated, including many important food crops. There is an attempt to tackle this problem with an All Ireland Pollinator Plan - an island wide plan to help protect our bees.

Kieran outlined that while the honey bee is important in pollination, the bumblebee also plays a vital role in the pollination of many wild flowers. The talk then delved a little deeper into the wonderful world of Irish bumblebees, of which there are twenty species in Ireland! Kieran went through some of the more common species, which can be distinguished by their distinctive markings - as shown in the handy diagrams below.

3rd May - Green Drinks - Hedgehog Rescue

The Dublin Branch of IWT this month heard from Yvonne McCann from Hedgehog Rescue Dublin talk about the how the organisation got started, the threats facing wildlife (both natural and human caused) and the trials faced by wildlife rehabbers in Ireland. Practical advice was given on the night about what to do if you come across a hedgehog casualty with added insights into the rehab process.

Hedgehogs face a variety of threats, from strimmers, to traffic, to disturbance during hibernation and need all the help they can get. Yvonne and her friends in Hedgehog Rescue work entirely voluntarily and rely on donations and the help of friendly vets for support. You can find Hedgehog Rescue Dublin on Facebook.

2nd February - Green Drinks The Pine Marten

This month the IWT Dublin Branch heard Ruth Hanniffy, Ireland Projects Support Officer in the Vincent Trust give a talk on these fascinating and little known animals, that are making a bit of a comeback in Ireland, and may just be helping to control the grey squirrel!

Once common throughout the country, by the 20th century the pine marten had become extinct from the majority of Ireland, surviving only in a few isolated and fragmented populations mainly in the west. The main reasons for the species’ decline were related to hunting for its fur; loss of habitat through the destruction of forests; direct and indirect poisoning and persecution as a potential predator of livestock/game populations. As all of these factors declined, so has the pine marten recovered so that it has extended its range across most of Ireland. However, the most recent estimate is that there are only about 2,700 individuals on the island, so it is still Ireland's rarest mammal and will remain vulnerable for the foreseeable future.

The spread of the pine marten has coincided with the decline of the grey squirrel, which is now missing from large parts of its former range in the midlands, roughly the same areas where the pine marten is now expanding. It is thought that the pine marten may have a hand in this, by predating on the greys more than the reds, as the greys are heavier, and live more on the ground, making it harder for them to escape. At the moment however, this is only speculation, and further investigation is needed. Ruth will shortly be beginning studies on behalf of The Vincent Trust trying to get further evidence of what exactly is going on, by studying the interaction of both red and grey squirrels with this elusive creature. You can learn more about the pine marten at : http://www.mammals-in-ireland.ie/species/pine-marten

Green Drinks 5th January - 'Our Grass has always been this Green'

This month Dublin's Green Drinks heard IWT's Padraic Fogarty talking about how agriculture has shaped our landscape for centuries, but in its modern form just how environmentally friendly is it? Despite the official image of Ireland promoted by the government in its Origin Green labelling programme, with its slogan that 'our grass has always been this green', a lot of modern agriculture is having a destructive impact on our environment. Farmland biodiversity has been declining for the last three decades, which makes a mockery of the idea that Irish food is sustainably produced.

While Origin Green does monitor carbon emissions, it does nothing to stop the pollution of our watercourses from farm run-off, the decline in farmland birds, the needless culling of badgers, or the degradation of our uplands. For example, pollution of our rivers from silage and slurry run-off threatens the survival of species, such as the rare fresh water mussel, and the continuing destruction of our hedgerows is depriving many wildlife species of desperately needed habitat.

Pádraic also talked about what's in store for nature as government plans for ever-increasing production are rolled out, and about the ways we can accommodate the needs of farming and nature conservation. However, it is obvious that at the moment, environmental concerns are not given anything like the weight they should by politicians and civil servants, and conservation agencies remain badly underfunded. Unless things change we are facing a serious biodiversity crisis on this island.

Green Drinks 3rd November - Community Energy

The November Green Drinks, on Tuesday, November the 3rd, saw Kate Ruddock of Friends of the Earth Ireland talking on Community energy - how small local community groups can together use energy and resources most efficiently, and in a way that does least ecological damage. This has been slow to take off in Ireland compared to other countries, for various reasons, including a difficulty in selling excess energy onto the national grid. However, with enough determination, communities can achieve successful projects that provide them with self sufficiency in clean renewable energy.  

One of the most hopeful projects is happening on the Aran Islands, where the islanders are aiming to make the islands completely self sufficient in energy using wind power by 2022. Another place where this has been done is in Templederry, Co. Tipperary where the Templederry Community Group have constructed a windfarm.

The government is also going to introduce a White Paper for a scheme to allow local communities to form co-ops and invest in windfarms. It is hoped that this will chart a way forward for local communities and also help to lay to rest some of the controversies that have sprung up around windfarms in recent times. Progress towards renewables is happening, even if the pace of change is often frustratingly slow.

7th July - Green Drinks The folklore of Irish Plants and Herbs

This month on Green Drinks Dublin Branch member Niall Mac Coitir spoke about the customs and stories about our native plants and flowers, including their herbal uses. Some of the plants he talked about included well-known 'weeds' or wild flowers such as dandelion, also known as 'piss-a-bed' because of its diuretic properties, and lesser celandine also known as 'pilewort' from the belief in its power to cure piles or haemorrhoids. Other folk uses included eating the young leaves of nettles, in broth or soup on account of their vitamins, and using the older leaves to sting those suffering from arthritis or rheumatism! Another interesting plant is meadowsweet, which was used to cure fevers, coughs and colds, and which contains salicylate, the same substance that is found in aspirin. 

A fact that emerged from the talk is that it is fair to say that practically every plant that grows wild  has some herbal use or other. A lively debate ensued, during which it was agreed that our native Irish plants a huge and nowadays neglected resource of cures and herbal remedies.

Prunella or self-heal, widely used in Irish folk medicine
to heal wounds, and in a tea as a pick-me-up

Lesser Celandine or pilewort

Meadowsweet

5th May Green Drinks - Abbeyleix Bog Project

On 5th May last the Dublin Branch of IWT heard about the Abbeyleix Bog project (ABP)  for its Green Drinks meeting in May. Chris Uys from the Projectoutlined how this innovative community project is saving a local bog for future generations. The ABP stemmed from a local action group known as AREA (Abbeyleix Residents for Environment Action) which was established in 2000 to conserve and protect the bog which was threatened with harvesting for peat moss. Following negotiations with Bord Na Móna a lease was signed in 2010 which handed the bog over to the local community to manage for a period of 50 years with a primary focus on conservation.

A huge amount of work has been done on the bog to date, blocking drains to rewet it, building a walkway so that people can enjoy the bog without damaging it, and removing invasive species like rhododendron. as a result the bog is regenerating and the number of species of wild plants and animals is rising all the time. According to Chris, local involvement is absolutely key to the project's success, with local people giving their time and energy to progress the bog's restoration as a local amenity. Truly an inspirational project!

Abbeyleix damsel fly

November 4th - Green Drink - Save Our Sharks!

On Tuesday, November 4th the Dublin Branch of IWT had its monthly Green Drinks meeting to hear Dr Sarah Varian of Marine Dimensions talk about the Purse Search Ireland project, set up to monitor Ireland's shark and ray species.

In 2007, Purse Search Ireland was set up in a desperate effort to save our critically endangered sharks and rays, by encouraging the Irish public to report their observations of mermaids’ purses around Ireland’s coastline. Mermaids’ purses, which are actually the eggcases of sharks, skates and rays, sometimes wash up on the seashore, indicating that there's a nursery close by. It was hoped that the public’s participation could be used to provide information necessary for fisheries conservation management, while at the same time raising public awareness for Ireland’s marine wildlife and environment.

Sarah informed the meeting that the response to the project has provided a lot of valuable information on the distribution of shark and ray species, which will be useful in devising conservation strategies. Several 'hotspots' have been identified, including Tralee Bay, which for some reason has a wide variety of ray species. It is in finding out this kind of information and figuring out the reasons for it, that the project will prove its worth.

A spotted ray purse found in County Mayo this year

7th October Green Drinks -the red squirrel

This month's Green Drinks heard Denis O'Meara, Project Officer for the Mammals in a Sustainable Environment (MISE) project talk about the history of the red squirrel in Ireland. Red, charming, and so very Irish, red squirrels were once the most iconic Irish species, inhabiting trees across the country. After a series of lost battles with the American grey squirrel and haphazard reintroduction programmes, they're now one of the rarest. Denise took us on a journey through time, bridging historical records from the fur and live animal trade to the modern technology that's bringing them back. It seems red squirrels were introduced numerous times into Ireland, and may have gone extinct in the past, due to habitat loss and hunting pressures. In other words, the red squirrels we have were all introduced from Britain in historic times. That does not mean however, that they are not worth preserving!

MISE is a scientific outreach and education project based at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), Ireland, that aims to increase awareness of mammals in Ireland and Wales through the organisation of wildlife surveys and events. Denise has been surveying for pine marten, otters, stoats, squirrels, bats and small mammals using non-invasive survey techniques complimented with DNA verification of field evidence such as faeces and hair. During her PhD project (completed at WIT), she developed and optimised a DNA toolbox that can be applied to hair-tube surveys of red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris). You can follow Denise on her own blog at www.domeara.org

Green Drinks 5th August - Fracking

This month the Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin Branch heard Richard Curtin from No Fracking Dublin explore the dangers of fracking and how this could have the potential to come to Ireland very soon as part of our energy mix.

Fracking has being hailed by the fossil fuel industry as one of great technical development in recent years, championed as the answer to energy independence for the US and Europe as well as the bridge fuel to the low carbon economy as well.

But fracking has many dirty secrets, everything from water and air pollution, human and animal health impacts, to false economic of the how process works, to the negative impact it has on the climate change.

Richard outlined the plans to bring fracking to Ireland, north and south. Initially the border region of Sligo/Leitrim and Fermanagh is being looked at, but there is the potential for more areas if fracking is allowed there first. However there is hope, as fracking is creating substantial opposition north and south. In Northern Ireland in particular, where proposals are more advanced, it seems that fracking may not proceed just yet, as a recent proposal from Fracking Company Tamboran has been turned down. An issue to keep a close eye on!

How fracking works 1

How fracking works 2

3rd June Green Drinks - Misunderstood Moths

On Tuesday 3rd June the Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin Branch gathered in JW Sweetmans to hear Catherine Bertrand of Butterfly Conservation Northern Ireland discuss moths, one of the most misunderstood creatures in our backyards.

Moths to many of us as small, brown, boring, jumper-munching pests. Come along to find out just how marvellous moths are, how many hundreds of species surround us and the strange and unique roles they play in our ecosystem. Do you know your Brimstone from your Brimstone moth? Your Swallow-tail from your Swallow-tailed? Catherine filled in the audience about how moths come in all shapes, sizes and colours, from the spectacular Elephant Hawkmoth in shades of brown and purple to the black and red cinnabar moth, with its black and yellow striped caterpillars. Contrary to popular belief, many moths fly in the daytime and can be seen in our gardens and meadows.


Altogether moths are far more interesting than most people think, and you can see some of the wide variety of our native moths with the  following link to a leaflet produced by Butterfly Conservation NI


 

6th May Green Drinks - Return of the Eagle!

This month's topic was a dramatic one! The IWT Dublin Branch heard Ronan Hannigan talk about how in 2001, 100 years after the extinction of native raptors, the Golden Eagle Trust launched an ambitious reintroduction programme to bring birds of prey back to Ireland. The plan has met with widespread public support but also poisonings, shootings, opposition and setbacks. After a century, have raptors finally returned to the Irish skies? And are they here to stay? There are three programmes going on at the moment, reintroduction of the golden eagle to Donegal, of the White-tailed eagle to Kerry and the red kite into Wicklow.

Ronan Hannigan, who is Chairman of the Golden Eagle Trust, gave a funny, informative and eye opening talk about the two charities he established, the reintroductions he works on, and how two of our species of Eagle and the Red Kite are returning to Ireland after a long absence. Despite the setbacks, Ronan is optimistic that the reintroductions will succeed in the long term.

Green Drinks 1st April - Energy Efficiency in the Public Sector

This month the Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin Branch heard Anna Heussaff from Dublin Friends of the Earth talking about the huge savings that could be made by making the public sector more energy efficient. Imagine saving at least €120 million a year in public spending without pay cuts, reductions in services or redundancies. Let’s also imagine saving over 2,000 GWh and 500 Kt of CO2 emissions equivalent at the same time, as part of Ireland’s contribution to stop climate change becoming a catastrophe.

Let’s say that all this can be done within two years. Sounds too good to be true? It’s actually government policy, but like many other policies, it’s short on urgent action.

Anna explored some examples of good practice in saving energy, and the results of research which highlights the widespread lack of action and energy wastage across the public sector. Many of the savings could be from simple things, like not leaving lights on all night, ensuring buildings are properly insulated and installing solar panels on buildings.

4th March Green Drinks - invasion of the pitcher plants!

Pitcher Plants Invade Our Precious Peatlands!

The Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin Branch continue to bring you the very best of green issues with Green Drinks Dublin on the first Tuesday of every month! This month, we heard Louise Duignan, wildlife biologist, ecologist, and graduate of Trinity College Dublin speaking about her research on an invasive bug-eating pitcher plant that was introduced to Ireland from just a handful of seedlings in the early 1900's. Since then it has managed to spread throughout our delicate peatlands creating huge colonies of this beautiful but damaging plant. While it is beautiful, the pitcher plants from North America crowd out native flora, and even have an effect on the native fauna, by destroying sources of food and shelter.

The plants were originally placed in the bog in various parts of Ireland by commercial growers who wanted to grow them for garden centres and saw the bogs as a convenient source of 'vacant' wasteland, and later by individuals who wanted to 'improve' the bogs. Once established the plants are impossible to eradicate as they set thousands of tiny seeds that last for decades. This means that unfortunately there is no point in attempting to remove established colonies, but the focus must be on preventing them from spreading further.

Pretty but invasive

Green Drinks - 4th February Pedagogy Plant

This month the Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin Branch at its Green Drinks Dublin event, came along to hear Adrian Bannon, author, entrepreneur, lawyer and founder of multiple initiatives such as the wonderful Pedagogy Plant, an initiative aiming to connect creative people, companies, industries and colleges all over the globe through collaborative tree planting. Inspired by the famous copper beech 'Autograph Tree' in Galway, a tree home to the signatures of many of Ireland's greatest artists, writers, thinkers and activists, Adrian aims to inspire us into positive movement and change.

The goals at Pedagogy Plant are 'TREEFOLD': Awareness, Creativity and Talent (A.C.T):

1. to encourage schools, community colleges, universities, CEO's of companies and other creative institutions in several countries to plant their own AUTOGRAPH / ALUMNI TREES (a single copper beech tree or other suitable tree ) that will house the 'autograph' signatures of those college achieving students' and employees' in 10, 20, 30, 40 and 100 years time.

2. to have citizens, friends, families, groups and pro-active communities , grass-roots developments to plant trees to celebrate their LOCAL creativity, milestones and successes and take PHOTOS / VIDEOS of the planting to send it to Pedagogy Plant on Facebook or via email.

3.apart from local creators to also have a national Pedagogy Plant Facebook Page for every country in the world.

As well as Ireland Pedagogy Plant have helped to create tree planting in Spain, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon and India among other places. Truly a GLOBAL initiative!

December 3rd - Green Drinks Antarctic Adventure

This month the Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin Branch heard the wonderful Eimear Carlin come to talk to us about her adventures to the ends of the earth! Eimear was selected as the only Irish participant on the 2041 Antarctic Youth Ambassador Programme in 2013. The present Antarctic Treaty which states that Antarctica is to be used only for scientific and peaceful purposes expires in 2041, and the aim of the programme is to create an international coalition of youth defenders who will champion renewable energy as the path to saving the continent in the future.

In March she completed an expedition to Antarctica with representatives from major oil and gas companies, and 18 young future leaders from around the world. The aim of this expedition was to raise awareness about the Antarctic Treaty and the importance of protecting the continent for future generations. In June, Eimear also travelled extensively in the Canadian Arctic and saw first-hand the effects of climate change, and intensive destruction of natural resources on Indigenous populations and the natural environment in the North. 

12th November Green Drinks - Granby Park

On Tuesday November 12th the Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin Branch gathered in J.W. Sweetmans (formerly Messrs Maguires on Burgh Quay to hear Annemarie Ní Churreáin a, writer, arts worker and co-founder of the non-profit voluntary arts collective that is the wonderful Upstart! The mission of Upstart is too highlight the importance of creativity and ingenuity in solving society's problems, and in particular by bringing arts to the community. Upstart's first project was to put 1,000 images of public art to the streets of Dublin during the last general election, which turned into one of the biggest public arts projects in the history of the state.

Upstart 'election' poster

This year, Upstart transformed a vacant space on Dominick Street, in the center of Dublin city, into a pop-up park over four weeks from August to September. Granby Park consisted of up-cycled, recycled, donated and found material and featured some of the city’s most talented artists, architects, performers and planners contributing to making an empty space a playground for all. For four weeks the park hosted free arts events, an outdoor theatre and cinema, live music and educational activities and a pop-up café. The park was made possible by collaboration with Dublin City council, planners, landscape planners, architects, designers, research and education groups and most importantly, the local community. The aim of the project was to show how vacant spaces in the city could be used creatively and to bring something special to Dublin city and its residents. It also aimed to provide a lift to people's spirits and counter the apathy and negativity so prevalent in these austerity times.

Panoramic View of Granby Park

Music event on the stage made from pallets

October 1st Green Drinks - Exotic Pets

This month the IWT Dublin Branch heard Kayleigh Keegan, founder of Kayleigh's Sanctuary for Exotic Pets, talk about the weird pet fads created by cartoon classics, and the disastrous environmental effects that follow.

A lot of fads for exotic pets start from films. A love for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films brought a mania for terrapins, and  the Harry Potter films created an urge for owls. But what happens when the films end? Buyer beware: Michelangelo will live for 40 years, Hedwig will not nip you affectionately, and Babe is listed as one of the worst invasive species in the world.

The most common exotic animal to be sold is the terrapin. So many are being bought and then dumped that populations have become established in many places, like Dublin's canals and St. Anne's Park in Raheny. Terrapins are tough animals and can hibernate in cold weather, so many are able to survive for years. More worrying still, if we have a hot enough summer, they could breed successfully in Ireland. There are unconfirmed reports of breeding populations, and if Irish summers become hotter due to global warming it is only a matter of time. Terrapins feed on fish, small frogs, newts and ducklings, so their impact on local wildlife could be devastating. Another successful invasive species is the last thing we need!

 Kayleigh explained how so many people buy terrapins, because many pet store are less than honest in what they tell people. The favourite ploy is to say that the cute baby terrapin will never grow any bigger, and that all it needs is a tiny little plastic 'pond' to survive. In fact the terrapin will grow to the size of a dinner plate, will live for decades and needs a specialist tank with a heat lamp, a UV lamp and a dry land area for sunning itself. Oh and it also needs proper food, clean water changed regularly, etc. The result is that a lot of people realise that terrapins are a much bigger commitment than they had realised and end up dumping them in a local pond or river, where most will die.  Fortunately there are sanctuaries in Ireland that take in unwanted terrapins and Kayleigh is happy to provide details if the sanctuary is contacted.

To sum up: Next year's release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles could become the ecological crisis of the decade.

I may be cute but I need lots of long term care!

September 3rd - Green Drinks - Eco Cement

DID YOU KNOW that if the construction industry reduced their construction emissions by 50%,4,000,000 tonnes of CO2 could be saved annually?

At the September meeting the Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin Branch and Dublin Green Drinks heard Susan McGarry, Environmental Manager with the innovative Ecocem Ireland talk about the importance of embodied carbon in the built environment; how we need to shift our focus on to the embodied carbon of construction materials rather than the operational energy of buildings, and how low carbon, long-lasting, recycled materials like Ecocem's cement replacements can make a huge difference. Embodied carbon means the amount of carbon that is used making the material, as opposed to operational carbon that is emitted to produce energy.

Susan talked about Ecocem's low carbon cement which is based upon iron slag and as such is based on a 100% recyclable material. It therefore creates far fewer carbon emissions in its production than ordinary cement. This base also makes their ecocem GGBS cement very long lasting and durable, generally doubling the life of structures made from it, in comparison to similar structures made from ordinary cement. This of course reduces the amount of carbon emissions overall. Most of the carbon footprint of any structure is made during its construction, so if this is reduced there is a significant saving. 

Climate change concerns us all. Despite repeated warnings, and its effects being felt around the world, we have yet not managed to do very much about it. Ecocem products at least offer one way we can help to reduce carbon emissions.

Its durability means GGBS ecocement can be used for structures like seawalls
- useful at a time of rising sealevels.