Tuesday 7th Feb Green Drinks

Green Drinks 7th February - Badgers and TB

The Green Drinks talk this month was given by Conn Flynn, Conservation Officer with the IWT, who set out the situation regarding badgers and TB in Ireland and explained the IWT's campaign against badger culling. Conn informed the thirty or so people present why the IWT is so opposed to the government's policy of culling and why vaccination is a better, more effective and humane alternative. There are about 70,000 badgers in Ireland - an average of about one badger per km2 and about 30,000 setts. The government has culled a massive 90,000 badgers since 1984, so much so that the badger's existence in Ireland may be threatened, and yet despite this the numbers of cattle infected with TB have barely fallen.

A £50 million scientific study in England carried out over 10 years found that badger culling made no difference to TB infection rates, and can even make things worse by causing infected badgers to flee to new uninfected areas. Furthermore Scotland has managed to stay free of bovine TB without having to carry out culls at all. The real key to reduction is controlling cattle movements, and in particular, to test animals before they are moved to another location - something which is not done in Ireland at the moment.

Alongside this there should be vaccination of badgers to remove them as a source of infection, as a humane alternative to the unnecessary and cruel killing of badgers by catching them in snares and then shooting them, as is done at present. Although the Department of Agriculture has begun a small trial programme of vaccination in Monaghan, the large scale culling of badgers is continuing despite the evidence and the IWT has begun a campaign to petition the government to stop culling for good. You can sign the petition by logging on to the IWt's website at www.iwt.ie

Sunday 29th January Bull Island birdwatching

On Sunday 29th January about fifteen members of the Dublin Branch braved the cold and the rain to attend a bird watching event led by birding enthusiasts Sean Kelly and Niall Keogh on Bull Island - Dublin’s well known nature reserve. They were rewarded for their efforts by seeing a variety of birds - lapwings, redshanks, black-headed gulls, knots, teal, shovelers and Brent Geese among them. Bull Island has an excellent range of coastal birds, especially its overwintering flocks which come to avail of the many invertebrates (worms and things)that live in the mudflats. Niall Keogh explained how Dublin's Brent Geese are unique because of their lack of fear of humans compared to the geese on the continent- probably due to the fact that they won't be shot on sight! So much so that they have been known to get in the way of golfers trying to play on the Island's golf courses. Dublin's Brent Geese have also taken to grazing on the city's open spaces and playing pitches in a big way, to the extent that this is now a major source of their food supply.
After about an hour the freezing cold and rain put an end to the outing, but enough birds had been seen to make it all worthwhile.

21st January 2012 National Gallery Tour

Twenty members of the Dublin Branch went on a guided tour of the National Gallery, with the theme "Nature in Art - European Masterpieces" on Saturday 21 Jan. Marie Pike, our excellent guide, selected and discussed the most interesting paintings. Not a lot of nature, but a super introduction to “European Masterpieces”. Great morning had by all.

Stop Badger Culling!

You can sign our online petition to stop this cruel and unnecessary practice at the link to the IWT homepage on the right:

6th December Green Christmas at Green Drinks

The Green Drinks discussion on 6th December concerned how to have a Green Christmas. Debbi of the IWT's Dublin Branch informed us of some of the scary facts about the amount of waste produced in Ireland every Christmas. For example, if all the glass wine and beer bottles used in Ireland at Christmas were laid end to end they would reach from Ireland to Sri Lanka! The amount of wrapping paper used would cover half of Leinster. So how do we enjoy Christmas without being so hard on the environment? Debbie outlined some of the tips we can all do to cut down on waste.

For example, using Christmas e-cards instead of the traditional cards and reusing wrapping paper cuts down on waste paper, or at least make sure your cards and paper are made from recycled material. Making your own decorations also saves a lot - using pine cones, ivy, coloured paper, old cereal boxes and tin foil in an imaginative way can be a source of great satisfaction. Real Christmas trees are also better than artificial ones, as they are greener to produce! Using LED lights instead of the traditional fairy lights can also make a big difference to your energy bills - they are 90% more efficient.

Christmas gifts can be greener too - why not give a service instead of a more material gift? Offer to give music lessons, walk the dog, childminding, whatever. If you want something more traditional then giving tickets to concerts, shows etc can be great too. Many charities like Oxfam and Bothar also provide wildlife gifts (why not give IWT membership as a gift this Christmas?) At the very least try to avoid gifts that need expensive batteries to work. There are many, many ways to enjoy Christmas in a more environmentally friendly way, if we put our minds to it!

After Debbi's talk Daragh from REPAK explained the work that the organisaion does. REPAK is a packaging and recycling scheme funded by producers and retailers, which works by REPAK arranging to have the business's waste material recycled in return for a fee. REPAK fund 1.2 million green bins around the country, 2,000 bottle banks and 100 recycling centres. Daragh outlined some tips for how we can improve our recycling - don't scrunch up your paper, but do dismantle your cardboard boxes to make more room in your bin; don't forget that take-away trays are as much aluminium as drink cans, and as easy to recycle. Do remember that glass from jars can be recycled as well as wine and beer bottles and that plastic bottles from the bathroom, like cleaning products and shampoo can also be put in the green bin. And very importantly plan your food shopping, and never go to the supermarket when you are hungry if you want to avoid that impulse buy. The average Irish family wastes about a third of the food that they buy because it goes off before they can eat it - bad for both the environment and the pocket!

Finally, IWT Dublin Branch and Leafliving wish you all a Happy Christmas and New Year!

26th November - Natural History Museum

On Saturday 26th November IWT’s Dublin branch went for a tour of the National Museum of Ireland’s Natural History division with its resident education assistant, Catherine McGuinness. Catherine took us through our collection of both the frequently spotted and the rarely glimpsed animals while discussing some of the challenges and threats faced by these familiar creatures in Ireland today. The spectacular Giant Irish Deer or Irish Elk skeletons and the Pilot Whale skulls attracted particular interest! (photos courtesy of Joy)

8th October 2011 Marlay Park Tree Walk

Niall Mac Coitir of the Dublin Branch of the IWT led a tree walk around Marlay Park in Rathfarnham on Saturday 8^th October, to mark National Tree Day which fell on the previous Thursday  6^th October. The weather was lovely for the event, a fine autumn day with a mild breeze and sunshine and over twenty people turned out. Niall took people on a circuit around the park, showing some of the fine trees, both native and non-native, that Marley Park has to offer. 

The walk included a stop at a particularly fine mature oak tree. The oak is the backbone of Irish forests, supporting a whole ecosystem of native Irish life. The walk heard how there are very few native woodlands left – around 1% of the land of Ireland. A widespread story has it Irish oak forests were all cut down to supply the British navy. While this was a factor in the destruction of Irish woods, the main factor was that the island had to support a population of eight million at one stage and every square metre of ground was farmed. Another important factor is that many oak woods were cut down to provide charcoal. Oak makes very good charcoal, which was needed in ironworks as part of the smelting process.   

Niall also spoke about the rowan or mountain ash, and how its red berries were traditionally seen as a powerful deterrent to the fairies and other bad influences. A magical rowan tree featured in a story about the lovers Diarmuid and Grainne, which involved poor Diarmuid fighting a fierce giant to get some of the berries of the tree for Grainne. The berries of the tree had the property that whoever ate them would stay forever at thirty years of age. Hearing that, some of the older members of the group cast a longing eye at the berries hanging from the tree before them, but unfortunately it was time to move on!  Niall also showed the group a fine specimen of an ash tree and pointed out that a well grown tree is needed to make a hurley, as it must be cut from the part of the tree where the trunk curves into the root. This is so that the grain of the wood will curve naturally from the handle into the bas of the hurley.

Another tree mentioned was the chestnut tree which is not native to Ireland, but comes from Turkey and the Balkans. Before it arrived in the last few hundred years as an ornamental tree  to Britain and Ireland, children would play the game of conkers with snail shells – hence the name ‘conkers’ which comes from the Latin concha or shell. Among the other trees seen on the walk were scots pine, birch, beech and yew, and by the end of the talk everyone had learned a little more about some of the trees that can be seen on a walk through our parks and woodlands. (photos courtesy of Chris and Joy)



Oak tree



Under the chestnut



Ash tree