20th January Bull Island birdwatch

About forty people braved the cold and snow showers on Sunday Jan 20th to attend the IWT Dublin Branch's birdwatching event at Bull Island's causeway. The event was lead by Niall Keogh and Sean Kelly, who brought along a few telescopes for everyone to get a really good look at the wintering birds feeding on the mudflats.  Our persistence was rewarded with a view of some really beautiful birds, including ducks such a group of shelduck, and lots of teal and wigeon. Plenty of waders were in evidence too, such as redshank, sanderlings and godwits. Lapwings, plovers and oystercatchers were on show as well. Also in attendance was a hooded crow/ carrion (black) crow hybrid, which apparently is a regular visitor to that spot over the last few years. Ornithologists are divided on whether the hooded crow and carrion crow are different species or just variations of the same species, and our crow wasn't telling!

But the highlight of the day came near the end, when the cold was beginning to bite. Just by moving a hundred metres up the coast, the group were rewarded by the sight of a flock of pintails, amazing looking birds in their striking black/dark brown and white striped markings. All in all, well worth venturing out into the chill of January!

December 4th Green Drinks - Green Christmas

This month the Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin Branch Green Drinks heard about green, ethical, sustainable and wildlife friendly gifts and options for Christmas, and even had a chance to purchase some of the items. Who says it aint easy being Green?

First Ursula from Klee Paper told us about their 100% recycled and Irish made wrapping paper, cards and toys. Kleepaper source the material for their products from waste or buy locally or through fairtrade. As well as Christmas gifts, Kleepaper make a range of paper, envelopes, notebooks, pads and wooden products like rulers and pencils. All of their products are certified by Blue Angel, European Eco-label, or FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). One of Kleepaper's customers, Natasha was also on hand to tell us about her range of homemade Christmas Star decorations made from hawthorn twigs sourced in County Meath.

Next Kaethe Burt O'Dea from the LIFE project talked about LifeLine Soaps and give us a brief project update. The soaps are made from high quality leftover cooking oil, and contains scented herbs locally grown from compost or foraged from the locality (like rosehips). Finally Andreas Birk from www.carbonstory.org spoke about the CarbonStory project which is all about how people can offset their carbon footprint. The project works by calculating the carbon footprint of each member and allowing them to buy credits by contributing to an environmental project - either renewable energy, carbon capture, reforestation or greater energy efficiency projects. Food for thought and a different Christmas gift.

Games from Kleepaper

15th November Dublin Branch Pub Quiz!

The Dublin Branch of IWT held a pub quiz on the 15th November last at the Lombard pub, right next to Pearse Street station. There was a fantastic turnout on the night with over twenty tables - so competition was fierce! Topics ranged from science to entertainment to geography, to match the quote with the famous person, and the penalty for sneaky googling on the mobile phone was €5, so brainpower only could be used. Along with free food there were cool spot prizes throughout the night (like free Starbucks coffee) for knowing important stuff, like the names of all the Bond Girls, or who wrote the theme music for Father Ted! There was also a raffle for more cool things (we got a few singular donations) and the winning team got loads of food and drink to help them stock up for Christmas! A great night was had all round and an amazing total of €860 was earned for the IWT! Well done to organizers Kate and Debbi!

11th November Killiney Strand Walk

On Sunday 11th November about 30 people from Dublin IWT turned out on a crisp November day to join marine and wetland expert Tim Clabon for a strand walk on Killiney beach. Tim first showed the group how the seaweed oar wrack can cling tightly onto the smallest rock, using a kind of adhesive and a network of tiny roots. He also showed the group several species of crab, including velvet swimming crab, edible crab and porcelain crab. Other creatures encountered were leaf worms, and a gunnel - a kind of eel-like fish. Tim also found a dead sponge, cracking it open to show the gooey, decaying middle complete with tiny worms. Some of the adults were less than impressed by this, but the kids loved it! A dead dogfish, complete with aroma, completed the day. The dogfish is a member of the shark family, and the resemblance can be seen in its shape. The group then returned to the DART station, considerably better informed, and a few new members were signed up - so a good day all round!

Tim showing how oar wrack clings to rocks 

Tim with velvet swimming crab

Tim with sponge

Dead dogfish. Dogfish is a kind of shark

November 6th - Green Drinks Sustainable clothing

This month IWT Dublin Branch's Green Drinks talk was about sustainable clothing. Lynn MacPherson, creator of eco-clothing label Salty Philip spoke about the idea of reducing the negative impact of conventional fabric production on the environment and the people who make it. By making beautiful contemporary clothes, Salty Philip aims to banish the idea that eco is dull, and bring life to each garment.

Lynn talked about some of the facts and figures around clothing production. Europeans alone generate about 14m tonnes of textile waste each year, of which only 5m tonnes is recycled. This is a great pity as over 90% of textile waste can be re-used in reprocessed fibres, packing and insulation. Another important issue is buying organic. Cotton in particular cannot be grown without heavy use of pesticides that can cause cancer, blindness and fetal deformities. They are also very expensive, leading many farmers into financial ruin. In India alone, 25,000 farmers have committed suicide because of debt problems! Luckily organic cotton can now be bought in many chain stores. Fair Trade products are also important as it ensures that those involved in making clothes receive a living wage and fair labour standards. 

There are also alternatives to conventional clothing. Bamboo can be made into a fibre and grows quickly without the need for much fertiliser, pesticides or water. However, strong chemical are needed in the process of making the bamboo fibres so this is an option that needs to be considered carefully. Another option is fish skin leather, which is simply discarded at the moment, but can be used to make items such as shoes, belts and purses. A potentially exciting new source of organic clothing that has recently been developed is the option of making clothes out of milk! Some of Lynn's wares were on display at the talk and attracted great interest, and everyone present certainly had their minds opened to the other options that are out there.

Lynn and some of her clothes

October 27th Phoenix Park Deer rut

On the 27^th of October 2012 the IWT Dublin Branch met at 9am in the Phoenix Park to witness the annual Deer Rut. Despite the early start and the chill in the air there was a great turn out.  We started off at the Papal Cross car park and we walked towards the forest. Dr. Favel Naulty who has studied the Fallow Deer in the Phoenix Park for 10 years gave a very informative talk on the history and the behaviour of the deer. We saw a large group of deer emerging from the forest. We witnessed the males fighting with their antlers and heard the squeals of the young fawn’s callings for their mothers.  Dr. Favel answered many questions from the group and gave a great insight about the Fallow Deer. Thank you again to Dr. Favel and to all who attended.

Misty morning in Phoenix Park

Dr Favel Naulty explains about the deer

Face off in the Phoenix Park

Fallow Deer Phoenix Park

21st October - Creepy Crawly Event

The Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin Branch held a Creepy Crawly Workshop and Walk in the Phoenix Park on the 21^st October to coincide with the scariest time of the year – Halloween!!

We started out by setting up some pitfall traps the day before. They were loaded up with some rotten fruit and meat in order to attract as much insects and bugs as we could! These were covered over with some wood to prevent any rain or small mammals from getting into the traps.

The day of the Workshop was bright and dry. Perfect weather for some bug hunting! We had a great turn out with over 20 kids attending along with their parents (who were just as interested as the kids!). The children were given a bug viewer, an insect colouring book, an insect key and a Badger Club magazine to kick start their creepy crawly interest. We started off with Kevin Delahunty explaining all the equipment that we were going to use and how they all worked. The kids were very interested in the beating trays, pooters, pitfall traps and sweep nets that we had to show them.

The first stop was to the pitfall traps (which we had emptied beforehand into a tray so they were free of rotten food!). The kids all gathered around to see how they worked. We then showed them what we had found in the trap which included some slugs, a ground beetle, some small spiders and even some eggs which a fly had laid on a piece of the meat. We then moved on to the beating tray and the children had a fun time shaking branches to see what fell out onto the beating tray. They were given pooters to suck up the insects to identify them. This was followed by a sweep net demonstration in some tall grass. The children then spread out to search for some insects on their own using their bug viewers and some borrowed pooters. They found a huge range of insects including several species of spiders, a harvestman, a millipede, several species of snails, some worms, a 7-spot ladybird, a cranefly and lots of froghoppers and woodlouse. Overall it was a great day and everyone enjoyed themselves and hopefully we sparked some lifelong bug interests in the children (and maybe some of the adults).