July 7th Bull Island Wildflower walk

On Sunday 7th of July, members of the Dublin Branch gathered at the causeway on Bull island for a wildflower walk led by Dublin Branch member Niall Mac Coitir. In glorious sunshine many different wildflowers were spotted, including four kinds of orchids (early purple, common spotted, pyramidal and marsh helleborine), various members of the pea family (restharrow, birds foot trefoil, kidney vetch, and meadow vetchling) and many other flowers including yellow rattle, eyebright, centaury, haresfoot trefoil and ladies bedstraw.  For the two months of June and July the grasslands on Bull Island between the dunes and the golf courses are a riot of colours, for those who keep their eyes open. As one person on the trip put it: 'this is as good as the burren!' Indeed it is, and we should be proud in Dublin to have such a jewel in our crown.

Photos courtesy of Joy and Eoin.

mind your feet!

Birdsfoot trefoil
Lotus corniculatus 

Pyramidal orchid
Anacamptis pyramidalis

Marsh helleborine
Epipactis palustris

Early purple orchid
Orchis mascula

Common spotted orchid
Dactylorhiza fuschsii

Eyebright
Euphrasia

Centaury
Centaurium erythraea

Ladies bedstraw
Galium verum

Restharrow
Ononis repens

July 2nd - Green Drinks Wild About Products

On Tuesday 2nd July the Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin Branch heard Fiona Falconer tell us all about her company - "Wild about " . Wild about is an innovative new Irish company making hand crafted Artisan foods from the wealth of native, seasonal and wild ingredients. Based in Co. Wexford Fiona and Malcom grow an array of wild native fruits, berries and herbs on their smallholding permaculture farm. "What we don't grow we get from neighbouring farms, we don't import anything that grows commercially here in Ireland, instead we work seasonally and we specialize in native wild ingredients like rose hips, haws, sloes, elderberries and my absolute favourite Nettles !"

Fiona was evangelical about the rich variety of foods and flavours that can be found in our native hedgerows and about how healthy and full of vitimins and minerals they are. If we all ate more of the bounty on our doorstep we would have far less need to buy expensive health foods and supplements from across the globe. Who needs goji berries when you have nettles and elderberries? The key to making the most of our native resources is accepting that they are seasonal, and our demand to have every kind of fruit and vegetable available 365 days of the year is what is environmentally unsustainable. That might seem limiting, but the point is - if you know your native plants well enough you realise that there is always something in season...

Wild about's products include Sloe margaritas, Nettle pesto, saucy haws adult ketchup ! . . . .

June 29th - Ireland's Eye Trip

Saturday June 29th saw the first of two of the Dublin Branch's annual trip to Ireland's Eye led by Sean Hogan. As usual a large number of people turned out for the short boat ride, and the weather was perfect. Lots of seabirds were seen including puffins, kittiwakes and great black backed gulls. However, along with the enjoyment of seeing so many amazing birds in their natural element there was the distressing sight of a herring gull with fishing tackle stuck in its mouth and foot. Although it is unpleasant, after a debate it was agreed to show the picture to highlight the issue of discarded fishing tackle causing death and injury to seabirds. Photos are by IWT member John Fox.

Puffins, also known as sea parrots

Kittiwake

Great Black Backed Gull 

Herring Gull with fishing tackle caught in its mouth and foot

June 26th Dublin Branch Pub Quiz

On Wednesday June 26th, there was a big turn out for the Dublin Branch IWT quiz in Doyles Pub, opposite Trinity College. About twenty teams with names like 'The Nudey Newts' and the 'Guilty Badgers' competed  to win a variety of great prizes, including a raffle. Everyone also sampled the tempting food that was on offer. As well as general knowledge questions like 'what popular chain of stores is named after the first mate in Moby Dick?' (Starbucks) and (of course) lots of nature questions like 'what is the oldest breed of dog?' (greyhound) there was also a Simpsons round to separate the men/women from the boys/girls . Questions like 'what is the name of Mr Burns teddy bear?' (bubu), 'what does Smithers collect?' (barbie dolls) and 'what is Principal Seymour Skinner's real name?' (can't remember this one) kept the competition fierce. A lot of fun was had by all and €242 was raised for the IWT - so all in all a good night's work.

June 4th - Green Drinks - turf cutting

This month the Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin Branch heard Andrew Jackson, An Taisce's Natural Heritage Officer talk about the 'History and the Future of EU nature conservation policy'. Andrew also discussed the controversial topic of the turf cutting ban in raised bog SACs, attempts at resolving the conflict, and the light this dispute sheds on the future of EU biodiversity policy. In 2012 at least a third of the protected 53 raised bog Natura 2000 sites were cut, and the indications are that cutting is continuing in 2013. Efforts to enforce the protection of the bogs are still failing and matters are urgent at this stage. 36% of the remaining raised bog was lost between 1994 and 2005 and it is estimated that one third of the remaining 1% of the original raised bogs will be lost in the next ten years.

An Taisce, The National Trust for Ireland is one of Ireland’s oldest environmental and NGOs which serves to protect Ireland’s built and natural environment. Those of you familiar with IWT will know that this fits wonderfully into our Turf cutting campaign and our SAC watch program.

Turf Cutting at Monivea, Co. Galway Picture - Friends of the Irish environment

May 7th Green Drinks - Green Divers

On Tuesday May 7th the Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin Branch gathered in the top floor of J.W. Sweetman (formerly Messrs Maguires) to hear Seamus Heffernan talk about the Green Divers initiative. Green Divers aim is to encourage the protection of coastal areas and raise awareness of Irish marine life, and to organise monthly underwater and shoreline clean ups in the Dublin area. Most people may not realise that as well as litter on land, there is also a lot of litter underwater, both from boats and litter washed out to sea, and  that marine litter is a major problem along our coasts. The Green Divers initiative aims to do something about this by encouraging divers to do a bit of litter picking when they dive and take some litter ashore with them. This involves a monthly shoreline and underwater clean up in a scenic coastal area, with a barbeque afterwards where the hard working volunteers can unwind. The litter that is removed is recorded so that the kinds of litter can be better known and the impact of marine debris better understood.

Seamus went through all the different types of litter that can be found on the sea floor, and also talked about the amazing diversity of Irish marine life found in the Irish sea.  As well as the usual problems from glass and plastic bottles and drink cans, a major source of littering comes from old car tyres, which are used by boats to prevent damage from bumping into harbour walls and each other. Inevitably many become detached and are lost overboard. It was once thought that dumping old car tyres would help to create underwater reefs, but this idea didn't work and now in places like Florida, millions of old car tyres litter the sea floor and have to be expensively removed. Old fishing lines and nets are also a major problem as they become a major problem for wildlife. 

To save us all from getting too depressed, Seamus interspersed his pictures of litter with some of the amazing and colourful wildlife to be seen around our coastline. As well as unusual fish like the butterfish and common dragonet, Seamus' passion for wildlife made us see the beauty in creatures like sponges, worms and echinderms (starfish, sea-urchins etc). And who knew that the octupus was a kind of mollusc! Everyone was much better informed about our marine wildlife, and those of you familiar with IWT will know that the Green Diver initiative fits wonderfully into ourSustainable Seas and Pretty Litter Campaigns

Some litter from 40 foot clean up

Double spiral worm

Seamus explains Green Divers to RTE

April 2nd Green Drinks Dublin Cycling Campaign

This month Green Drinks heard Muireann O'Dea from the Dublin Cycling Campaign tell us why cycling is good for both you AND the environment, what the Dublin Cycling Campaign has been doing on the behalf of cyclists for the last 20 years, and new initiatives that will make cycling in Dublin even better!

The Dublin Cycling Campaign is an independent voluntary lobby group that has been campaigning for a decade and a half to make Dublin city a better place for cyclists. Among their campaigns are for 30km/h speed limits between the canals, as international research shows that lower speeds are a major factor in increasing road safety; much better enforcement of existing laws on speeding and dangerous driving, with a much greater garda presence; and cycle-friendly traffic calming measures, such as ramps and barriers that can be bypassed by cyclists. The campaign also wants redesign of large junctions where 75% of accidents occur, and the provision of more cycle lanes that conform to best practice. Some of the cycle lanes provided at the moment are substandard and actually worse than nothing because they provide no additional safety at all, but can lull riders into a false sense of security. Cycle lanes on footpaths are also unacceptable as they make conditions worse for cyclists and pedestrians.

The campaign has achieved some notable successes, such as restrictions on heavy vehicles in the city centre, better public bicycle parking provision in the city centre, and the establishment of the cycle forum for Dublin City. The Dublin Cycling campaign also works to promote the benefits of cycling to the public, trying to get across not only the environmental and health benefits, but  that cycling can be incredibly cool and stylish!

Dublin Cycling Campaign Logo

On Yer Bike!