17th November - birdwatching for beginners at Booterstown Marsh

The Dublin Branch of IWT went birdwatching for beginners at Booterstown Sanctuary on Sunday, 17 November. Once again we were fortunate to have Sean Hogan (Birdwatch Ireland) as our guide for this event which attracted some 20 IWT members. As ever, Sean had everything well prepared; with background information about the marsh and its history, handouts containing information about the species in residence and good advice about bird identification guides and the best binoculars to use. We were very lucky to spot many of the birds that Sean had highlighted in his handout. All in all a very enjoyable few hours with very positive feedback from those in attendance.

Barbara 

Eoin leads the way

Looking out over Booterstown Marsh

I wonder where the birdies are?

Sean gives us the benefit of his wisdom

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!

12 October - Royal Canal Day Clean up

The Dublin Branch of IWT helped out on October 12th, Royal Canal Day when there was a massive-scale clean-up along the length of the Royal Canal from the city centre all the way out to Blanchardstown – a distance of 10km! Dublin Branch members met at 9:45am at Broombridge railway station to begin the clean up which will took about two hours. In total we gathered seven large plastic sacks full of rubbish, plus several large pieces of wood, plastic, and of course a large trolley! The event was very well organised by the Dublin City North Volunteer Centre who supplied us with gloves, plastic sacks and litter pickers. They even had the Civil Defence out on boats along the canal to pick up that hard-to-reach rubbish out in the water.

Afterwards, we all headed to the Brian Boru pub in Phibsboro for some welcome tea, coffee and finger food where we were entertained by a local choir. The Dublin Branch also had a stand there where €46 worth of merchantise was sold, a new member was signed on, and the badger petition received about twnety signatures.

In the afternoon there was a Family Friendly Walk with Botanist Doogue, a Walking Tour with historian Pat Liddy and a Social Cycle along the Canal w/ Dublin Cycling Campaign.

Lastly it would be wrong to forget to mention that all who took part in the clean up got goodie bags, with a cool Irish Waterways water bottle, a Mars bar and lots of interesting info - including about the IWT!

Niall & Roisin with furry helper

Barbara and Roisin beside our trolley packed with rubbish bags

Kate and Sarah at the Dublin Branch stand

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. 

August 18th - Walk on Howth Head

On August 18th, the Dublin Branch celebrated Heritage Week when a strong group of 35 people, led by Sarah Rubalcava, joined together to explore and learn about the rich heritage of Howth Head. We followed one of the way-marked trails named the Black Linn looped walk. This takes in the cliffs, the summit and heathland areas.

Howth Head is one of Ireland’s Special Areas of Conservation, designated under the EU’s Habitat’s Directive. Two important habitats are found on Howth Head, one being dry heathland which is mainly found in the most western areas of Europe and secondly sea cliffs which provide essential areas for sea birds.

Howth Head’s dry heathland protected under EU
 Habitat’s Directive. Ireland’s Eye in background. 

We came across recently burnt areas of gorse, which the NPWS has identified as one of the threats facing this area. It was interesting to see areas that had previously been burnt slowly recover. Other threats include recreation and the spread of invasive species. The importance of using and protecting the long used paths now managed and maintained will help the natural vegetation in the long run. The two hour walk was interspersed with amazing views of Ireland’s Eye, a popular yearly destination organised by the Dublin Branch, views of Baily Light House, sea birds on the cliffs. One of the highlights though was visiting the goats.

Grace O'Malley, Maggie May and Delilah of the Goats for Howth Head Project 
managing the birch/bracken/gorse scrub

The ongoing encroachment of bracken, birch and gorse is also seen as a threat to the heathland habitat. In 2012, Fingal County Council with the help of Heritage Council funding, and Newbridge House and farm introduced goats onto Howth Head. In their second year now, it is hoped that they will help to keep the birch/bracken/gorse scrub under control. It is early days yet and one project worth following!

Many thanks to Thomas Byrne for taking the photos.

For more information on the goats: http://www.goatsforhowth.ie/

Howth Walks : http://howthpathways.com/loopwalks.html

13th July Irelands Eye Trip

On 13 July the Dublin Branch of IWT we had wonderful and memorable trips to Ireland’s Eye. Some sixty people turned out in glorious sunshine to hear Conn Flynn talk about and identify the numerous bird species as well as some of the flora and fauna. The beautiful weather added to the magic of seeing the bird parents and their noisy little chicks.

blackbacked gulls and sailboats

Lunchtime al fresco

I wish I could fly