April 12th - Hedgerows in Ballyboughal

At our last ‘Green Drinks’ meeting on 7 April, Lorraine Bull raised our awareness of the importance of hedgerows for the farm land, for nature conservation and for biodiversity. On Sunday 12th April we were given the opportunity of taking a close look at plenty of hedgerows in Ballyboughal, where our excellent local guide, Ann Lynch, explained how these “living boundaries” work. We visited fields and meadows protected by a lovely mixture of trees, shrubs and a wide variety of other plants. Plenty of birds and early insects were spotted and an abundance of primroses and violets.

Beautiful Primroses

Primroses and Violets

And something a little more earthy!

29th March - Walk in Knocksink Woods

Knocksink Wood: it’s a knockout

On 29 March, despite unpromising weather conditions IWT Dublin Branch  had some thirty people for our guided tour through this wonderful nature reserve set in a river valley just outside Enniskerry. Sean Meehan gave us the benefit of his expert knowledge by identifying the various trees, shrubs and wildflowers of this mixed woodland. We were thrilled to see carpets of lush green wild garlic, white-flowering wood anemones, blue violets, yellow primroses and a curious red cup fungus from which the wood fairies drink. Sean stressed the importance of this reserve both nationally and internationally. He said, “Knocksink Wood contains two priority EU habitats; alluvial woodland and petrifying streams. Covering an area of approximately 80 hectares, it is a significant stand of broadleaf woodland, an all too rare habitat type in Ireland”. It is fantastic to think that we have this on the door step of our capital city. Thank you Sean for the excellent guidance.

 

A good turnout despite the weather

Wild garlic by a woodland stream

Red cup fungus

Sean with some red cup fungus

8th February 2015 - Bull island bird Watching

A perfect winter’s day greeted 25 people who attended the IWT Dublin Branch's bird-watch outing on Bull Island on Sunday 8th February. Blue skies, a blue sea and a great variety of birds were seen, in respect of which, Sean Hogan (of Birdwatch Ireland) provided a great deal of information and answered the many questions posed to him. Thank you, Sean and thanks also to John Fox.

In addition to the many waders and Brent geese, we saw the Grey Heron and Little Egret, now about to don their breeding plumage. No fewer than six varieties of ducks crossed our path: Shoveler, Wigeon, Pintail, Shelduck, Mallard and Teal. There was also a large flock (six to seven thousand) of knot with a large number of black tailed Godwit behind them. A very informative and engaging morning.

December 7th - Dodder Walk

On Sunday December 7th the Dublin Branch went for a walk along the Dodder in the company of John Fox the ornithologist. It was a gloriously sunny day, but freezing cold, and everyone who went was glad they were well wrapped up. The birds didn't seem to mind however, as John identified quite a few species such as herring gulls, mallards, little grebes or dabchicks, herons, swans and a little egret.

Along the way, the Dublin Branch ran into Paul Hughes, writer of a recent book about the wildlife along the Dodder: Doorstep Wilderness: a wilder side of Dublin (the book is a great read, and well worth considering as a stocking filler). Paul was able to fill in to the group about all the wildlife he had seen along the way, including otters, foxes, herons and many different birds. Unfortunately flood defence works meant that much of the vegetation along the river had been taken away, even since the book was written, but the group still managed to see a wide variety of birdlife, and Paul assured us that the wildlife still found its way along the banks.

Paul Hughes with his new book Doorstep Wilderness

November 9th Broadmeadow Estuary

On Sunday 9th November IWT Dublin Branch  went to Broadmeadow Estuary in Swords  to learn about all the winter feeding birds that come to our shores; how to identify them, what equipment to use and when to observe them. Our expert, Sean Hogan, of Birdwatch Ireland, led this event, and despite the tide being high on the estuary, a lot of different birds were seen.

As well as the usual swans and mallards, Sean identified lapwings, golden plovers, red breasted mergansers, crested grebes, scaup, brent geese redshanks, curlews and many more. The rain managed to hold off and the group of about twenty five people were happy with all that they saw. Once again we were reminded of the great variety of birdlife to be found all along Dublin's coastline.

One of the people at the event, Tim O'Brien provides a great overview of the day on his blog Tim's Fotos. Thanks Tim!

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