.gif)
National Biodiversity Week is supported by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and organised by the Irish Environmental Network. The NPWS is planning to host more than 100 events, in national parks, nature reserves, and other sites all run by community and environmental groups, and local authority biodiversity officers. They include everything from whale watching, farm walks, bat walks, biodiversity cycle tours, field trips, nature walks, to wildlife watching and woodland workshops.
Speaking in advance of the UN International Day for Biological Diversity on May 22, Minister for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan said: “We all depend on nature – for our food, water, fuel, shelter and energy. Small changes in our own communities contribute to a bigger, global vision of nature, which is healthy and vibrant. The success of our efforts to restore nature relies on all of us, in communities and across government, working together.”
Niall Ó Donnchú, director general with the NPWS said: “Nature protection thrives when communities feel ownership of place. National Biodiversity Week can inspire long-term nature conservation initiatives, stronger local participation, intergenerational learning, and renewed respect for the delicate balance that sustains all life In busy lives, it asks us to pause long enough to remember that clean air, fertile soil, birdsong, insects, native plants, rivers, oceans, and seasons are not background scenery. They are the systems that make life possible. This week reconnects people with the understanding that protecting nature is not an occasional act, but part of the cycle of everyday living.”
Events organised by the National Parks and Wildlife Service include:
- Bioblitzes at Killarney National Park and Connemara National Park. Bioblitzes are events where communities come together to find and record as many species as they can in a particular area.
- Wild Nephin National Park is organising a native trees workshop, talks about Ireland’s birds of prey, and a nature treasure hunt for families.
- Wicklow Mountains National Park: See and hear more about the restoration work underway or join a dawn chorus at Knocksink Wood Nature Reserve.
- Enhance Biodiversity in your garden: Join NPWS staff for a guided tour of the national park at Dowth with tips to boost the variety of plants and wildlife in your garden, or learn about the secret life of bats on a bat walk in the park.
- Join a butterfly walk at the Burren National Park or spend a morning wildlife watching at Coole Park Nature Reserve.
- The hugely successful Biodiversity Week Festival, ‘Le Chéile don Dúlra’ is set to return to Glenveagh National Park in Donegal for a second year. The programme of events will celebrate The national park’s unique landscape, history, people, nature and conservation work, with a special emphasis on communication via the arts.
- Hear more about the species found around the coastal habitats of Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara, Ciarraí, including waders, wildfowl, sharks and rays and the Natterjack Toad.