News

We were interviewed by Irish times journalist Michelle McBride about how nature is taught in schools. We said we thought the SESE Curriculum was great as it was; the issue was that teachers are overburdened with a very large curriculum to get through and they don’t get training resources to teach about Irish ecology. That’s where Heritage in Schools Specialists are so beneficial to learning and helping teachers. The article was part of a broader theme of resourcing teachers to bring children into nature.

NatureCubsIreland is presenting 4 weekly webinars in May for Primary Schools in Ireland. All will be at 9.30 on Thursdays and we started off today with Explore the Seashore! Hosted by Kerry Biosphere Reserve and Dublin Biosphere Reserve, we had over 300 schools take part this morning!

The Primary school Nature series webinars are being delivered online via the zoom platform.

You must register for each weeks webinar separately.

Below are the links to the registration pages for each week.

Simply follow the links to the registration page and input your name and email address and submit to register.

Once you have completed this you will receive an email with the link to join the live session.

 You will need to follow this link to join the live session you have registered for.

Registration links for the webinars are as follows:

Exploring Seashores, May 6^th at 9.30am

Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/4316184985829/WN_4ilz8eLETv2mxnjpACWWFA

How to be a Wildlife Detective, May 13th at 9.30am

Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/4816185001923/WN_VwF0q-xIS2y0rm8uI5fciA

Nature Arts and Crafts, May 20th at 9.30am

Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/3116185013108/WN_NvePxPswSi-OQYEnR3Dhwg

How to be a Wildlife Champion, May 27th at 9.30am

Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/6016185031369/WN_yz-EJrFZSuW2eQOkcDtrSw

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Living in West Dublin, I am fortunate to be on the edge of countryside and Dunboyne town is just beside me. Dunboyne Castle Estate was once covered in broadleaf trees and there is a lovely local remnant woodland still there, close to the now Dunboyne Castle Hotel and Spa. A testiment to how important nature has become to us in Covid times, this little woodland has become heavily used and concerned locals in the Tidy Towns Group decided to take action to preserve it. I was lucky to be called in to survey this lovely site and write a practical management plant to try to save its natural character before it’s too late. The Tidy Towns Group, local GAA Club and local Athletics Club and housing estate are all on board.

Simple actions like removing Sycamore saplings, putting down permeable pathways, planting new broadleaf trees to help regeneration and interpretation signage, can all make a big difference to this important little wood. Best of luck Dunboyne Tidy Towns with this great project.

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How lucky am I to be working with 6 beautifully located Dublin Bay Biosphere Tidy Towns areas on these Plans. Fingal County Council is supporting this terrific project for Howth, Sutton, Bayside, Baldoyle, Portmarnock and Malahide Tidy Towns and Community Groups. I have been so fortunate to go out on site and spend time in what can only be described as stunning locations. Local Residents’ Groups, Tidy Towns Groups, Youth Groups, Volunteers, Interested individuals are all invited to take part, help me survey (Covid compliant), let me know of the secret local biodiversity hotspots and get involved in Actions to help local Biodiversity.

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Being the lucky person to have 2 rescue cats and 2 rescue dogs in my life, I feel I owe a debt of gratitude to DSPCA for the amazing work it does. So to give back, I have been giving Wildlife Workshops to children on school breaks and giving Animal Career Talks to TY students.

Follow your dreams is what I say! I was told in school that there was no work for a Zoologist! Wrong!

We have been working on this amazing project with Blessington Tidy Towns (BTT) since January. A big component of this was the delivery of a community wildlife/pollinator education programme to arm residents with the tools needed to create this Bee Route. We were so impressed at the volunteerism shown by over 30 people each week; residents and non-residents of Blessington, who attended these Zoom workshops over a 4 week period.

We have also been working on designing and branding a pollinator starter pack for Blessington residents and this is now complete! A Blessington Tidy Towns Bee Route (BTTBR) Tote bag, a BTTBR branded step-by-step flier on all aspects of pollinator friendly gardening, native Irish wildflower seeds, a BTTBR branded Resource Document of practical links, Guides and publications; and some nice pollinator friendly plants.

When these packs are delivered, participating Blessington residents will register their pollinator friendly garden on the Pollinator.ie website and also take part in some of the lovely Citizen Science projects monitoring the effectiveness of their pollinator space on attracting bees and other wildlife to their garden.

Well done Blessington Tidy Towns on such a fantastic initiative and congratulations to all the participants who completed their 4 week training! We can’t wait to see photographs of the Bee Route in action!

The embargo is lifted! We can now show photos of the leaflets and bags we designed for Blessington Tidy Towns. Packs are delivered, plants planted, seeds sown!

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