Brown Hawker Dragonfly Aeshna grandis Seabhcaí Ómrach The brown hawker is large common dragonfly found in Ireland, it is distinctive because of its chocolate brown colouring. They grow to 7.3cm long and have a wingspan of 10.2cm. Both males and females are similar looking but can be distinguished as males have blue dots on their […]
Marsh Fritillary Euphydryas aurinia Fritileán Réisc The Marsh Fritillary Butterfly is one of Ireland’s few legally protected Butterflies. It is protected under Annex II of the European Union Habitats and Species Directive. They have an orange and cream square pattern on their wings and can be identified by their distinctive cream bands on their underwing. […]
Nettle Urtica dioica Neantóg The Common or Stinging Nettle is a highly successful plant found all over the temperate areas of the world. It spreads by means of seeds and underground rhizomes that creep around just under the surface of the soil. The jagged leaves held in pairs along the square stems are easily recognisable […]
Urgency of addressing the biodiversity emergency is underlined by Covid-19 crisis Press Release 23rd March 2020 The breakdown of global ecosystems presents an urgent threat to humanity, which was recognised in 2019 with the publication of the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services by the United Nations [i]. This report highlighted how natural […]
Small spotted catshark/ lesser-spotted dogfish Scyliorhinus canicula Catsúileach ballach/ Fiogach Beag Commonly known as dogfish, the small spotted catshark is one of 71 cartilaginous sharks found in Irish waters. From a recent report published by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) (Clarke, et al., 2016) on the status of sharks in Irish Waters they […]
Enchanter’s nightshade Circaea lutetiana Fuinseagach Enchanter’s nightshade is a small plant with long stems and broad leaves, it can grow to 20-50cm or taller and it has small white flowers at the head of each stem. The flowers which are very distinctive as they only have two petals that are deeply cleft, making it look […]
Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris Péine Albanach The Scots pine is one of Ireland’s three native coniferous trees. It is found across Eurasia from Ireland to Siberia, it was believed that it had died out in Ireland around 2000 years ago but has since been reintroduced for plantations in the 17th century. Tree stumps have […]
Native Tree Giveaway Greens Co. Laois Woodlands Community Receives 12,000 Donated Trees and Shrubs 24th February 2020 Trees, hedgerows and parks in Co. Laois received a boost from a recent tree donation. Approximately 12,000 trees were donated by the Trees on the Land projects, and distributed by the Laois Offaly Branch of the Irish Wildlife […]
Press Release: The Irish Wildlife Trust’s Top-Tens Asks for Politicians in advance of the General Election 28th January 2019 The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) has written to the political parties with our top ten asks for the next government to avert ecological meltdown. The 2020s needs to be the decade for nature restoration […]
Press Release: Irish Wildlife Trust welcomes action on vegetation destruction 22nd January 2019 The Irish Wildlife Trust welcomes the successful prosecution of two men for the destruction of 3 acres of scrub vegetation during the bird nesting season in 2018 (see statement below from the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht). We’d like […]
Press Release 20th January 2019 Public invited to Irish Wildlife Trust and Regenerative Farming Ireland event to discuss the future of farming What is the future for farming in an era of biodiversity and climate crises? Can farming be part of the solution to ecological breakdown while providing incomes for farmers? The Irish Wildlife Trust […]
PRESS RELEASE: Minister’s no-show at important biodiversity meeting a poor reflection on Ireland Press Release: 19th December 2019 The European Council of Ministers met today in Brussels to discuss the biodiversity emergency and the recently announced Green New Deal [i]. The meeting was to discuss the outcomes of the COP25 meeting in Madrid, […]
Ministers fail to live up to talk of a ‘Green New Deal’ as overfishing set to continue Press Release 18th December 2019 Despite a legal deadline of ending overfishing by 2020, and much hype from the new European Commission of a ‘Green New Deal’, Ministers, including Ireland’s Michael Creed, decided last night (December 17th) to […]
No fishing in a dead ocean – Minister Creed must uphold the law and end overfishing Press Release: 16th December 2019 Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, travels to Brussels today for the annual negotiation of fishing quotas. It is the first such meeting since the Dáil declared a biodiversity and climate […]
Video Report from Overfishing Protest 9th December
Long-eared Owl Asio otus Ceann cait The Long-eared Owl is distributed all across Ireland often found in coniferous woodlands with open grasslands nearby in order to hunt their prey. While they can be found distributed over most if the country except for the west, their range is somewhat scattered due to the low levels of […]
Minister Creed must uphold the law and end overfishing Press Release 09th December The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) and Extinction Rebellion are calling on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, to uphold the law in December by ending overfishing and averting catastrophe in our seas. In 2013, the Irish presidency of […]
IWT to hold ‘Rewilding’ Discussion in Galway Press Release: 15th November The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) will hold a free event exploring ‘Rewilding for Ireland’ next Thursday (November 21st) in NUI Galway in association with the NUIG Environmental Society. Rewilding is an exciting concept which can help to restore natural ecosystems to Ireland and […]
White Fronted Goose Anser albifrons The White Fronted Goose is named because of the characteristic white blaze across their foreheads, but this is absent in the juveniles. The birds breed in Greenland and Siberia typically on lowland tundra, often by lakes and rivers. They migrate to Ireland in October to April to enjoy our comparatively […]
Brown Long-eared Bat Plecotus auritus Ialtog fhad-chluasach The Brown long-eared bat is a medium sized Irish bat species, their extremely large ears in relation to body size makes them an easy species to identify. The ears are up to three quarters the size of the total head and body length measuring 2.5cm. Each ear has […]
Chanterelle Cantharellus cibarius Chanterelle is probably one of the most desirable edible mushrooms found in Europe. It is orange or yellow, meaty and funnel-shaped and can be found in woodlands, growing from the ground or decaying wood. They will reappear in the same place every year, so if you find a good spot, you should […]
Portuguese Man O’War Physalia physalis Smugairle an tseoil An exotic visitor, these unusual creatures occasionally appear in Irish waters during summertime bouts of good weather. While they are often mistaken for a jellyfish they are in fact a siphonophore – a colony of small animals working together as one whole in order to survive. Well […]
Common puffball Lycoperdon perlatum The fruit body ranges in shape from pear-like with a flattened top, to nearly spherical, and reaches dimensions of 1.5 to 6 cm wide by 3 to 7 cm tall. It has a stem-like base. The outer surface of the fruit body (the exoperidium) is covered in short cone-shaped spines that […]
Black Slug, also known as Black Arion Arion ater Seilide Dubh The black slug, also known as black arion, is a species of large land slug, a terrestrial slug in the family Arionidae, the roundback slugs. The size of the slug varies from 10 to 15 cm. Maturity is reached at about 2.5 cm The […]
Yellow Brain Fungus Tremella mesenterica Tremella mesenterica is usually golden yellow and gelatinous but tough when damp, turning orange and shrivelling to a tiny fraction of its former size during very dry weather. Initially disc-like, the fruitbody soon develops irregular contortions only very vaguely resembling the structure of a brain. Individual fruitbodies grow to between […]
PRESS RELEASE: Moves to open up protected peatlands must be reversed 24th September 2019 The Irish Wildlife Trust is calling on the government to reverse proposals to open up protected peatland conservation areas for turf-cutting which are proposed in the Wildlife Bill. The bill is being discussed in the Seanad this week. This […]
Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus E. balteatus is a relatively small hoverfly (9–12 mm) of the Syrphidae family. The upper side of the abdomen is patterned with orange and black bands. Two further identification characters are the presence of secondary black bands on the third and fourth dorsal plates and faint greyish longitudinal stripes on the […]
Oak Moss Evernia prunastri Evernia prunastri is a species of lichen, it has no official English name but is known as Oak Moss. Lichens that are attached only at the base are called fruticose and E. prunastri is the commonest in this group. It has a strap-shaped body, with fork-like branches hanging down from the […]
Spindle tree Euonymus europaeus Feoras Spindle is found throughout Ireland in woodland, scrub and hedgerows on limestone. It is often planted in gardens and parks. A deciduous shrub or small tree which grows 3–6 m tall, rarely 10 m, with a stem up to 20 cm in diameter. The leaves are opposite, lanceolate to elliptical, […]
Press release: Radical overhaul of Forestry Policy is urgently required. The Irish Wildlife Trust is calling for a radical overhaul of our forestry sector in response to the climate and biodiversity emergency. On nearly every measure our current forestry model is failing and in particular is driving extinction, water pollution and rural decline. The IWT […]
