Category Archives for "All News"

Dec 09

Minister Creed must uphold the law and end overfishing

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 […]

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Nov 15

IWT to hold ‘Rewilding’ Discussion in Galway

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 […]

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Nov 13

Species of the week: White Fronted Goose

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 […]

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Nov 13

Species of the week: Brown Long-eared Bat

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 […]

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Oct 24

Species of the week – Chanterelle

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 […]

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Oct 16

Species of the week: Portuguese Man O’War

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 […]

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Oct 09

Species of the week: Common puffball

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 […]

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Oct 09

Species of the week: Black Slug

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 […]

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Sep 26

Species of the week: Yellow brain fungus

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 […]

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Sep 24

PRESS RELEASE: Moves to open up protected peatlands must be reversed

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 […]

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Sep 18

Species of the week: Marmalade Hoverfly

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 […]

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Sep 11

Species of the week: Oak Moss

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 […]

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Sep 04

Species of the week: Spindle

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, […]

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Sep 02

Press release: Radical overhaul of Forestry Policy is urgently required.

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 […]

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Aug 28

Species of the week: Raft Spider

Raft Spider Dolomedes fimbriatus   Ireland’s largest spider, the Raft Spider, lives within our bogs and fens. The female (remember female spiders are larger than male spiders) spider’s body measures up to 22 millimetres long and leg span up to about 70 millimetres. We associate spiders with dry land but the Raft spider is semi-aquatic. […]

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Aug 21

Species of the week: Pedunculate Oak

Pedunculate Oak Quercus robur Dair ghallda Pedunculate Oak is the less common of the two native Irish oak species. You can distinguish it from Sessile oak by looking at its acorns – pedunculate oak produces acorns on stalks. The oak is one of our largest and longest lived trees – specimens typically live for up […]

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Aug 14

Species of the week: Common Green Grasshopper

Common Green Grasshopper Omocestus viridulus Dreoilín teaspaigh The common green grasshopper is a grasshopper of the Acrididae family. It is found in moderately wet regions of Europe and is distributed widely across Britain. Its range extends as far as Siberia and Mongolia. In Ireland it tends to be found in areas with long grass, such […]

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Aug 07

Species of the week: Fairy Flax

Fairy Flax Linum catharticum Lus na mban sí Fairy Flax is an annual or biennial herb found in seashore meadows, dry fields, or rocky outcrops or limestone pavement. The 5 petals of the plant are small (4mm), white with light veins and a yellow centre. It flowers from May to September. The flowers droop noticeably […]

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Jul 08

PRESS RELEASE: Dramatic new research shows the power of trees in addressing global climate breakdown.

PRESS RELEASE: Dramatic new research shows the power of trees in addressing global climate breakdown. 08th July 2019 Dramatic new research, published in the journal ‘Science’ demonstrates the incredible powers of trees to drawdown carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The researchers suggested this should be among the priority actions in dealing with climate breakdown. The […]

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Jun 20

Press Release: Irish Wildlife Trust welcomes Coillte forest initiative which is potentially very significant for nature

Press Release: Irish Wildlife Trust welcomes Coillte forest initiative which is potentially very significant for nature 20th June 2019 The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) strongly welcomes Coillte’s announcement that a new division of the company is to be devoted to biodiversity and non-commercial objectives. This is a very significant step towards creating large areas of […]

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Jun 18

PRESS RELEASE: Nature largely missing from the government Climate Action Plan

PRESS RELEASE: Nature largely missing from the government Climate Action Plan 18 June 2019 The Irish Wildlife Trust welcomes the publication of the government’s Climate Action Plan but is disappointed that nature – and addressing the biodiversity/extinction crisis in particular – is largely ignored. We welcome the commitment to better manage hedgerows and soils in […]

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May 21

People for Bees in National Biodiversity Week

People for Bees in National Biodiversity Week The IWT People for Bees programme had a great opening weekend to National Biodiversity Week, with a double bill of bee monitoring workshops. We were in St Enda’s park in Rathfarnham Co Dublin on Saturday and in Letterkenny Institute of Technology on Sunday. Both bee monitoring events were […]

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May 20

Floating Classroom onboard Celtic Mist

Floating Classroom onboard Celtic Mist 20th May 2019 A group of Ireland’s environmental NGOs are teaming up this spring for a rather unique education project lead by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group.  The exciting Floating Classroom initiative is combining ocean exploration with an educational schools programme which aims to raise awareness of Ireland’s marine […]

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May 18

Discover your nature this National Biodiversity Week

Discover your nature this National Biodiversity Week For the Irish Wildlife Trust, National Biodiversity Week is one of the most important and enjoyable weeks of the year. It is an opportunity for people across the country to get out and experience the biodiversity we still have in Ireland. There is a huge amount to discover […]

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May 13

PRESS RELEASE: Irish Wildlife Trust accuses the Office of Public Works in acting unlawfully in destroying large sections of the River Newport in Limerick

PRESS RELEASE: Irish Wildlife Trust accuses the Office of Public Works in acting unlawfully in destroying large sections of the River Newport in Limerick The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) has accused the Office of Public Works (OPW) in acting unlawfully when clearing a 3km stretch of river habitat along the River Newport in Co. Limerick […]

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May 07

PRESS RELEASE: IWT is calling on the government to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency following the publication of the latest UN report

PRESS RELEASE: IWT is calling on the government to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency following the publication of the latest UN report 06 May 2019 The Irish Wildlife Trust is calling on the government to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency following the publication of the latest UN report to warn of catastrophic consequences […]

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