Green Drinks 7th May - Field of Dreams

This month Bob Salisbury told of how he and his wife Rosemary transformed a barren corner of County Tyrone into a wildlife haven. When they took over the land it was a sterile landscape for wildlife, with open boggy fields that had been let go fallow. However Bob and Rosemary began a programme of tree planting and they created a series of ponds to drain off the flooded land, which led to a resurgence of wildlife.

Their renowned wildlife garden is now home to hares, owls, hawks, otters, woodcock, bats and many other species that hadn’t been seen in the area for years. It has become what Bob calls his FoD - 'Field of Dreams' and he has published a book about his experience https://blackstaffpress.com/…/field-of-dreams-how-we-trans…/

2nd April - People for Bees

This month's Green Drinks is about the IWT People for Bees programme. The alarming decline of our bees and other insects is clear, but what can you do about it? The People for Bees programme aims to support communities and individuals in Ireland to take action to help fight bee decline. IWT Coordinator Kieran Flood provided an update on our People for Bees plans for 2019 to let you what you can do to help out, including making your gardens and green spaces more pollinator friendly. Volunteers can also learn field skills like bee identification, bumblebee monitoring and biodiversity record taking. The project is aimed at community groups and members of the public in every province of Ireland.

You can learn more about this important initiative on the IWT website: https://iwt.ie/people-for-bees/

Kieran at a bee identification workshop

31st March - Killiney Beach Walk

This month Kieran Craven of CHERISH brought us on a walk along Killiney Beach. CHERISH (Climate Heritage & Environments of Reefs, Islands and Headlands) is an EU funded Ireland - Wales project, that will increase cross-border knowledge and understanding of the impacts (past, present and near-future) of climate change, storminess and extreme weather events on the cultural heritage of reefs, islands and headlands of the Irish Sea.

Kieran told us all about the the geology of the Killiney Beach area, including the fascinating fact that granite from Ailsa Craig in Scotland is to be found on the beach - carried there during the last Ice Age! Kieran also told us how the whole of Dublin Bay is at risk from rising sea levels due to Climate Change.

You can learn more about the CHERISH Project at http://www.cherishproject.eu/en/

Kieran talks about tectonic forces

A look at some of the different rock types to be seen

Coastal erosion is happening at Killiney

and will only get worse with climate change

Green Drinks 5th March : Climate Change - Time to panic?

This month environmental activist John Gibbons talked about climate change. Things are much worse than most people realise.The world has been trying to tackle climate change for the last three decades. In that time, global emissions have actually risen by 60% and biodiversity collapses are now sweeping across ecosystems. Despite the abundant evidence of current harms and future dangers, governments, including our own, plough ahead regardless as catastrophe looms ever closer.

As thousands of schoolchildren take to the streets to protest this month, John told us to take on board the words of teenage activist, Greta Thunberg, when she says: "I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then – I want you to act”.

You can learn more about the challenges facing us at John's blog about Climate Change: 'Think or Swim' http://www.thinkorswim.ie/

17th February - St. Catherines Park, Lucan Liffey Walk

This month we were fortunate to have the wonderful Tim Clabon, who led us along the Liffey in St Catherine's Park. There was a good turnout and the weather was gloriously sunny. The park is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna. As well as mature trees of oak, beech and willow, the park contains rare wild plants such as Hairy St. John’s Wort (Hypericum hirsutum), Yellow Archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdelon)  and Green Figwort (Scrophularia umbrosa).

The park also has the usual variety of mammals such as grey squirrels, bats, foxes and badgers, and birds such as herons, kingfishers and little egrets. A wide variety of fish can also be found in the river, including trout, salmon and pike, and other aquatic creatures such as freshwater mussels. All in all, Tim provided the group with an enjoyable and informative day.