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.

Green Drinks 5th February - Kildare Animal Rescue

This month we heard from Kildare Animal Foundation Wildlife Unit. They follow the principle of the 'Three Rs' - Rescue, Rehabilitate and return to the wild. No animal is turned away - from a badger to a dormouse, or from a swan to a pigeon!

Dan and Aideen offered advice for if you find an injured or orphaned wild animal - PLEASE DO NOT touch or pick it up unless it is in immediate danger. Please phone them (087 620 1270) or your local rescue centre first. If you need to move the animal place it in a quiet, dark and warm place. Then call for help. Offer only water – no other fluids.

Covering an injured animal will help reduce stress and keep it warm, but do not over handle the animal or bird. Put it somewhere quiet, dark and warm. Wild creatures are not calmed by contact with humans. Talking to them and stroking them can only increase their stress.

January 6th - Bull Island Bird Watching

The January outing of the Dublin Branch was the ever popular bird watching event on Bull Island. There was a good turn-out for the event, with benign weather conditions and a calm surface on the water. Led by the expert  John Fox of Birdwatch Ireland we saw plenty of birds: apart from 5 different varieties of gulls, there were geese (mainly Brent), ducks (shelduck, widgeon, teal, shoveler, pintail, mallard), all sorts of waders (redshank, black-tailed godwit, dunlin, curlew, turnstone, lapwing) and, of course, herons. All in all a good day out.

Black Tailed Godwit

Shelduck

December 16th Botanic Gardens

The December outing of the Dublin Branch was a trip to the Botanic Gardens to see what they are like in winter. Our guide for the day, Glynn Anderson showed us that there was still plenty to see, from mistletoe in the branches of a poplar tree, to the beauty of the evergreen yew trees with their attractive reddish bark. After a tour of the grounds, it was welcome to get out of the cold by stepping into the warmth of the tropical glasshouses. Glynn told us all about the tropical trees there from many kinds of palm trees to bananas. The trip showed that the Botanic Gardens are well worth a visit at any time of year!

Balls of Mistletoe growing on a poplar tree

An avenue of yew trees 

Green Drinks December 4th - Extinction Crisis

December's Green Drinks featured the IWT’s Pádraic Fogarty who gave an overview of the extinction crisis facing Ireland and the world. In light of the recent report from WWF/ZSL showing how the world has lost 60% of its large animals in the past 40 years, there can be no doubt that we find ourselves at the centre of an extinction crisis. How does it affect Ireland? What is the relationship between the extinction crisis and climate breakdown? What can individuals and communities do to prevent the crisis deepening?

Pádraic told the meeting that the extinction crisis is equally important to the climate change crisis. Carrying on with business as usual won’t help, instead there needs to be a radical change to the management of fishing, farming and forestry. It’s important to understand that species loss is caused by habitats destroyed by pollution and intensive farming not just by climate change, and a complete change of mindset is needed by everyone, from government agencies to the local community to end this. In the end, restoring nature - rewetting bogs, planting trees and developing nature friendly farming is the cheapest and easiest tool to tackle climate change.

Green Drinks Tues 4th Sept - Bees and other pollinators, a vital role

Orla ní Dhúill of the Irish Wildlife Trust and DCU gave a talk on the role bees and other pollinators play in maintaining a healthy environment around us. The declining numbers of bees internationally has starting to break into mainstream news stories, but many people do not know much about the various species of bees and pollinators that are effected or what's causing these declines. This is of vital importance to us humans, as most of the plants we grow for food rely on bees to pollinate them.

Orla talked more about what's going wrong and what can be done to help. Habitat loss is a major factor, and we can all do our part. First we can grow lots of flowers that bees like, but also we can preserve habitat for our bumblebees who are all under pressure. Leaving a grassy bank or piece of earthen bank free for the bumblebees to make their nests would be a great help. Having things too tidy leaves no room for our bumbles!

Know your bumblebees: the following diagrams can help you to identify them.