Wildlife events planned to help people rediscover natural world

ALL wildlife is local, according to the Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT), which will host events countrywide this coming weekend.

WildWatch Walk on Saturday and Sunday will celebrate the IWT’s 30th birthday and mark the closure of Biodiversity Week.

Events will be held in every county to help people discover, explore and enjoy what the natural world has to offer.

Some of the events will be in well-known locations such as the Burren (Co Clare), Glenstall Forest (Co Limerick) and the Phoenix Park (Dublin).

But other activities will explore the wonderful hedgerows of Toomevara (Co Tipperary) and the Bats of Bailieborough (Co Cavan). Every event will be led by a wildlife expert and are free and open to all.

The IWT will be telling participants how they can play an active and ongoing role in wildlife recording, protection and conservation at a local and national level.

It said wildlife is an unique and priceless asset of every community, townland, town and city in the country.

The aim of the event is to engage as many people as possible in an exploration of the natural features of their county’s wildlife, and why it should be conserved for coming generations.

IWT spokesman Billy Flynn said the massive surge in building and construction over the last decade has led to the loss of far too many of our nation’s habitats.

“The so-called ‘development’ of our countryside was an act of national folly but was really perpetrated at local level. We have lost woodland, wetland and wildlife-rich grasslands in order to construct what are often unsuitable and largely unwanted housing estates and retail sites,” he said.

Mr Flynn said Ireland’s countryside and habitats have evolved alongside human use over many centuries but it took only a few years of apparent prosperity to destroy so much of this.

“Now that the headlong scramble to build is over, we will have many more years to contemplate the folly of the destruction of our countryside and habitats. No matter what state our economy is in or what international markets dictate, Ireland’s nature is without doubt one of our truly valuable assets,” he said