The first dry spell of spring over the weekend brought 15 wild fires across Ireland, according to the Irish Wildlife Trust.

Green party leader Eamon Ryan has backed the call on Unesco by the Irish Wildlife Trust to have world biosphere reserve status withdrawn from Killarney National Park.

The Irish Wildlife Trust has asked the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) to suspend the designation of the Killarney National Park as a world biosphere reserve.

The Irish Wildlife Trust has logged almost a dozen large wildfires since Tuesday, raging from the Blackstairs Mountains to the Beara Peninsula and from the Knockmealdowns to Killarney National Park, and says most occurred in special areas of conservation.

Campaigners are charting wildfires across Ireland this year over fears they threaten to wipe out entire wildlife species.

MOST people will, at some stage, have seen the common lizard which is regarded as an important animal in Ireland, being our only native reptile species.

The Kerry Fire and Rescue Service has attended 44 illegal wildfires during the month of March, within metres of the Killarney National Park.

A WALK on a country road these days will show that we don’t have to look too far to see nature showing its face again, writes Donal Hickey.

The Irish Wildlife Trust opposed to calls for a relaxation of scrubland burning restrictions, is seeking a complete ban on the destruction of upland vegetation.

It is claimed the intensity of cull has created a situation where the status of the badger population is ‘uncertain’.

The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) is looking for volunteers to help it carry out a clean-up at a limestone quarry in Cork which is home to some rare plants.

Wild boar may not be that wild after all, with DNA analysis showing that boars in Ireland are mostly pig.

In response to Donal Buckley’s recent opinion piece in the Irish Examiner (Agri-business, April 8) the Irish Wildlife Trust would like to point out that within Ireland’s “abundant fishing grounds” less than half of assessed fish stocks are considered by the Marine Institute to be exploited sustainably.

I GOT an excited email the other day from a neighbour who was planting trees and saw a strange animal.

The Irish Wildlife Trust is raising concerns about the future of the badger due to a planned 50 percent increase in beef production.

A stunning image of the moment a brightly coloured bird finding food in snow has won a national wildlife photography award.

Animal rights groups have offered rewards totalling up to €7,000 for information leading to the arrest or conviction of those responsible for the deaths of two seals in Kerry.

Heritage Minister Jimmy Deenihan’s remarks that he wished he had not taken on part of his portfolio have been criticised by a conservation charity.

WILDLIFE lovers are urged to participate in efforts to save three, soft, slippery creatures that live on land and in water.

The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) has today welcomed a Garda investigation into the shooting of seals off the Waterford Coast last month.

OVER the past couple of months there seems to have been an increase in the number of greenfinches in my garden.

Two grey seals, which are a protected species, have been put down after being found in Co. Waterford with gunshot wounds.

SOME years ago I was walking in a wood with my brother when we came across a badger caught in a snare.

AN online petition has been launched as part of a major campaign this winter to stop the “barbaric” culling of thousands of badgers.

IT’S ironic that a time of a year when new life begins to spring forth, we also have large-scale destruction of natural features of the landscape and wildlife habitat, in Ireland.

A new freight rail service to Dublin Port is on track to take up to 4,000 trucks off the country’s roads, it was claimed today.

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

ONE of the ironies of life is that, sometimes, those responsible for protecting our environment are the very people that help destroy it.