Events

Co-incident with World Wetlands Day,  join LAWPRO and Milltown Malby Tidy Towns to celebrate the creation of the new wetlands pond and the unveiling of a new illustrated sign highlighting the importance of wetlands for both biodiversity and people.

Please join Milton Malay Tidy Towns, LAWPRO, local Councillors and others to celebrate this event which will be immediately followed by a reception in the Miltown Malbay Community Centre (Church Street). Please bring suitable footwear for the site visit. This is a free event and all are welcome!

Join us, the Community Wetlands Forum on 1 February at 7:30pm, the eve of World Wetlands Day, for the launch of our new webinar series “Creativity for the Wetlands: Art connecting people and wetlands”.

We are delighted that award-winning nature photographer Tina Claffey, who is renowned for her mesmerising work on peatlands, will kick off this series, with a talk and presentation about her work. The webinar which lasts an hour, will also provide attendees with a chance to ask questions and respond to the presentation.

Tina Claffey, a member of the CWF, is an award-winning Irish nature photographer and author of ‘Tapestry of Light-Ireland’s bogs & wetlands as never seen before’ released in October 2017, and  ‘Portal-Otherworldly Wonders of Ireland’s Bogs, Wetlands and Eskers’ in 2022. Her observations and unique perspective through her macro lens of the flora and fauna of the raised bogs and wet woodlands of the Irish midlands are celebrated in her work.

This webinar series is an opportunity for anyone interested in wetlands and community-led projects to hear from artists about how their work connects people with wetlands and their importance. Art can be a fantastic way to engage, inspire and move in ways that traditional media and activism don’t always achieve.

This webinar series will hear from a different artist every fortnight, at 7:30pm on a Thursday evening, and so far the confirmed line up is as follows:

• 1 February, Tina Claffey
• 14 February, Fionnuala McKenna, Cloughjordan Community Development – Voices from the Past, Breathe Loudly
• 29 February, Kate Flood, Monica De Bath & Jules Michael – Gnáthóga Nádurtha
• 14 March, Helen Flanagan, Friends of Ardee Bog
• 28 March, Community Wetlands Forum Open Mic

These webinars will be on zoom, and you can register for the first webinar here

Local Ulster Wildlife expert Giles Knight is giving a talk on raptors in Fermanagh on 1st February 2024.

Numbers are strictly limited so registration is essential so if interested please contact Giles.Knight@ulsterwildlife.org for details on timing and venue.

Back in November 2023 @Lough Erne Waders held a workshop on breeding wader conservation and management in Northern Ireland – with a range of talks on the subject by organisations/individuals from Ireland, N Ireland, Great Britain and the continent.

Throughout the annual cycle these species are associated with wetlands of one type or other – tundra, temperature coastal Machair, bogs and lowland wet grassland in summer and estuaries for staging and wintering.

Though this precedes WWD, the timing of the release of the presentations is nearly co-incident and worth a watch! The keynotes included:

• Working Together for Waders – the role of Europe’s game shooting community (Dr David Scallan, Sec Gen FACE)
• Saving Curlews across the UK (Mary Colwell, Curlew Action founder, author and broadcaster)
• Curlews and Forestry (Patrick Laurie, author, hill-farmer and land management consultant)
• The importance of predation management in wader recovery (Dr Andrew Hoodless, GWCT)

Breeding Waders are a hot topic right now – most species are red-listed in Ireland, populations globally are not faring well and there is much to do if we are to retain populations. In fact 2024-27 a new national DAFM/NPWS Breeding Wader EIP will be operating to try to help!

These are available now:

To celebrate World Wetlands Day on February 2^nd we are having a Photography Competition ! Just get out to your nearest wetland – a bog, stream, river, pond, lake – and take a photo of what you see!! No shortage of Wetlands in Monaghan, so no excuses ! It might be a duck, a heron, a boat, fishing, some frogspawn, a plant- or maybe you, your dog or your family swimming or enjoying the wetlands!  As long as it celebrates the many wonderful wetlands we have in Monaghan, it’s eligible!  Email your photos to Biodiversity@monaghancoco.ie Closing date is Wed January 31^st. Prizes for kids, teens and adults.

Interested in the conservation of coastal dunes and machair? The LIFE on Machair ecology team would love to show you some of the unique features of these habitats on the west coast in March 2023.

By March this habitat will have started to emerge from its winter slumber, readying for summer visitors including pollinators and breeding waders. The focus of the project is the restoration and enhancement of this habitat in Galway, Mayo and Donegal.
The field trip which will last 2-3 hours will explore the Irish archaeology and biodiversity of the Valley on Achill, led by LIFE on Machair staff.

The Valley Sandybanks is an important site for breeding waders and once supported the rare breeding Dunlin a species now limited to only a few machair sites in Ireland. The site is both a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area (See https://www.NPWS.ie). On March 2nd we will celebrate the coastal wetland habitats of machair and dune at the Valley, Achill. We will spend the day walking, talking and exploring the site with local experts, binoculars and telescopes. We will visit the site with students from the Mayo College of Further Education who are studying coastal guiding and are based in Corráin, Achill. A great day to share knowledge and learn about an amazing coastal wetland site!

If you are struggling to find your way on the day, please contact Jackie Hunt (087 2739757)

Meet at The Valley Loop Walk/Achill Rovers Pitch (54.01119, -9.814237)

Harper’s Island Wetlands nature reserve is situated in the Glounthaune Estuary/Slatty Water complex, in the northern section of Cork Harbour. Over 125 species of bird have been seen on the nature reserve. The wetlands are an extremely important safe feeding and roosting refuge for many species of wintering waterbirds. Nearly half of the Cork Harbour Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit population roost on the island on spring high tides. At times, during the spring months, peak Black-tailed Godwit counts can exceed 2,000 birds representing over 4% of the global population. The Glounthaune Estuary/Slatty Water complex also supports populations of national importance of Shelduck, Teal, Little Grebe, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Redshank, Greenshank and Black-headed Gull with Harper’s Island supporting significant components of these populations.

Meet in the car park at the entrance; – link: https://goo.gl/maps/1F2JGGiGuDtcyVk8A. The trip will be led by the local wetland’s experts.

Wellington boots are not essential, though we would recommend sensible walking shoes and dressing appropriately according to the weather. The outing will be on a limestone chip nature trail with two viewing hides.

If the weather is bad we will meet in the first viewing hide on the nature trail, the Borrow Dyke Hide. Bring binoculars if you have them.
This event is open to all. Dogs are not allowed on the nature reserve and minors must be accompanied by an adult.

Check out our website www.harpersislandwetlands.ie for more information on Harper’s Island Wetlands, what to expect and how to get there.

If you need to contact the team please do so via Facebook www.facebook.com/harpersislandwetland/

We’d love to see you there sharing the site and sights with us!

We would love you to explore Lough Boora Discovery Park with us!

The guided walk will be a loop within Lough Boora Discovery Park. We will walk, talk and look at wetland development on Bord na Móna cutaway peatlands. There is generally some nice bird species in the area with the possibility of Little Egret, Mallard, Teal, Snipe and even the spectacular Hen Harrier!

The Bord na Móna Ecology Team will be guide the walk which will on paved tracks – walking boots or shoes should be sufficient. The ground vegetation in some areas may be wet but we will avoid soft ground. Dress for the weather. The walk will take approximately 2 hours.

Meet at the northern end of Boora Lake, at the former railway crossing. Car parking is available at the adjacent Lough Boora Discovery Park car park. https://goo.gl/maps/6cCFAi32BE4m8gDB7

If you cannot find you way on the day, contact us on 087 7530718

We’d love to see you visit Clara Bog with us on Saturday 4th February. The walk and talk will be led by two peatland hydrology/ecology experts – Jim Ryan (ex NPWS) and Paul Johnston (Trinity College).

Meet at the car park at the beginning of the boardwalk in the centre of Clara Bog (53.323224, -7.62642).

The walk will take 2-3 hours depending on the weather and you should dress appropriately for conditions! Most of the walk will be on the boardwalk but if feasible we may venture off it and if we do you should wear suitable waterproof footwear!

Clara Bog is a relatively intact raised bog and a premier international wetland site under the Ramsar convention. It has been the subject of extensive research on the role of bogs in carbon storage to help mitigate climate change and the visit will attempt to explain the hydrology, ecology and the outcomes of the research on its carbon balance. While there remains areas of good high bog, peat-cutting has impacted on its long-term conservation.

If you cannot find us on the day, contact 087 9972156

An event suitable for a cold winter’s evening!

The Local Authorities Waters programme (LAWPRO) would welcome you to an online story-telling event to celebrate World Wetland’s Day. The evening will give readings from the “Stories from the Waterside Collection”

Contact details are here: https://storiesfromthewaterside.ie/our-stories/

To join the event please use this link (also below) https://lawaters-ie.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_F9RwYIApTGmj2LiFZWvxzw