We Didn’t Start the Fire (But it’s all the ways the EU has ruined environmental protection in the last three years) with @greenpeace.eu #ad

The EU is pushing for significant deregulation, under the guise of "simplification". They are planning to chip away at one vital environmental law at a time. Once lost, these protections rarely return. Take Action: iwt.ie/what-we-do/hands-off-nature/ More info: handsoffnature.eu/

Gardaí & Luas inspectors walking around with their faces covered by pulled up neckwarmers is unnecessary, intimidatory & reminiscent of things we don't want to be as a nation. It's not that cold lads - Who/where do you think you are? #SpéirGorm #Ireland

⚖️ DEADLINE TOMORROW ⚖️ Submissions on this are due tomorrow. Please do take a few minutes to make a submission, it sounds like a dry topic, but the negative consequences for the Irish environment could be profound. We need as many people as possible to push back on this.

Exercise your right to public participation in environmental decision making by submitting a response to the public consultation on your right to access to justice in environmental matters

Nice to see the latest issue of the @injournal.bsky.social hitting the papers this week!

Cotterite is an exceedingly rare form of quartz known from one Irish locality in Co. Cork. I was privileged to be present when Ben (7) brought it into the museum @nmireland.bsky.social Full story just published in Irish Naturalists’ Journal @injournal.bsky.social www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Excited that the 3rd edition of our “Identification Guide to Ireland’s Regulated Invasive Alien Plant Species”, published by the National Biodiversity Data Centre, is now available for free online and hard copies will be available to purchase in the online in Feb. invasives.ie/guide-to-ire...

These are our collective, environmental democratic rights which are being eroded here. If you're not worried about this, then you're clearly not paying enough attention.

Access to justice in environmental matters is one of the core principals of the Aarhus Convention, if you believe that this should be maintained and should not become prohibitively expensive please respond to the public consultation that is currently open.

One too many lemonades last night so a slow start to the #NewYearPlantHunt today. We clocked a surprising 24 species in flower on a local laneway in Inch, Co. Kerry. Highlights = Hedge Mustard (1st record for the hectad), Thyme Leaved Speedwell, & a single Navalwort flower. @bsbiireland.bsky.social

Seamus' death is a massive loss to Irish horticulture, botany and garden heritage. He was a welcoming, charismatic and immensely knowledgeable colleague. His love for his craft was palpable and his mark will will be etched into our gardened landscapes & national plant collections - RIP Seamus.

Last week I had the opportunity to sit down with a journalist to discuss the challenges facing plant biodiversity. Seed banking is one tool that we need to prevent extinction, but must be part of wider conservation and restoration action. www.thejournal.ie/the-man-in-c...

Last week I had the opportunity to sit down with a journalist to discuss the challenges facing plant biodiversity. Seed banking is one tool that we need to prevent extinction, but must be part of wider conservation and restoration action. www.thejournal.ie/the-man-in-c...

Always the cowgirl, never the cow 💃💅 #CMAT was stunning tonight in Dublin

It's good to see Bishop Lucey Park open again and there are some nice elements but overall it's rather charmless, cluttered and over-engineered. Strap yourself in for a rollercoaster ride of a thread (1/n)🧵 #Cork

I have never been wetter on a hike! Nor have I ever had to queue for the summit before! Grand soft day on #Snowdon, celebrating 20yrs of friendship with my bestie.

My workplace is so ugly this time of year. All those sad dying trees. 😉

I just love the moody landscapes of Autumn...

Its giving Autumn (National Botanic Gardens of Ireland)

Sorbus scannelliana, S. anglica & S. rupicola from Killarney National Park recently ##WildflowerHour

Catherine Connolly only put a twenty in the wedding card #Smearthebejaysis

🌿 Celebrate 100 years of the Irish Naturalists’ Journal! Join Dr Rory Hodd & the Irish Bryophyte Group for a bryophyte walk/talk in Killarney NP, Sun 12 Oct 2025, 10:30–13:30. Free but booking essential: [email protected]

What a crock of actual horse... burgers. 🙄

How many chances should be given to get it right? Non-compliance under our licence system appears to be more the norm than the aberration when it comes to protecting our water quality Insights from last night's Joint Committee on Climate, Environment & Energy session on River Blackwater fish kill

Public records about North Cork Creameries - a company that is a "leading supplier of butter to the internationally renowned Kerrygold brand" - paint a disquieting picture of how regulators are performing www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Grass-of-Parnassus (Parnassia palustris) has long been my favourite wildflower, untiI I met the stunning Oysterplant (Mertensia maritima) for the 1st time last week, and then this week I saw my first ever Meadow Saffron (Colchicum autumnale) and now I just don't know anymore. #WildflowerHour

If you have a project on Ireland's natural heritage in mind now is your chance to apply for the INJ Grant

My FOI of Government memo confirms more data centres means higher electricity bills for all. "The expansion of data centres has raised security of supply concerns and leads to associated costs to taxpayers and electricity bill payers," the memo stated. www.rte.ie/news/primeti...

I love science, the rigorous way we advance our understanding of the universe. But I don't love the egos and pressures that come with academia. I also love nature and understand that it is in critical need of saving. That is where I want to put my efforts - being a practitioner and inspiring others

Little treat to see Frogbit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae) today in the River Boyne, Oldbridge, Co. Meath. Not something you ever see in the South West so - happy dance💃🕺 @bsbiireland.bsky.social

For this week's #WildflowerHour Asteraceae Challege I give you - Common Fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica) from a roadside embankment in Wexford

This, in a nutshell, is why O’Leary talks down the Metro. He makes more money the fewer options there are for airport transit. Of course none of the news outlets that reported his misinformation verbatim ever bothered to mention this obvious conflict of interest.

A new one for me - Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum), and escaped house plant, naturalised in coastal habitats around Killiney in Ireland.

Lets keep and expand the Basic Income for Artists! Take the survey below!

There's a REALLY quick and easy survey for the public consultation on the Basic Income for the Arts scheme - it only takes a few seconds, anyone can fill it in, and it could make a huge difference to arts workers in Ireland. Take a few ticks to places a few ticks here: ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/run...

My piece on establishing Ireland's National Seed Bank was published in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland back in the spring, but nothing beats seeing a copy in the flesh! My copy finally arrived in the post today 😊

For this week's pollinator themed #WildflowerHour I cheat a little (no flowers) and give you a swarm of honey bees on a Hawthorn hybrid trunk at the National Botanic Gardens

I recently went to check on the population of Pyrola rotundifolia subsp. maritima (Coastal Round-Leaved Winter-Green) in at the Raven Nature Reserve in Co. Wexford. It was still in flower but I will be returning to collect seed of this vulnerable species for Ireland's seed bank later in the season.

Nice to see a familiar graph replicated in this @data.ft.com deep-dive on data centres and how they're powered.

Ipomoea species have such showy flowers. But the secret to their identity is in their sepals and bracteoles. With over 600 recognised species in the genus, this morning glory has been leaving me in quite the bind(weed) this week 😅

Looking back on last wknd, visiting some lovely saltmarsh & coastal lagoons habitats in search of some of Ireland's rarest charaphytes w/ Paul Green & @bsbiireland.bsky.social Aquatic Plants Project. We found both Foxtail Stonewort (Lamprothamnium papulosum) & Bearded Stonewort (Chara canescens).

This new song by CMAT is stuck in my my head, my throat and my gut. The tragedy of the Celtic Tiger, the false promise of neoliberalism, the erasure of culture and identity, the loss of so many fathers, the outright greed of it all. A moving & elegant piece of art. youtu.be/_SVNTv44C4g?...

Scented Mayweed (Matricaria chamomilla) & Scentless Mayweed (Tripleurospermum inodorum) side by side on the Wexford Slobs.

Digitised today at DBN Herbarium was this 1863 specimen of Ranunculus repens accompanied by a lovely note. 1st ever plant specimen collected by R.M. Barrington, one of Ireland's great naturalists @injournal.bsky.social @colinkelleher.bsky.social @nigelmonaghan-nh.bsky.social @ria.ie @dri.ie

A couple I know, in their 70s, one of whom has terminal cancer, have been evicted from the house they rented for the past 27 years. A first hand casualty of the FFG landlords bill.

Some highlights from last wknd's @bsbiireland.bsky.social field outing to stunning coastal grasslands & saltmarsh on the Shannon Estuary, Co. Limerick. - Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) - Lesser Butterfly Orchid (Platanthera bifolia) - Hairy Violet (Viola hirta) - Sea Wormwood (Artemisia maritima)

🌸 Bee Orchid Hunt 🌸 Join Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club & the INJ to mark 100 yrs since the first Antrim record in 1925. 📅 10:30am, 28th June 2025 📍 Coast Road Car Park, Glenarm 🔎 Led by BSBI’s Antrim Recorder - David McNeil 📩 Bookings: [email protected] #INJ100 #BeeOrchid

CEO of Predator, trying to build an offshore LNG terminal in Ireland, gave a stunningly revealing interview to @codohertynews.bsky.social Pity about the paywall - here are some quotes. m.independent.ie/irish-news/g...