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...

1. All eagle deaths, esp in a small population, are a loss but some are harder to take than most. Sadly, our 1st breeding male, released in 2008, was recently picked up dead. This bird deserves a proper obituary to put his life (and death) in context www.thejournal.ie/investigatio...

I will never get over the way Americans call soil, even the beautiful healthy life giving stuff, dirt.

Check out th8s interciew with @colinkelleher.bsky.social for more of the exciting work we are undertaking at the National Herbarium, with our ongoing digitisation of the Irish flora.

If you missed my behind the scenes tour of the National Botanic Gardens, celebrating the centenary of the @injournal.bsky.social, I'll be doing it all over again on Saturday, 2pm www.eventbrite.ie/e/a-natural-...

🌿 Celebrate 100 Years of Natural History! 🌿 Join Dr. Darren Reidy for a tour of the National Botanic Gardens as part of the INJ Centenary Year. Explore how our understanding of Ireland’s plants and animals has evolved over the past century. 📅 24th & 26th May 🔗 www.eventbrite.ie/e/a-natural-...

Good to see our new article re. UCC herbarium in latest edition of INJ. Particularly glad as it's a 1st time publishing for my former final year project student Sarah Daunt, upon whose work the article is based. Includes specimens collected by Ellen Hutchins et al. @ucc.ie @uccresearch.bsky.social

57,676 seed of one of Ireland's rarest plants, cleaned and ready to be banked. Corky-fruited Water-dropwort (Oenanthe pimpinelloides) is known to only a handful of locations in Ireland and is considered Vulnerable to extinction on the RedList. However, it's status as a native species is disputed.

The 2nd Edition of our guide to Ireland's Regulated Invasive Alien Plant Species is now available from the National Biodiversity Data Centre 💁 shop.biodiversityireland.ie/products/ire...

Work on digitisation of the National Herbarium at the National Botanic Gardens is in full swing. We rotate on shift operating the automated imaging equipment which was funded through our @interreg.eu project DigiHerb, to enhance digital technology & innovation in small herbaria NW Europe.

Our seed bank got a small feature on Nationwide @rteone.rte.ie this evening, as part of a larger feature on gardening for biodiversity.

Come work with us! Do you have a PhD in Plant Genetics? We are recruiting a 18 month Post Doc to work on genetic characterisation and seed sourcing of native forest trees. www.botanicgardens.ie/2025/03/06/p...

A few years ago I made a series of mini drawings of interesting Irish women (available as a print here www.ciaraioch.com/artprints/p/...) - this thread is a little information on the women featured, partly because it's useful, but mostly because I'm trying to be sustainable by recycling content.