News from Biodiversity Ireland
June 2025

This monthly newsletter provides an update on some of the work of the National Biodiversity Data Centre and highlights upcoming events. 

Upcoming Biodiversity Training Events

Invasive Species Week 2025

Last month, the Invasive Species Unit led the coordination of Invasive Species Week, held from 12th to 18th May. A wide range of events took place across the country and online, all aimed at raising awareness about invasive species in Ireland. Activities included webinars, woodland walks, and hands-on workshops designed to help people identify and understand the impact of invasive species.

Throughout the week, a social media campaign highlighted simple, everyday actions that individuals can take to help prevent the spread of invasive species. On Tuesday the Marine and Coastal Non-indigenous and Invasive Species Steering Committee convened to advance the development of a management strategy for marine invasive species in Ireland. On Wednesday we announced our participation in a groundbreaking trial using environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect invasive aquatic species like the Chinese mitten crab and Coypu before they spread.

To close the week, we celebrated the inspiring efforts of communities and organisations across the country who are actively working to combat invasive species. Visit the link below to explore their stories and see how local action is making a national impact. A huge thank you to everyone who took part in Invasive Species Week 2025. Working together we can stop the spread of invasives and protect biodiversity.

Let it Bloom June

The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan would like to thank everyone who supported No Mow May. It has resulted in lots of new mini meadows emerging across the island. Some people have even reported Orchids popping up in their gardens for the first time! No Mow May is over, but that doesn’t mean you have to start cutting regularly again. Mowing less from April until September is one of the best ways you can help pollinators. So why not keep the buzz going with #LetItBloomJune?

Cutting once a month rather than every couple of weeks, and removing the grass clippings when you do mow, can help native wildflowers like Red and White Clover, Self-heal and Birds-foot-trefoil appear.

Schools: Take Part in Pitches for Pollinators

Over the summer holidays, schools across the island of Ireland are asked to help the bees by taking part in ‘Pitches for Pollinators’. This annual campaign aims to feed hungry pollinators by leaving school pitches unmown over the summer, allowing wildflowers to emerge. Records submitted to the National Biodiversity Data Centre show that Red and White Clover are among the most popular flowers for bees during the summer months. By reducing mowing over the holidays, plants like these can grow in school pitches. During term time, pitches and grassy areas are regularly mown giving children important areas to play, but from the end of June until mid-August, leave pitches unmown to allow wildflowers to grow naturally. 

Can you help by carrying out a Flower-Insect Timed Count (FIT Count)?

FIT Counts are an important way that you can help us monitor pollinators. Download the free FIT Count App, watch a 50x50cm patch of flowers for 10 minutes and count how many insects visit. You can carry out a FIT Count anywhere, and on any flower, but where you can, please use one of our 15 target flowers. In June, its especially useful to carry out FIT Counts on White or Red Clover.

In 2024, 784 validated FIT Counts were submitted by 135 different volunteers. The average number of insects per FIT Count was 7. The most common insect group recorded were hoverflies followed by other flies then bumblebees. The most common habitat FIT Counts were carried out in was grassland with wildflowers.

Why not try one where you are to see how your site compares!

GBIF Europe & Central Asia Regional Nodes Group meet at NBDC
 

The 17th meeting of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) Europe and Central Asia (ECA) regional nodes group was hosted by the NBDC from the 20th to 23rd of May. The meeting took place in the ArcLabs Research & Innovation Centre, Carriganore, Co Waterford and was attended by over 40 node managers, staff and invited observers from across 14 different countries.

The meeting commenced with a full day excursion and BioBlitz to 3 locations the Copper Coast (Fenor Bog, Anne Valley Nature Park and Annestown Beach), with staff from the NBDC on hand to give some interesting talks and aid in species identification. Observations were recorded using two recording applications (BioBlitz GBIF ECA 2025 - Observation.org and https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gbif-eca-2025-waterford-ireland) with 277 different species being recorded! Technical meetings took place over the next 1.5 days followed by workshops on CESP Project “AI for Specimen Labels” and Private Sector Data. The meeting was a fantastic opportunity to connect, share knowledge, and strengthen our collective efforts in advancing biodiversity data sharing.

Vascular Plants Dataset

There has been an update to the Vascular Plants dataset, which is now updated with data from the majority of 2024. Due to the large volume of records, data from Q1 is still currently under validation, but will also be uploaded to Biodiversity Maps upon completion. Despite it being early in the season, we have received 4,554 records across 577 different taxa from over 360 individual recorders across all 32 counties.

The vascular plant dataset now has 322,911 records across 1,770 taxa. A huge thank you to all of our botanical recorders for continuing submit large amount of quality data through Ireland’s Citizen Science Portal.

Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna) was the most recorded plant species through Ireland's Citizen Science Portal in the first quarter of 2025.