News from Biodiversity Ireland
December 2024

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

Explore Your Shore! Project Update

Running since 2019, Explore Your Shore! is a national survey of marine and coastal biodiversity to create a robust baseline dataset for intertidal plant and animal species in Ireland, explore intertidal species as bio-indicators of climate change and water quality, and highlight the issues of climate change and water quality to the public. The survey is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Over the years, this initiative has gathered invaluable data through the efforts of dedicated volunteers who have surveyed intertidal zones and contributed to building this comprehensive dataset. Your observations have made a real difference, and we are proud to share some of the key highlights from the project to date:

NBDC's New Training Framework

We excited to announce our new training framework, designed to address biodiversity knowledge gaps and enhance data collection in Ireland. Building on a successful history of educational initiatives, we are expanding our reach through a comprehensive, flexible training programme that aligns with our Strategic Plan for 2024-2028.  

Designed for both professionals and citizens, the training framework will provide a variety of learning opportunities, such as online courses, live webinars, in-person workshops, and field sessions. The core curriculum will focus on four key areas: Foundations of Biodiversity, Species Identification Skills, Biodiversity Survey Techniques, and Evidence-Based Management. Organised into a four-year cycle, the framework will offer a progressive learning journey, reinforcing skills learned along the way through expert-led refresher field and lab days. With a focus on fostering a citizen science network, we aim to provide a lifelong learning structure by cultivating expertise in taxonomy, field skills, and species identification. In addition to supporting individual learners, the NBDC is committed to supporting partner organisations and other biodiversity groups that offer valuable learning opportunities, empowering individuals and communities alike to contribute to a more sustainable future. 

2025 NBDC Training Schedule 

The NBDC will host over 15 training events, including: Identification of social wasps, solitary bees, hoverflies, macro moths, Asteraceae (Daisy family) flowering plants, winter trees, summer grasses, marine target species and more. Additionally, new species identification and habitat management courses will be added to the Biodiversity Learning Platform, allowing learners to track their progress, access resources, and revisit materials at any time. We encourage participants to create an account on the Biodiversity Learner Platform and regularly check the workshop webpage for updates and registration information.  

Dragonfly Ireland 2019 - 2024 Project Summary

As Dragonfly Ireland 2019–2024 comes to a close, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on this exciting project and extend our heartfelt thanks to our project partners and everyone who contributed. This all-Ireland Citizen Science survey of dragonflies and damselflies, and their habitats, has been an incredible success, thanks to the dedication and passion of our volunteers.

Ladybird Atlas 2025 Project Summary

The Ladybird Atlas 2025 project has now come to the end of its penultimate field season. The project has two overarching objectives. First, to increase the amount of observation of ladybirds in order to produce more comprehensive distribution maps for our species of ladybirds. And second, to improve knowledge of habitat preferences of the different species of ladybird. It is easy to help with the Ladybird Atlas 2025 project. If you see a ladybird and are sure of its identification, please submit your sightings through Ireland’s Citizen Science Portal. Ladybirds have their own specific recording form, which is linked here:https://records.biodiversityireland.ie/record/ladybirds#7/53.455/-8.016

As part of our Ladybird Atlas 2025 project, we set up a dedicated “Ladybirds of Ireland” dataset, which now has 18,492 records, across all 32 counties and for 34 different species. Throughout 2024 there has been some great recording activity, with 2,869 records being added to Biodiversity Maps. You can find out more information on the project, along with identification help and many more resources planned for the next season of recording in 2024 on the project webpage.

Picture: 7-Spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata) our most commonly recorded species of Ladybird, which makes up just under half of all records submitted.

All-Ireland Pollinator Plan Council Partners report 2024

The 2024 All-Ireland Pollinator Plan Council Partner report has been published. In 2023, all local authorities signed up as Council Partners to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, showing we are now all on the same page when it comes to managing our landscape for pollinators. The work of local authorities continues to grow in scale and ambition. In 2024, this work has included extensive meadow restoration, development of local provenance stock through local seed harvesting, habitat mapping projects to identify, protect, restore and establish areas for pollinators, and significant efforts to reduce pesticide use.

For each existing Council Partner, the point of contact was requested to provide up to five short bullet point updates on their activities in 2024. The photograph below shows reduced mowing at Bundoran, Co. Donegal.

All-Ireland Pollinator Plan Annual Report 2024

Annual reporting is a very important part of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and is carried out across all our networks of partners and supporters. The core annual review is that of the Plan itself, and the 186 actions agreed for 2021-2025. Responsibility for delivery of these actions is shared out between the supporting partner organisations. Huge thanks to all of our partners for providing their annual updates. We are seeing very positive engagement and real commitment from all our partners. Of the 186 actions in the Plan, 94% were completed for 2024 or are currently in train. A huge thank you to all our partners and supporters who have taken actions for pollinators this year.

Vascular Plants Dataset

There has been an update to the Vascular Plants dataset, which is now updated with data from the majority of July and September. Due to the large volume of records, a small amount of data from quarter three of 2024 is still currently under validation, but will also be uploaded to Biodiversity Maps upon completion. Despite some mixed weather conditions throughout the year there has still been some great recording activity throughout the year, with 34,194 plant records validated in 2024. We received records from 1,255 individual recorders from all 32 counties and 33,450 records added to Biodiversity Maps during the year.

The vascular plant dataset now has 322,089 records across 1,767 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.

Picture: Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna) was the most recorded plant species through Ireland's Citizen Science Portal in 2024.

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

What is GBIF?

The Global Biodiversity Information Facility is a network of governments and organisations that enables the publication of biodiversity data and shares it with the world. GBIF brings together a global scaled data infrastructure which allows for the advancement of scientific research, promotes technological and sustainable development, and facilitates the conservation of biodiversity. In December 2024, there were over 3 billion records in the GBIF database.

Ireland and GBIF

Ireland became a member of GBIF in 2008, and since then the National Biodiversity Data Centre has been serving as the GBIF node for Ireland. Dr Liam Lysaght (CEO of the NBDC) is the chair of GBIF Governing Board, Gemma Weir (NPWS) is Ireland’s Head of Delegation and Michelle Judge (NBDC) is Ireland’s Node Manager. Biodiversity data contained in the Data Centre’s database feeds into the GBIF portal to ensure that future international and global maps can include Irish data. So far this year, >100,000 occurrence records have been shared to GBIF. 

Recent Records