Master My Garden Podcast
Master My Garden Podcast
-EP262 Kieran Flood Irish Wildlife Trust, Chats Empowering Gardeners,Championing Biodiversity, Conservation in Ireland & More
Uncover the vital role of gardeners in championing biodiversity and nature conservation, particularly in Ireland, with exclusive insights from Kieran Flood of the Irish Wildlife Trust. Learn how your individual efforts can collectively make a significant impact on local ecosystems. Kieran delves into the Trust's mission to protect and restore biodiversity through empowering individuals via volunteer-driven initiatives, citizen science projects, and engaging educational events. Despite the looming challenges of biodiversity loss, we celebrate the inspiring successes and positive strides made in conservation efforts and the significant power of public support in driving governmental action.
Explore how a new EU law could revolutionize environmental restoration across various habitats, including crucial support for pollinators. The conversation emphasizes the importance of government funding and individual contributions, such as creating diverse habitats in home gardens, to foster biodiversity. Through personal victories like attracting wildlife to our gardens, we illustrate how small actions can lead to meaningful environmental contributions. The episode also touches on the broader successes in environmental conservation, highlighting the critical role of public engagement in influencing policy decisions.
Marvel at the resurgence of wildlife in Ireland, from the natural return of woodpeckers to the reintroduction of majestic birds of prey such as red kites, golden eagles, sea eagles, and ospreys. Discover how nature restoration efforts, like the rewetting of peatlands, have enabled the return of species like cranes. Practical gardening tips are shared, such as letting parts of the garden go wild and incorporating water features, to enhance local ecosystems. By viewing gardens as thriving ecosystems, gardeners can enjoy both the beauty and practical benefits of a biodiverse environment while contributing positively to the natural world.
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Until next week
Happy gardening
John
how's it going, everybody, and welcome to episode 262 of master, my garden podcast. Now, this week's episode is one I've been trying to line up for a while and I think it's one that will resonate with quite a lot of us gardeners. I, I know from a lot of your messages that you know gardeners generally are very conscious of nature, very conscious of encouraging and supporting nature and biodiversity in their gardens, and I suppose, as a you know, as a country, here in Ireland, it's something that we need to do as a world. You know of listeners in the US and the UK. We need to be doing it everywhere, but but here in Ireland, one of the main bodies driving that is the Irish Wildlife Trust, and I'm delighted to be joined by Ciarán Flood, who's going to chat to us all about you know the work that Irish Wildlife Trust does and, I suppose, the vision and the mission of of his body, and it really is important that we're aware, number one. But also we know the actions, the steps and so on that we can do to. You know, take these efforts, try and multiply them across gardens, across Ireland, and those little efforts that we all make can make a big difference when, when, joined up collectively. So, kieran, you're very, very welcome to master my garden podcast. Thanks, john, thanks for having us on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, as I say, nature is something that obviously, for a lot of gardeners, they're very conscious of it. They're, they try to be supportive of us and, uh, yeah, it's something that is kind of true to our hearts, or deep to our hearts as a group of individuals. But your body is set up with the purpose of, you know, promoting, helping, supporting biodiversity. And I know your vision. Your vision is just. I might not have it word for word, I might not have it word for word, but the vision is to have an Ireland where nature thrives and society benefits from coexisting with these ecosystems, essentially. And then the mission is to protect and restore biodiversity in Ireland by motivating and supporting people. So it's quite broad, but maybe delve into it. You know about your body, about what you do and and how important it is.
Speaker 2:I guess yeah, thanks, john. Um, indeed, gardening I I enjoy gardening a lot myself and, uh, it's hard not to get interested in nature if you spend a lot of time outside in the garden. So, um, people who love gardening um are great allies generally for for helping restore and protect nature. Um, so happy to be chatting with you. Um, yeah, so a bit about the organization.
Speaker 2:For other people who maybe don't know what we do um, we're a charity long established, established since 1979, an irish um nature conservation, and we're pretty small, like we've got five staff and then we. What gives us a reach around the country is that we have volunteers who run some local branches in different parts of Ireland and that's brilliant. Like we couldn't do it without the volunteers support and that's part of our mission, as you said, is getting people supporting people to take action. So that's a big said is getting people supporting people to take action. So that's a big thing is the volunteers involved in the trust. And, yeah, our mission is supporting people to take action and I suppose we work in a few different areas.
Speaker 2:There would be the advocacy work, which is generally involves sort of promoting certain ideas and policies that will help us get out of this mess of biodiversity loss in Ireland and that would involve advocating and, you know, talking to politicians, lobbying and running campaigns and things.
Speaker 2:So we do a lot. We've done that for many, many years. But then the other side of it is more just getting involved, engaging people with nature, helping people connect with nature, appreciate and understand nature and also helping people learn about these potential solutions to the biodiversity crisis. So that'll be the main thrust of our work, and how we do that is, you know, we have usual stuff newsletter website but we also run webinars and events to get people outside the events, in particular, get people out into nature. And we do a little bit of, you know, citizen science, which is promoting people to go out and kind of monitor their wildlife and record what might be in your garden or in your local park and send those results to the national biodiversity data center, and so that's us like, like I said, a small charity working to protect and restore nature.
Speaker 1:Yeah, brilliant, and I know you mentioned it there. It's hard to I forget what words you used exactly but it's hard to be positive or hard to be. You know, with the loss of habitats and you know when you look at nature programmes there's a lot of habitats and you know, when you look at nature programs there's a lot of talk. You know globally about the decline in ecosystems and I suppose in ireland you know, if you, if you look back over the years, we were certainly have a lot less trees than we used to have, so there's the obvious loss of biodiversity there. Our farmlands have become much more, I suppose, groomed for want of a better word so the hedges, particularly, are groomed to the last and I suppose the areas for wildlife have been shrinking.
Speaker 1:But over the years, like that has happened and, as you say, we're probably not in the best place at the moment, but there is, I would think, signs of recovery and there's definitely positive things happening. So maybe talk about some of those positive things, some of those things that are are going well and and some of the wins, I guess that that there are occurring and obviously, if there's any, if there's any major threats that we should be looking at or problems that we should be addressing. We'll have a chat about those as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean the problems we could talk about all day, but you're right, I suppose just there are wins along the way and in terms of problems like the general direction of travel is not great, both globally and in Ireland, for nature, but it's. But we can change that story. You know, we have it in our power to change that story and a way I would sort of describe that is we don't need to delve into the minutiae, but you know most of the reports and things will be showing that in Ireland and around the world. But in Ireland, you know, species diversity is going down and there are species becoming more threatened and certain very important biodiverse habitats have really been reduced in their size over the years. You know, even if you look at native woodland, particularly since you know, hundreds of years ago, but even in the more recent times, peatlands and hedgerows, as you mentioned, and coastal areas have, all you know, and marine habitats have all sort of declined in their size and also in their quality. So that's the case, what we can do about it. But there are wins that have happened recently and there's more, hopefully, on the way. So, and the way I look at it is, you can do different things.
Speaker 2:Some of the problems are quite structural and systemic and will need to be changed through changes in government policies. Now, we obviously work on that and try and get our members engaged in that, but it's a bit removed from the reality of everyone's day-to-day life sometimes. So we try and act on that level getting the government to change policies around, really working hard to protect water, protect our woodlands, our peatlands, maybe change some of the agricultural practices. As you mentioned, agriculture is now in some ways putting quite a lot of pressure on nature. So there's big systematic changes that are needed and really that needs bold and ambitious behavior from the sort of from the state. But we need to be what on the ground, looking for that as well as people, and doing our bit as well.
Speaker 2:So if you have, you know, if you're in a community group or if you're lucky enough to own your own garden, that's something you can work on straight away. You know you can try and manage that habitat for nature. And then, if you want, you can do the other stuff, like maybe get involved in some local campaigning, putting a bit of pressure on your politicians and things. So there's kind of different levels where we can act, where we can have impact. So there's the sort of legislation policy level, but there is the community level and then there's the individual level where you know how you manage your garden, what you decide to eat or whatever, even you know. So there's lots that can be done, um, to try and fight back against the the trend and that is we're seeing now. So, and gardens are great, yeah, so the way you manage your garden it can make a big difference.
Speaker 2:And you mentioned wins. We have seen some wins at all those levels. I'd say, just from talking to our members and and chatting to the public, there is a great increase in interest in nature and I think people are, you know, getting more interested in it and changing how they look at their gardens. So that's a win. And we've had some successful species reintroductions over the last few years. The red kite in Wicklow is doing great. We've had some species return naturally, like the woodpecker. So there are some good things that have happened. And on that kind of big level legislation policy, the nature restoration law, we advocated for that and that's the european law to help push ambition to restore those habitats that have been degraded. You know your native woodlands, your your um, some coastal areas, even pollinators. That's all included in that law. So, um, yeah, so this there's wins and there's more that we can all we can do for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and in that, in that European law that has has been passed, how does that translate day to day to, you know, to the farming community, to public bodies or the towns, the parks departments and all those? How does that translate down to them and what does it? What actions? Does it kind of trust upon them?
Speaker 2:So that's a very good point, a very good question. The law is finally over the line. There was quite a bit of resistance from some people in the European Parliament and others. The gist of the law, the thrust of the law, is that it's a law stating that countries in Europe EU members need to do more to restore damaged habitats, degraded habitats, and what needs to be done. It does pick out certain habitats of focus and then what each country needs to do is make its own nature restoration plan and this is the really important part, because we need to see a plan that. So each country has to make its own plan about how they're going to do this.
Speaker 2:So Ireland, the Irish government, now has to do that, and we've already started the National Parks and Wildlife Service as a state agency that's leading on that. So what you'll see now over the next two years is that plan getting made and there will be public consultation. So I would urge anyone, if they can, to get involved in that, where you know there will be talking to the people, to farmers, to everybody hopefully in society, different sectors, about the plan. So what we need for it to work, we need the plan to have good public consultation, you know, talking to people, and it needs to be well financed, because some of the you know actions that we might want landowners to do and farmers to do, they need to be supported to do that.
Speaker 2:You know it can't be a plan, a plan that threatens people's livelihoods. So the gist of it is, over the next two years, we need to make this plan, putting in place actions and goals to restore habitats such as native woodland and peatlands, and there's also actions in there for pollinators, which isn't a habitat, it's a group of species. So if it's done well, it'll be great, and the fact that the law got over the line it gives us this opportunity now to do it and do it well over the next two years or so, and then it's a case of actually implementing it as well. Yeah, so yeah, we're kind of at the beginning, in a way, of this sort of new, new era for nature conservation in europe.
Speaker 1:You know that's, that's, that's good mentioned. Like you know, what strikes me there is that obviously what you guys do. It's a broad spectrum, so it covers everything from the woodpecker, as we said, to the pollinators, to the butterflies, to the sea life, so it's quite a broad spectrum. And then, you know, within Ireland we obviously have things like the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, which has been a huge success. It certainly has brought awareness to pollinators. It certainly has kind of pushed people towards creating these particularly wildflower meadows that have helped and supported pollinators. To a certain extent it's probably not going to complete the picture. You have Birdwatch Ireland who are doing good work as well. To a certain extent it's probably not going to complete the picture. You have board white birdwatch ireland who are doing, you know, good work as well does. Will this policy sort of encompass all of those? I know it won't, it won't take them all in, but does it? Does it sort of encompass all of those? Will it support those bodies as well, or is it? Is it an overall?
Speaker 2:yeah, um, that's the big question. Or in the sense of, in theory, yes, so this law and it's an EU law, which means, unlike other things that happen in Europe, once it passed the line, it passed the line, so it is now, it's now an EU law. It should support all of that good work, because what it's so it can encompass already existing work. So what's going to happen is this plan needs to be made and obviously the plan needs to address these different goals different habitats and animal groups like pollinators. So I had I can't speak for the government, but I'd imagine you know, yeah, if they're sitting down and they're trying to write this plan and one of the goals is to help restore pollinator populations, I would certainly imagine they would look to the pollinator populations. I would certainly imagine they would look to the pollinator plan. You know an already existing scheme framework and I would like to see we, the Irish Water Trust, would like to see positive schemes that already exist potentially getting more support, because we now have the nature restoration law and the national restoration plan that's going to come out of that. So, yeah, but the question is and this is where it gets political and whatever how much money is the government going to actually put into implementing this plan.
Speaker 2:We had a hell of a lot of talk about spending money on everything during the last election cycle. We were promised so much money for so many things. So it'll be really a case of whatever new government is formed now in the next few weeks whether they prioritize this and whether they do put the funding behind it. And we'd love to see things like the All-Ireland Pondlander Plan getting more funding. We'd love to see projects that are helping restore habitats around Ireland with the help of landowners getting more funding, and there's loads of existing stuff, as you say. Of course, we'd like to see environmental NGOs maybe getting more funding. You mentioned Birdwatch. There's loads of great NGOs doing great work. So from a positive point of view, it should kind of give the government, I guess, ambition and permission and drive to to fund this work better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah yeah, hopefully, hopefully they get the funding, because that is that is the key crux of it. You know, if you're going to, you're going to change systems essentially in, particularly in agriculture, then yeah, you do have to support it, and it has to be supported financially because, as you said, you're you're talking about livelihoods and people can be slow to change when there's any jeopardy there for them. So, yeah, I guess funding is hugely important in this.
Speaker 2:Yeah it is, and sort of funding and then also to drive an ambition by the government which the people can support themselves through. You know how they their vocal. Be vocal about that. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure.
Speaker 1:You mentioned some wins and any of the listeners to the podcast will will have known that a little win here for for me well, two, two over the last year I guess have been getting bull finches into the garden for the first time, basically as the result of having a native wildflower meadow, and that that was really exciting. And I know people probably have bullfinches in their garden everywhere, but they were never here before, so to see a pair of them in the wildflower meadow all through the summer was kind of exciting. And then a woodpecker for the very first time only a few weeks ago, and that that again is it's really well, it's exciting for me anyway not sure everybody's, you know everybody gets very excited about, but I'm really excited about that because it means that you know, by just doing small things you are given the potential to for something to find a home or find support in your garden. I think that's that's a vital thing. You mentioned you mentioned kites as well, so maybe just talk about some of those winds in a little bit more detail.
Speaker 2:Yeah, indeed, getting around to gardening as well. If you think about it, nature is under pressure because of some quite big systematic, even industrial pressures in Ireland. But we can do our bit and if you have a garden, that's an opportunity right there to create some habitat, because habitats is being lost and damaged across the country. But if you can create some yourself, it's a bonus and it's kind of, as you said, it's a very positive feeling when you do it, when you see more nature arrive in your garden and it happens if you're kind of observant and noticing new species, particularly insect species, you can see new stuff coming within, you know, quite quickly if you make changes, so it's a very positive thing to do. So that's a win is that people, more people are doing that and I'm sure we'll kind of maybe talk a little bit about that more in a minute, like what you can do. But just doing that, just trying to help nature in your garden, is getting more popular and that's a big win in itself. Yeah, so we've got a few like the woodpecker is a nice example of nature bouncing back. So the woodpecker sort of was uh in ireland and and became extinct, um, due to probably things like woodland loss, you know habitat loss and and now it's, it's kind of come back and it wasn't a man, a sort of human made introduction scheme like an official reintroduction. It seems to occur more naturally, um, populations may be coming across from from britain, from wales and and uh, places like that. So that's great news to see a species coming back. And we've seen that again with in other places where in the midlands where some of the bogs that have been, you know, up until now, intensively mined for peat that's stopped in some sites, uh, particularly board pneumonia sites where there's lessat. That's stopped in some sites, particularly Bordnemona sites where that's stopped and some of them are being re-wetted by Bordnemona, which is great. That's hopefully touching on their nature restoration law. More of that we'll see more habitat restoration.
Speaker 2:But even with that habitat restoration, now we're seeing species return to Ireland, like peatland, wetland species so like cranes were seen in Ireland recently a couple of times attempting to breed and things which you know is great to see that. So there are kind of nice things happening amongst some of the bad things. And with that, like, bringing back species is really good because nature's this complex sort of organization, this system of lots of different species and predators and prey and and if you can bring back species, it can help restore the ecosystem. And and some of the best species to bring back will be, like the species, big predators, because they're the ones that generally get driven to extinction quite quickly. And some of the big birds of prey have been intentionally reintroduced in ireland over the last few decades and so that's why I mentioned the red kite and the golden eagle and the sea eagle and now the osprey have all been, you know, intentionally reintroduced by people with the support of of the state and and yeah, it's, it can be quite successful.
Speaker 2:And now we have red kites, you know very strong population with them in Wicklow and they're kind of pushing out and spreading to other neighboring counties and they're a beautiful um bird of prey with a lovely kind of rusty red tinge, um, not as big as a sea eagle but still like when you see one you'll you'll know it's like it's a big bird of prey and they're, um, they were reintroduced in Wicklow and they're doing well.
Speaker 2:So you know, when we try and make the effort, sometimes it pays off when we kind of fund schemes and projects like that. So that's a win in a way that we've had a few successful species reintroductions and we've also had a few just kind of come back themselves like your woodpeckers in your garden, and they came back to the East Coast. And now they had a few just kind of come back themselves like your, your woodpeckers in your garden, and and there they came back to the east coast and now they're spreading around, uh, further inland and further up the coast and stuff. Um, so that's, that's a nice win, all right yeah for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because, as I say, it's, it's a number of years, maybe three years, since my friend saw them. So one on his feeder in the garden wasn't sure what it was sent me a picture. It was definitely a woodpecker, he. I asked him then last year and he had never seen it since. But I've had it returned now. This is as of last week. It was the third time I'd seen it in our garden, so hopefully, fingers crossed, it's going to be staying somewhere locally anyway. So, um, yeah, and I'm in county leith, so I'm well across the midlands. So that's yeah, something, yeah, something quite quite exciting, something quite positive, I think yeah, it's hopeful to see species return.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a gentle it's a tricky balancing act, I guess, bringing back somebody's obviously the woodpecker not so much, but the likes of the kites and and certainly buzzards. You know, it can be a balancing act because their their prey. When you, when buzzards were here years ago, their prey was rabbits and and that sort of thing, I guess was it.
Speaker 2:Um, I could have it wrong now but no, they would pray and they'd also scavenge as well. And right buzzards, yeah, they'd be scavengers as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm guessing that when you're reintroducing something like that, if there is less of the the natural food sources, does that? Do they become not more aggressive, but do they take out things that you would like them taking out as a result? Or is that? Is that reintroduction, a kind of a balancing act?
Speaker 2:well, reintroductions, as you said, they are tricky, um and really, before you reintroduce a species, that you should be doing, you know you will be doing years of preparation and research to make sure, as you said, that there is enough prey there. You know that and that you're not reintroducing species that then just goes extinct again yeah, because there's not like, because the habitat's not there for it, and you know. So that is something you need to look at In terms of what you were hinting at, that maybe sort of a bit of conflict if they maybe sort of kill animals that people don't want them to. You know prey on animals people don't want them to. That would be part of the preparation, would be, as I said, making sure there's a natural conditions they need to exist before you reintroduce them. But another, really another important part, though, is that engagement with with stakeholders and engaging local people, and that is, if you do it, any introduction. You really need to be talking to the local landowners, educate, informing them about what this new animal is, and you know what, what it might prey on and what it might do, and you know, if there is good consultation, it can be, it'll work out.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, if there's no consultation. If you just kind of roll in and say, look, all of a sudden this new animal and you don't know what it's going to do and and you might think it's more dangerous than it is even you know for certain animals, then of course there'd be, there'd be worry and things. So, um, and I know that there was a lot of work done when you know so, for example, with the red kite, that to sort of work with landowners about, you know, not laying poison, not leaving poison out, and and, um, just kind of working to resolve some of these problems that did come, you know, with the introduction of a new predator. So if you do it right, as I said, with good public consultation, informing people, bringing them along, it can work out well. And even, and look, if you were going to introduce an animal that you know was quite, you know, could well do damage, like in other countries you know wolves, and that could well do damage, like in other countries you know wolves, and that, like they have schemes where landowners, farmers, will be paid if it takes a sheep or something, and now we're nowhere near that in Ireland in terms of that would be a very long-term project to reintroduce wolves in Ireland.
Speaker 2:But if you are, the responsible thing to do obviously is if you're reintroducing an animal that might in any way like impact someone's livelihood, obviously is. If you're reintroducing an animal that might in any way impact someone's livelihood, again, like we mentioned earlier, you need to have the funding there to pay for compensation or whatever. But maybe I don't think we'll be chatting about wolf reintroduction anytime, particularly soon. But maybe we'll get there because it is. You know, it was an Irish. It is an Irish animal that was driven to extinction here, shot to extinction, and one day they might return. But there'd be a fair amount of prep work done before that happens.
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure, yeah for sure. It's something that a long ways on the horizon, I would imagine. You mentioned earlier on just what actions people can take in their own garden and there's lots, and we've spoken about it before on the podcast in various forms, you know but maybe tell us some of the obvious ones that people can do to sort of support nature and create.
Speaker 2:Well, the first one is reintroduce a wolf to your garden.
Speaker 1:Every garden should have one.
Speaker 2:no, um, so yeah, just, I mean, you'd probably know more than me really from from practice, but uh, just for my own practice as a gardener and, um, as, a conservation biologist and I'll list a few ideas, uh, so a kind of a way to do it, a nice way to do it, is to just kind of think about your garden a little bit more like an actual ecosystem, um, and think of opportunities, uh, ways to sort of let nature come back in and give nature a bit more space. Like gardening in itself is is kind of like a human endeavor, in that we we kind of take a piece of land and we we shape it and it's really enjoyable because you're almost like sculpture or whatever you know. You're bringing in different color and and different textures and stuff. So it's definitely not, you know, rewilding because you're gardening. So that that's clear. But you, you can do stuff to help nature within that framework.
Speaker 2:Um depends on the size of your garden. So you can actually leave some areas of the garden to go wild, like basically stop gardening them if you're, you know, have a big enough garden to do so, um, and that is very beneficial maybe if you have a corner that you just kind of let go wild or, um, you know a little area, and that will help things that need that space. So when I say let go wild, I mean basically don't kind of cut it back and it might look a bit scrubby and untidy to the human eye. But if you can do that, if there's space for you to do that, that's great, because things that will use that will be the likes of hedgehogs. They might go in there to hibernate, but even things like bumblebees bumblebees are, um, they hibernate too and they need um kind of undisturbed areas to hibernate in and also undisturbed areas to make their nests in. So leaving an area to get a bit overgrown, essentially, and a bit wild can be great. Now, not everyone does that or has the space to do that, and that's one thing and that's very easy in terms of effort. That's one thing and that's very easy in terms of effort and you can incorporate it and it can still. You know, aesthetically it depends on your own vision for the garden, but certainly I would feel it can still look nice in a garden letting areas go totally wild.
Speaker 2:Other big things would be if you can have a water source, it's really good, because the basis of the food chain or not quite the bottom, but down near the base of the food chain is insects, and if you have a pond, a wildlife pond, in your garden, you will have more insects, because it's another habitat that insects can use and a lot of insects start off their life in the water Dragonflies, damselflies, mayflies. So if you can have a water feature, a bit of water, in your garden, a pond, that's brilliant because you'll have more insects and you might even get amphibians as well. So newts we've got a native species of newt in Ireland called the smooth newt and we've got the common frog as well, and so a water feature would give them the chance to potentially make their own way there, and you don't need to go and steal a newt from someone else. Just by creating the habitat it will probably make its way there I mean, maybe not always newts, but certainly frogs over time. But you will get the insects quite, you know, very quickly, and that's food for bats, that's food for birds, and even the insects themselves are, you know, very great to have, like damselflies and dragonflies are beautiful. So water would be a nice one.
Speaker 2:And then I suppose after that, like using native species. I don't know how much you talk about this or do this yourself in your gardening, but if you can use native species in your garden, there's a link between any sort of native species of plants like tree or plant, has kind of evolved with the, with the native insects. So if you can plant native species in your garden, you'll get more native insects and that will support again, support birds and bats. Um, so what was that sort of leaving places go, but while using native species? Um, and water features they or not? Water features, like water, having water. They'd be three pretty great ones, um, other ones would be the.
Speaker 2:We know about the pollinator initiatives, like you can. There's so much detail there online through the all-art and pollinator plan. But letting your grass turn into a meadow by cutting it less frequently, removing the cuttings to reduce the nutrient level, and so the wildflowers can compete better with the grass, and that's obviously that's a good one. But other things that help the pollinating insects would be even growing your own vegetables, planting fruit trees, because fruit trees are actually really good for pollinators and so are a lot of our vegetables. A lot of our vegetables will have a flowering stage, um, which is good for the pollinators, and so, yeah, there's a lot to do.
Speaker 2:And if you just kind of think of your garden as an ecosystem and like introduce a bit of diversity, um, I guess zero diversity will be when you just pave over the whole thing and you can build a lot from there. You know, introduce maybe, as I said, a little bit of overgrownness in one corner, some native species, some flowering like fruit trees, some water. Um, yeah, you're kind of building in diversity and you will see, you know, certainly first of all insects coming back, but then, as you said, like the bullfinches coming to feed on the, probably the seeds after the flowers went over, it went to feed all these little opportunities that, just like, as I said, nature is this complex web of species that have all evolved to work together. So, every time you introduce a native species or let something go a bit wilder, you're creating a new opportunity for something, another native species, to come in and and thrive in your garden. Um, and yeah, it's a very enjoyable process yeah, there is.
Speaker 1:There is practical benefits, you know, for gardeners there's real practical benefits of adding these to the garden. I've spoke about these quite a lot. I've a native wildflower meadow, yeah, and as a result of that, I have I always had quite a lot of finches in the garden, um, and blue tits and so on. But as a result of of the meadow, there's been more insects. As a result of that, there's been more birds. Blue tits, for example, love caterpillars, so I've had very little issue with caterpillars on cabbage, cauliflower and so on. So there is that obvious benefit.
Speaker 1:Then you're you mentioned wilder areas suitable for, for hedgehogs, or encouraging hedgehogs. They can, in turn, take out slugs, you know. So there's the practical. There's the nice element of supporting and attracting in these new creatures, creating new ecosystems in your garden, and then there's the practical benefits of of actually attracting them as well. So there is a, as you say, when you get, start attracting it in you, you create, I suppose, a level of balance across your garden and I guess, to go back to your, your, your, your mission statement, there's a sort of a coexistence with your garden and what you're, what you're creating and these wilder areas, and that's that's a real, a real benefit and a real, as I say, a practical benefit yeah, yeah, like there, as a gardener, you know, as a you know more helpful, dedicated gardener yourself, you'd know a lot more than me about it and the.
Speaker 2:But when you said practical, another one that came to mind was just, you know yourself, it depends on how big your garden is, but gardening takes time and energy, particularly if you're just doing it on the weekends or whatever, and even just letting an area go wild. It's one less place to manage. You know, yeah, definitely, definitely, yeah and uh, but you do get those, as you said you might you get the sort of complementary species like that'll come in and maybe help your pest control and stuff. Yeah, it's, it's great. Yeah, for sure yeah.
Speaker 1:So there's there's lots of lots for people to do there and there's there's lots of when kind of wins and so on. I know talks and lectures and and education are a big part of what you do and you can find sort of details on that, but just give us a flavor of those type of, you know, events. Uh, what, what do those type of events look like, or what are they? Or?
Speaker 2:for sure. Yeah, um, so wwwiwtie, that's our website and you can find out information on that sort of stuff there. But what the events are is so stuff that people can get and do would be we do run webinars and they'd be about all sorts of different things and they're advertised through the newsletter and the website. But the events are kind of, in a way, more exciting to me because it's getting people out into nature. So we currently have branches in a few different counties, such as you know, county, monaghan County, dublin, waterford, kerry, limerick, and all those branches are run by volunteers and all of them to a certain extent run events. The events would be things like woodland walks, you know, just going out and learning about the native woodland. Obviously you're walking, you're with other people, so it's social. It's a very positive thing, pardon me, to do. But other things would be maybe slightly more educational, like learning how to learning different types of dragonflies and damselflies.
Speaker 2:You know our branch in Limerick work on that. So sometimes it might be a bit more kind of educational, but generally it's getting people out into nature. So, going to see orchids you know our Dublin branch would do that. They go to see orchids on Bull Island every year you know the wild orchids that grow there going for woodland walks, coastal walks, learning about insects and learning about birds. Every year in the you know the wild orchids that grow there, um, going for woodland walks, coastal walks and learning about about insects and learning about birds.
Speaker 2:So these are, these are the events that we do and, um, unfortunately, we don't have, you know, one every county every month, because we're you know, we're a charity and they're mostly run by volunteers, but we're hoping to increase all the time, and so, if you go onto the website or if you join our newsletter, you can learn about these events and they're they're nearly always free, um, and they uh they're just getting people out into nature, um, to reconnect with nature and to learn about nature, because when you learn about it and you value it, you're more likely to act to sort of to support it. Um, uh, so that's what the events are all about, and we're, yeah, we're hoping to sort of just do them in more counties and more regularly as we, as the organization grows its network, um, so, um, it's worth checking, uh, to see if there's anything happening near you.
Speaker 1:Basically, yeah, yeah, and ways that people can support you guys in the body. I know you mentioned the website and off air. You mentioned that the newsletter is quite informative and how do people get onto that? Is that through the website, to sign up there through?
Speaker 2:that, yeah. So if you go onto our website, there'd be a link there on the homepage to join the newsletter and that'll come out about once every two weeks and it'll be a mixture of you know if. If there's an event happening, we'll let you know about that in the newsletter. But we'll also let you know about our campaigns. Uh, we're doing, you know, regarding the advocacy work and they'll be informative, just general updates about nature in ireland.
Speaker 2:So newsletter is a great start and if you like our work and you want to support us, we are a membership-based organization so you can pop onto the website and join the Irish Wildlife Trust. There's a few different levels, for kids and for families and for individuals. And when you join and subscribe you'll get our magazine quarterly as well. So that's a magazine full of articles about wildlife and photos of wildlife. So we do love when people join as members because it's supporting our work. But the more members we have, the more. The bigger our network, the greater our voice, the more people we're mobilizing and getting involved. So, yeah, supporting us through membership is always very welcome.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, for sure, yeah, and all of those, all of those can be done through the website and I'll put the, absolutely, I'll put the link in the show notes anyway, so so people can do that. Yeah, so like there's loads of people can be doing in the garden. It's great to hear that the work you know the importance of the work is great. To highlight it and hopefully the likes of that new law coming in, that new European law, over the next couple of years we'll see the true benefits of that sort of filtering through. Couple years we'll see the true benefits of that sort of filtering through and, uh, yeah, hopefully over over the next coming years we'll see huge, huge improvements.
Speaker 2:Uh, is what we're all looking for, I guess that's what we want and and it's it's both directions. As you know, that law is sort of top down, coming from europe and that, but we're working from the bottom up and your listeners, people who care about nature, people who are you doing stuff in the garden for nature or joining a community group to plant trees or do whatever that's coming from the bottom up and that's the most important part. So, really, like that is the most important part, and the likes of yourself and people listening to these shows who are interested in nature and looking to do something, that's going to be the real difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure, ciarán. It's been a really interesting chat. Great to hear about the work that you guys are doing, great to hear the positive actions that are coming and have been already occurring, and thank you very, very much for coming on. Master, my Garden podcast.
Speaker 1:You're very welcome, john. It was great to be here. So that's been this week's episode. Huge thanks to Ciarán for coming on Really interesting. Thanks to kieron for coming on really interesting.
Speaker 1:Um, you know the likes of this.
Speaker 1:We could talk for hours upon hours on.
Speaker 1:You could go more into where we're at today and how you know a lot of things are struggling, but I think it's important to keep the positive spin on it and I suppose, as us, as individuals listening, it's important to know that every action we take can have a positive effect and especially when you look at the, the cumulative effect of that across the country, everybody doing a little bit, and that all of that combined is is really beneficial, whether that's, you know, adding wildlife areas, whether that's, you know, ponds, wildflower, meadows, whatever. That is, every little action you take, multiplied across the whole country, multiplied across wherever you're listening is, is really positive and, as as kieran said, it's working from the ground up, which is also important. Those guys are working from the, from the top down, when it comes to policies and so on, but for us listening, for us in our own gardens, to work from the bottom up is also a really, really important action. And that's been this week's episode. Thanks for listening and until the next time, happy gardening, thank you.