Top 100 Explore Your Shore! Species - #80 - Horned wrack / Feamainn inbhir / Fucus ceranoides is a mid-shore seaweed found in brackish water (e.g. estuaries) and near freshwater outflows. Distribution: All coasts. exploreyourshore.ie

Explore Your Shore! record of the week is this beautiful nudibranch - Aeolidiella sanguinea - submitted in March but spotted last July at Shot Head, Roosk on the Beara Penninsula, West Cork by Julia Cooper. Join our Great Rocky Shore Bioblitz at exploreyourshore.ie/surveys/the-gr…

Ugh... you wouldn't think it looking at the weather... but Dragonfly and Damselfly season is here again! We are running four Dragonfly and Damselfly ID workshops in Limerick, Roscommon, Kilkenny and Meath in June. To book your spot visit: biodiversityireland.ie/workshops/

Lesser Celandine is still undisputed as the most commonly recorded wildflower in 2024, with 458 sightings already submitted through Ireland's Citizen Science Portal.

Remember you can submit all of your sightings here: records.biodiversityireland.ie

Last year 151 #butterfly transects were monitored under the Butterfly Monitoring Scheme allowing us to track population trends in Ireland's butterflies. Thank you so much for this hugely important data. shorturl.at/emwJ9

Wild cherry has almost white flowers in the spring and later cherries will hang from the branches.

Include as a tree in a species-rich hedgerow or as a tree in a non-farmed area or field corner.

Find out more
bit.ly/3TZxorU

All-Ireland Pollinator Plan
Dept of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Results of the Garden Butterfly Monitoring Scheme show 2023 was a good year for our common butterflies. Read 2023's Annual Report shorturl.at/kqJMO

Our new FIT Count newsletter has arrived 🐝

Thank you to all who submitted counts.

We were close to the 100 FIT Count target for Dandelion!

If you have 10 minutes, why not watch a patch of flowers to count how many insects visit biodiversityireland.ie/surveys/fit-co…

We've recently updated our Stoneflies of Ireland dataset (maps.biodiversityireland.ie/Dataset/225). This dataset now has 13,266 records across 19 individual species.

A massive thanks to our validator Dr. Hugh Feeley
Hugh Feeley for his time and expertise in validating this data.

'Citizen Science Cranefly Records For Ireland' is the latest dataset to feature on Biodiversity Maps: maps.biodiversityireland.ie/Dataset/379

The dataset currently has 360 records 47 species.

A major thanks to Ryan Mitchell Ryan Mitchell for his time and expertise in validating these records.

An early solitary mining bee, obtaining pollen almost entirely from Willow.

Willow is a rich source of nectar and pollen for pollinators in the spring.

Find out more ⬇️
biodiversityireland.ie/app/uploads/20…

Report your sighting ⬇️
bit.ly/4a4dSRD

All-Ireland Pollinator Plan
Dept of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

A nice picture showing the size difference between Orange Ladybird & 10-Spot Ladybird

10-Spot Ladybird is a highly variable species, which can confusion, but it's small size (3.5-4.5mm) is one of the first features to take into consideration when trying to get an identification

4,467 validated dragonfly and damselfly records from 2023 have been uploaded to the Dragonfly Ireland 2019 - 2024 data set on Biodiversity Maps. Many thanks to all who contributed records last year. biodiversityireland.ie/surveys/dragon…

Another great sighting by Ciarán Byrne of Coccidula rufa.

There are currently 76 records for this species in our Ladybirds of Ireland dataset. It will be interest to see what that figure jumps to by the end of surveying for the #LadybirdAtlas2025 project.

Upcoming Royal Irish Academy Library lunchtime lecture: 'Cynthia Longfield and the St George expedition' on Tuesday 9 April. Given by Dr Angela Byrne, marking the centenary of entomologist Longfield's voyage.

Book: bit.ly/4axHNS3

Image: Longfield's photograph album, RIA MS LRC/27/3

161 records submitted for Ladybird species through Ireland's Citizen Science Portal.

These will be validated and added to our Ladybirds of Ireland dataset, which can be viewed here: maps.biodiversityireland.ie/Map/Terrestria…

#LadybirdAtlas2025