Species Monitoring

The Burren has the more butterflies and other pollinators than anywhere else in Ireland, by identifying what exists helps how it can be conserved into the future.

There can be nothing lovelier than a walk in the summer sunshine watching the butterflies pass from flower to flower, but did you know that butterflies are far more important than you may have realised? Not only are do they play a vital role in pollinating our flowers and are an essential part of the food chain, the study of them can also provide data used to monitor climate change.

34 different species of butterfly were found in Ireland (resident and migratory), and these are increasingly under threat from environmental change from our ever increasing population and changes to land use, and changes in our climate. Of these 34 species in Ireland, one is now extinct, six are threatened with extinction and another five species are now of ‘Near Threatened’ status. In addition to this, other data has shown that since 1990 we have lost 30% of our grassland butterfly populations.

So can you do?  Why not join us recording and monitoring

All of us can help to add to the data being collected about Irish butterflies. The small number of species of butterflies found in Ireland make identification relatively simple. ID guides can be found online or hard copies can be purchased and it can add an extra element of fun to any walk attempting to identify any butterflies spotted along the way. A butterfly net can make identification easier (especially with the white butterflies) and can give you plenty of exercise trying to catch them – some species can be a challenge to net! Casual butterfly sightings can be easily recorded using smart phone/iphone apps (look for Identify Irish Butterflies in the play store).  If, however, you wish to get more involved with butterfly monitoring you can set up your own butterfly transect (study) in an area of your choice, walk it once a week from April to September and submit your data to the National Biodiversity Data Centre (http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/) where it is added to the national records.  You can make it even more fun by sharing your transect with friends and family and see who can find the highest number/most interesting species!

Our Burrenbeo Conservation Volunteers have been working for several years now with butterfly expert Jesmond Harding (Butterfly Conservation Ireland) at an crucial butterfly breeding site in the heart of the Burren.  All our hard work has helped to maintain the habitat at this site in as favourable a condition as possible for many rare and endangered species of butterfly.

Why not join us

So, are you interested to be part of maintaining the Burren’s history, culture and precious ecosystems? If so, why not join the fun and enthusiastic team of conservation volunteers, share your passion for the Burren with others and make a huge difference to the biodiversity and maintenance of this unique landscape. Becoming a volunteer offers you an opportunity to build skills, knowledge about place and indeed, lasting friendships.

This is an active group of conservation volunteers that have been working in areas of archaeology conservation, rare species monitoring, managing scrub encroachment and much more since 2010.  We have 1-2 events a month.

• Get outdoors, enjoy some healthy exercise and give something back in the region
• Learn new skills in conservation and heritage management
• Be part of a friendly, inclusive and active conservation community

Join us today and make that difference!  To register for the events email [email protected]

What are the upcoming events for the volunteers

What other ongoing projects are the volunteers involved in:

drystone walling  archaeological surveys   scrub management

  landscape management   invasive species

What have the volunteers achieved?

View below all the activities that the Burrenbeo Conservation volunteers have achieved since 2010: