Date/Time
Date(s) - 14 July 2021
8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Location
Online
Categories
For early 20th century conservationists, “conservation in the countryside” meant that wildlife that disappeared during the development of urban centres would continue to thrive in rural areas. When it became clear that the countryside was becoming less hospitable to wildlife due to the intensification of agriculture and forestry, the establishment of nature reserves was promoted. The idea was that these would be sufficient to protect most species. This involved “passive conservation” of setting aside land where wildlife conservation is the primary activity. This failed when the reserves were unmanaged. Studies showed that many activities are needed for the adequate conservation of butterflies, moths and other invertebrates. In The Burren this means managing the landscape to ensure landscape-scale protection of biodiversity. Jesmond’s talk will focus on the management of scrub and grassland for butterflies.
Jesmond Harding is author of the award winning book “Discovering Irish Butterflies & their Habitats” published in 2008. Jesmond has had a number of articles published in various periodicals such as “Peatland News” the Irish Naturalists’ Journal and the online nature magazine Wildlife Extra. He featured in the third series of “Living the Wildlife” (episode 2) and “The Burren: Heart of Stone” (episode 1). He was part of the expert group that drew up the red list for Irish butterflies in 2010 [Ireland Red List No. 4]. Jesmond is an active member of the Irish Peatland Conservation Council, Burrenbeo Trust, and Butterfly Conservation Ireland of which he is a director. Jesmond regularly gives talks on lepidoptera and advises on habitat creation and management, especially for species under threat of extinction. His current projects include involvement in three lepidoptera recording programmes, member of the co-ordination committee for the Butterfly Atlas Project 2017-2021, promting the establishing of a new national park in Kildare and East Offaly, liaising with the Burrenbeo Conservation Volunteers and Burren Life Programme to manage special habitats on limestone, site management of Butterfly Conservation Ireland’s reserve at Lullybeg, County Kildare and assisting in the running of Butterfly Conservation Ireland, including management of the website https://butterflyconservation.ie/wp/.
This talk is organised by Burrenbeo Trust – an independent landscape charity with no core funding. We work hard to sustain out 25 plus programmes throughout the year. Please do consider supporting us through donations or membership at www.burrenbeo.com