Green Sod Ireland
An Fóidín Glas
Establishing WildAcres across Ireland to create safe habitats, vital for
biodiversity.
Delivering ecological education to encourage the proactive preservation
of Nature
We are most especially grateful to Brá Conal Ó Tómais, Corr an
Dola, Co. na Gaillimhe for sharing his beautiful book Wildflowers
of Annaghdown with Green Sod - much of the
information in this leaflet comes from his research. His book is available by phoning
0864042047. Other sources - the Heritage Council biodiversity site; Irish Woodland Biodiversity; Woodlands of Ireland; to whom we owe a
debt of gratitude.
In Ireland, the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000 protects hedgerows to a limited extent. It reads:
It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 1st day of
March and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any
vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated . . . or in
any hedge or ditch during the period mentioned above.
Green Sod Ireland
58 Dominick Street Lower,
Phone: 0864042047
Reg. Charity No. CHY16961
www.greensodireland.ie
www.greensodireland.ie
WildAwake Walks 2015
Walk Where You Are to Celebrate Earth Day.
This little biodiversity booklet is focusing on what you might see at this
time of the year around where you live. However, it also has information on
plants that you will see at various other times of the year. We offer a special
míle Buiochas to Brá Conal Ó Tómais, Corr an Dola, Co. na Gaillimhe for
helping in the preparation of this booklet by sharing the information in his
book W ildflowers of A nnaghdown with us.
WildAwake - Walk where you are in wonder at the sight of
April primroses in a hedgerow or a woodland alive with bluebells! We would advise that you do not pick the flowers and/or
leaves from hedgerows, and that you do not disturb the homes/
habitats of the creatures who live there.
While we have attempted to give you
names in English, Irish, and Latin for
the flowers and shrubs described, we
would like you to remember what Patrick Kavanagh says in his poem I knew
you all by eyesight long before I knew
your name, I loved you before we were introduced - so enjoy looking with love and appreciation at your neighbours in hedgerows
and woodlands as you become WildAwake and . . .
Walk Where You Are this Earth Day, April
22nd and
support the work of Green
Follow Green Sod Ireland on
Sod Ireland.
1
Hedgerows - appreciate and protect
Coastal Areas
them!
- are particularly rich in biodiversity – the interaction of wind and waves working together to shape
rocks and sand provides many habitats for plants
and animals to live in, such as the familiar sand
dunes.
We see them all over the country, and
it is so easy to take them for granted.
Hedgerows are very important to Biodiversity. They are home to myriad
perennial and annual flowers, primrose, dog rose, cow parsley,
foxglove, fuschia, daisy, guelder rose and many grasses and
ferns. Hedgerows support numerous habitats, offer shelter
from the elements and provide safe travel from one place to
another for many small mammals, insects,
butterflies, plants, amphibians, and spiders. A hedgerow is a place where creatures find shelter from the elements and
can get a very good food supply. It is estimated that two-thirds of our native birds
nest in hedgerows.
Try to identify some of these plants that you are likely to see
around this time of the year that will be in flower.
Hawthorn, Whitethorn – An Sceach geal – Crataegus monogyna
- visible in many hedgerows around Ireland in May/June this
plant will produce masses of scented
white flowers, followed by red berries in
Autumn known as haws which are a favourite food of many of our native birds
along with some of our winter visitors
such as Redwings.
2.
Plants in sand dunes include sea rocket, marram
grass and lichens and sedges and/or creeping willows in wetter areas.
Machair is a highly specialised and complex sandy coastal habitat which
in the entire world, only occurs in the northwest coast of Ireland and
Scotland.
Galway Bay to Malin Head, Donegal where gales and high
winds are frequent is home to machair (a gently undulating
sandy plain that develops beside the sea) - a highly complex
sandy coastal habitat – formed when calcareous sand is blown
in by prevailing winds from beaches and dunes - it is one of
the rarest wildlife habitats in Europe afforded priority under
the EU habitats directive as a Special Protected Area (SPA)
and Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
Clumps of yellow and brown seaweed cover tidal flats during low tide in
County Galway on the west coast of Ireland. Seaweeds are marine algae:
saltwater-dwelling, simple organisms that fall
into the category of "plants". Most of them are
the green (about 1500 species), brown (about
1800 species) or red (about 6500 species) kinds,
and most are attached by holdfasts, which generally just have an anchorage function, although a
particularly efficient one. Can you name some
seaweeds – ever heard of Kelp (brown) Carageen or Dillisk (red)? Count
how many different seaweed varieties you can see where you are.
9.
What can you do?
Primrose – An Samhaircín - Primula vulgaris
- Plant a native tree in your back garden, such as a rowan, silver
birch, wild cherry or crab apple are appropriate form the average domestic garden and will
provide a great source of food for myriad wild
creatures. You could also become a member
of Green Sod Ireland (link?) and help us to
look after nature for all our sakes. Violets,
primroses and wood anemones thrive with
copses and
Woodlands.
Meadows – look out for less intensively managed areas.
- Meadows are not such a common sight in Ireland these days.
So wherever they are they need to be supported and encouraged. They are very important habitats for
a wide variety of plants, insects and other
wildlife. Insects provide an important
food source for the chicks of breeding
birds such as Skylark and Meadow Pipit
as well as the now rare Corncrake. In
some areas the wild flowers in a meadow will provide food for
rare insects such as the Great Yellow Bumblebee.
Meadows which receive high levels of fertiliser and are cut
early have little or no wildlife value.
Meadow- Lady’s Bedstraw, Foxtail, Meadow Buttercup, Yellow
Rattle and Ox-eye Daisy with broadleaved herbs such as Cow Parsley and common Knapweed. These diverse plant communities need
to be conserved. Meadows also provide valuable nesting habitats
for birds such as the Corncrake. Areas that are not cut until August
suit the nesting habits of the Corncrake and are only now found in
parts of Donegal, the midlands and some parts of Connaught. Red
clover and Knapweed are important feeding plants to many species.
Animals and Hedgerows
Badger - broc
8
- also known as the ‘first rose’ – a lovely, apt
name for this beautiful little yellow flower that
is found nestling in hedgerows, woods and on
shady banks. The flowers grow singly on fine
stalks rising from the middle of the root.
Lady’s Smock – An Biolair Gréagáin –
Cardamine pratensis
- is also known as the cuckoo flower
because it begins to flower at the same
time the cuckoo begins to call. These
almost white flower with a purple
tinge thrives in large patches beside
streams, in damp meadows and
marshy areas. Lady’s smock has four
petals, each of which has a slight nick
in the outer edge. The frutis are long,
thin pods held at an angle to the stem
which open suddenly and throw out
the seeds.
Guelder rose – Caorchon – Viburnum opulus
- not a rose as we know roses, it tends to thrive in wettish soil
along edges or the edges of fields. Insects love its bountiful
spring blossoms and its red berries are a
favourite food of birds in Autumn. Its
flowers are creamy white and larger at
the outer edge.
3
Blackberry brambles – Dris, sméara dubha – Rubus fruticosus
- needs no introduction! You will see its
long thorny spread and will most likely be
familiar with its abundance of big juicy
blackberries in the autumn time. In July
the white/blue flowers start to appear. The
Brambles thorny nature helps to hide
small birds from predators. This fruit is
not only delicious for us to eat, but is an
invaluable food source for many mammals, insects and birds.
Underneath you will see the starry white flowers of Stitchwort
(Stellaria holostea) and the Bluebell (Endymion nonscriptus)
Marsh Marigold – Lus buí Bealtaine – Caltha palustris
- flowers from March to May. This
yellow flower is also known as May
flower, it grows along riverbanks and in
other marshy places. It is closely related
to the buttercup family and has five
bright yellow, glossy petals.
Cow Parsley – An Phéirsil bhó – Anthriscus sylvestris
- is a member of the same family as carrot, celery, fennel
and parsley, and doesn’t particularly like wet soils. It produces lots of white flowers during May
and June and is very common in Irish
hedgerows.
4
Woodlands
- seek one that has some native Irish trees in it
Ireland lost a lot of its native woodlands to
farming, cleared to make way for livestock
and crops leaving Ireland as one of the least
wooded countries in Europe with only 9%
under forests, with only 1% being native
woodland and the remaining 8% non-native
conifers.
Woodlands are composed of variety of trees of differing
heights. Oak and Ash are the tall trees that form the canopy
of the woodland and hawthorn, holly and hazel grow below
that. The ground growth is made up of ferns, grasses, sedges
and herbaceous plants. This type of woodland provides innumerable habitats for a wide range of
flora and fauna.
Dead wood or fallen trees are very important habitats too –
they are home to fungi and specialised insects and bacteria.
Remember the many layers of a wood are crucial to the biodiversity of our land.
Natural or ancient woodlands are rare in Ireland now. Did you
know that laurel, beech, sycamore and spruce are non-native trees?
Some non-native trees are becoming ‘nativised’ –that means that
native insects and plants can co-habit with them. Rhododendron is
an invasive non-native species which is very difficult to remove – it
supports no life other than its own.
7
- find refuge in hedgerows and are a protected species under the
Wildlife Act 1976 (amendment) Act 2000. They like to eat
earthworms.
Hedgehog – Grainneóg
- these spiny creatures find refuge in the protective covering of the hedgerow and also in
open woodlands. One hedgehog could have
anything up to 7000 spines!)
Honeysuckle – Lus na meala – Lonicera periclymenum
- will wind its way around its neighbours
in the hedgerow. It produces yellow and
white flowers during the long summer
months, (June to September) gifting us
with its sweet scent that attracts pollinating insects and many bees. Bunches of red
berries provide food for many throughout
the autumn months.
Crab Apple – Ubhall Fhiadai – Malus sylvestris
Robin - Spideog
- has pink and white flowers in Spring
and produces small, sour, yellowish apples in the Autumn. Some moths and
caterpillars and other insects thrive on
the leaves and fruit of this little plant.
- probably need no introduction!
Owl - Ulchabhan
Lesser periwinkle – Meanga′n bheag – Vinca minor
- visit hedgerows and sheltered areas
forage for small invertebrates, feeding
small mammals and young birds.
to
on
Fox – Sionnach
- often like to visit hedgerows to feed on small mammals and
young birds. They like to forage and can
often be seen roaming the countryside.
- these bright blue flowers are found growing under hedges
along the roadside. It has thin creeping stems which root at
the nodes. The leaves are elliptical with
pointed tips, hairless and borne on short
stalks in opposite pairs. They have five
spreading petal-lobes with a white ring at
the centre.
Holly – Cuileann – Illex aquifolium
6
is a tough plant and probably grows best in
shade. Its berries (on the female plant only) are red and eaten
by a
variety of birds.
5
Green Sod Ireland - An Fóidín Glas
WildAcres are homes/habitats where species thrive and flourish
Red Bog, Co. Carlow
Life
Gift
Biodiversity is the variety
of plant and animal life on
Earth
Health
Salrock, Connemara
Biodiversity
Middle pages