Giving Nature a Home in Northern Ireland

Guest blog by Neal Warnock, RSPB NI Conservation Advisor

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This Sunday is World Curlew Day. For many of us, the thrilling bubbling call of this wonderful wader is something we never hear at all; or it’s something that our parents’ generation might speak about hearing in years gone by.
In Northern Ireland, we’ve lost more than 80% of the population since 1987, with Fermanagh and the Antrim Hills the last remaining…

Guest blog by Claire Barnett, RSPB NI Conservation Team Leader


So the results are in and we can now say that house sparrows are still perched at number one as the most-spotted birds in Big Garden Birdwatch 2019 - both in Northern Ireland and across the UK.

Thanks to you, we had more than 7.5 million birds (including 1.2 million house sparrows) counted throughout the weekend at the end of January, with almost half a million…

Guest blog by Roisin Kearney, Conservation Officer at RSPB NI


This International Women’s Day, I thought it would be good to shine the spotlight on some of the brilliant women who work for RSPB NI. Our work to help save nature in Northern Ireland wouldn’t be possible without the wonderful women who contribute so much.
As you may or may not know, the RSPB was originally founded by a group of pioneering women…

Guest blog by Monika Wojcieszek, RSPB NI Tern Conservation Officer


Bird migration is one of the greatest spectacles of nature.
Each year, millions of birds across the planet embark on a journey looking for food, breeding grounds or milder climate.
Arctic terns have the longest known migration in the animal kingdom. This small, gracious bird, weighing about 100g, travels on average an astonishing 71,000 kilometres a year…

Guest blog by Belfast WOW volunteer Derek Polley


There are many things to love about being a volunteer at a reserve: introducing children to the wonders of nature, recruiting members, observing and counting birds, helping out with maintenance and drinking tea. Recently at Belfast’s Window on Wildlife (WOW) we have had a further delight when we spotted colour ringed black-tailed godwits and were able to record the details…

Guest blog by Joanne Sherwood - Director, RSPB NI

For me, Big Garden Birdwatch means fun, family time and good-humoured competition.
It also means contributing to an important citizen science project to understand what is happening to our garden birds.
When the weekend comes along at the end of each January, I take part in the Birdwatch along with my husband and my son (pictured, below).
We get out the binoculars and the…

Guest blog by Robin Brown, Portmore Lough volunteer

It’s just over a year since our volunteer Robin Brown received the President's Award at the RSPB AGM in London.
At that stage, Robin had dedicated 5,000 hours as a volunteer co-ordinator at our Portmore Lough reserve in County Antrim, so it was a fitting recognition for his outstanding contribution to our work. Robin received the award from RSPB President Miranda…

Guest blog by Laura Smith, RSPB Portmore Lough Warden


Autumn is well and truly underway at Portmore Lough nature reserve.
The leaves on the trees have turned various shades of golden brown before falling and lining the boardwalk.
On the lough, the whooper swans noisily herald their arrival from Iceland. Along with flocks of greylag geese, they will spend the winter grazing on the fields around the reserve, returning to…

Guest blog by Ian Enlander, RSPB NI volunteer


Autumn is synonymous with migration - a time of change both in our weather but also in our birdlife. As Belfast Window on Wildlife’s breeding terns fly off in search of another summer, a great range of water birds, especially ducks and waders, believe it is worth flying here to escape the harsh winter conditions that engulf their breeding grounds.

Think of the WOW reserve…

Guest blog by Phil Carson, RSPB NI Policy Officer (Sustainable Farming)


Northern Ireland and farming are intrinsically linked.

Representing 70% of land use, agriculture has had a monumental impact on the identity of the countryside and the people here. It directly employs 5.7% of the population and contributes more than £2 billion to the economy every year. It plays a fundamental role in binding rural communities together…

To mark International Bog Day (July 22), we hear from our three RSPB NI Co-operation Across Borders for Biodiversity (CABB) project officers.
CABB is a five-year European-funded conservation project that spans Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland and will improve habitats for birds, butterflies and other species, restore blanket bog and help produce drinking water at a lower cost.


Katy Bell - RSPB NI…

Guest blog by Scott Mairs, who is fundraising for RSPB NI

Scott, who hails from County Antrim and who turns 19 this month, is setting off on the Tour Du Mont Blanc - one of the most popular long-distance walks in Europe – in June. He has chosen RSPB NI as his nominated charity.

It was a rainy evening last October when myself and three friends Jordan, Callum and Harry discussed going somewhere new, exciting and…

Guest blog by Linda Thompson


Last May myself and some friends headed off to Ballycastle up on the County Antrim coast for the start of a fabulous boat trip around Rathlin Island visiting the seabird colonies.

The trip was organised by RSPB NI on board a privately-chartered boat (Miss B Haven) with skipper Damien McFaul and led by Liam McFaul, the Rathlin Island RSPB warden. 

The weather couldn’t have been better for the…

A year from today, the UK will cease to be a member of the EU. Across the UK we are facing a potential ‘cliff edge’ in terms of environmental governance – the means by which we ensure our environmental legislation is properly enforced – and the clock is ticking. Nowhere is this more the case than in Northern Ireland, where we already suffer from weaker governance and currently have no Executive at Stormont…

Guest blog by RSPB NI Conservation Advisor Gareth Bareham


Irish lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes romanzoffiana) is one of the rarest members of the orchid family in Europe, occurring only at scattered locations on the western seaboards of Ireland and Scotland and one site in England. 

Actually one of a very small number of North American ‘amphi-atlantic’ species that found its way across the Atlantic it is considered an…

They say that March heralds the start of spring, so why not put a spring in your step and join us on one of our RSPB NI guided walks and take in the stunning nature that’s on your doorstep?
Starting way out west in County Fermanagh, we are hosting Spring Nature Detectives at Castle Archdale on Saturday 10 March (10am to 12pm).
Sign up to discover signs of spring, identify early flowering plants and buds on trees…

Guest blog by RSPB NI farmland survey volunteer Alan Bates

I’m no expert on identifying birds, but I do like watching them in their natural environment.

I got an email from RSPB NI back in March of last year to help out with surveys on a local farm.

They were trying to establish where breeding territories exist for six priority species (skylarks, linnets, tree sparrows, yellowhammers, lapwings and reed buntings…

Blog hosted by RSPB NI for and on behalf of Nature Matters NI -  Follow @NatureMattersNI on Twitter to keep up to date with the campaign.

Credit: Joe Comish, National Trust.

It is still unclear what impact Brexit will have on Northern Ireland's environment. The European Union provides us with strong environmental legislation for nature, agriculture and our marine areas and there’s a risk that this could be lost after…

Guest blog: Christopher McAteer, RSPB NI Campaigning Communications Officer – Nature Protection for Nature Matters NI.

Nature Matters NI, a new campaign from a coalition of environmental groups in Northern Ireland, was created earlier this year to assess and respond to the impact that Brexit will have on the environment. In this guest blog, RSPB campaigner and Nature Matters NI member Christopher McAteer considers…

Winter is a harsh time for wildlife. As the days shorten and temperatures drop, birds and other animals can find it hard to find a reliable source of food in the countryside.

In particular, seed-eating species like yellowhammers, tree sparrows, linnets and reed buntings are finding it increasingly difficult to find sufficient quantities of seed which they need to survive.

There have been widespread declines in…

Guest blog by Amy Burns, Fermanagh Reserves Warden

Greenland white-fronted geese are a winter visitor to Northern Ireland, migrating from their breeding grounds in Western Greenland.

Arriving at the end of October after travelling 1,900 miles, they will remain here until April. The island of Ireland holds more than half of the world’s wintering population of these birds. The largest flocks can be seen on the Wexford…

Secondary school students are being given a unique opportunity to get out into the landscape that inspired poet Seamus Heaney in an innovative new education programme.

The “My Place within the Landscape” programme has just been launched and features field trips to selected natural heritage sites and activities within the Seamus Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy. 

Students will participate in a session at HomePlace…

Guest blog on behalf of Nature Matters NI

My name is Jack Kelly and I'm a nature-friendly farmer from County Down. There are a lot of farmlands in Northern Ireland tended to by farmers such as myself, transforming the land into a breadbasket that the entire country can benefit from. But if we want to continue to reap the benefits, it's important that we look after nature by farming in environmentally-friendly ways. …

Guest blog by Catriona Grant, RSPB NI fundraising assistant.

I’m a fundraising assistant for RSPB NI and for the past few months my first thought in the morning and my last thought at night has been work and it doesn’t stop at weekends either, or bank holidays, every day, morning and night my thoughts turn to work.

Now, you may think that sounds like a nightmare! But not in this case, you see RSPB are currently…

GUEST BLOG by Alan Ferguson, Red Kite Project Officer at RSPB NI

Next year will mark 10 years since the ground-breaking reintroduction of red kites in Northern Ireland.

In 2008, RSPB NI, the Golden Eagle Trust and the Welsh Kite Trust began the ambitious project to bring these magnificent birds back to Northern Ireland.
This year has been a hugely successful one for our red kites, with a record number of chicks being…