Hi IEN,

Spring is in the air! Have you noticed the buds appearing and the birds collecting nesting materials? There's quite a collection of sticks around my estate from birds dropping twigs that they've decided aren't quite good enough.

Birds aren't the only busy creatures this month. Check out our list of events below, starting off this Sunday with Potato Day at the Organic Centre! National Tree Week is also this month, the 9th - 16th, and there are lots of tree planting and foraging events to celebrate. We have also listed some events coming up in April and beyond. There's lots of options to browse through!

We have two articles to share from local groups. The first covers a Wicklow event: Resilience is Key - The Future of Forestry. The second celebrates the first meeting of a new group in North Leitrim, Our Native Glens, who held a very sucessful inaugral event helping with bog restoration work in the area.

Lastly, we've highlighted a job opportunity from the Irish Peatland Conservation Council, a Tender for Research: IEN Offshore Renewable Energy & Marine Biodiversity Capacity Building Project, and a funding opportunity from the Heritage Council.

All this and more below!

Beir bua,

Catherine

West Wicklow Environmental Network

Resilience is Key - The Future of Forestry

WWEN recent event boasted three knowledgeable speakers. Each brought a different point of view, but in the end they delivered a very cohesive message. This was the idea of ‘resilience’. Changing how we currently do forestry (a mono culture of Sitka) to one of diversity can bring a greater resilience to our woodlands, still be of economical benefit to foresters and farmers, and very importantly provide habitats for our native flora and fauna.

Olive Leavy, National Coordinator with Irish Forest Owners irishforestowners.comand Administrator with Pro Silva Ireland prosilvaireland.com spoke about how we can develop forestry that can deliver economically, environmentally and have social benefits too. ‘We have lost our identity in Ireland, of being a woodland nation,’ she said and we need to ‘build a forest culture, that is more sustainable and permanent’.

Kim McCall, a farmer ‘with trees’ as he calls it and a Farming for Nature Ambassador www.farmingfornature.ie, took over his farm in 1986 from his father. Between himself and his father, they have planted 60 to 70 thousand trees on the farm. He has both a Sitka plantation and commercial mixed woodlands. 

Kim has adapted what he plants and what he harvests to his farm requirements. ‘Farmers are unwilling to take land out of production for forestry’, he said. However, in Kim’s case he’s used woodland to his farm’s benefit. ‘We have linear woodland throughout the farm.’ He plants on a north to south axis, for larger trees, when he wants equal sunshine into his fields (where he produces hay) and he plants east to west for lower-growing varieties for shelter. He says ‘more trees, more variety means more resilience.’

Fintan Kelly, Agriculture and Land Use Policy and Advocacy Officer in the Irish Environmental Network (www.ien.ie). He spoke of the Nature Restoration Law and how forestry/woodland is so important within that context. Our baseline for woodland is very low, one of the lowest in Europe and we have moved away from being ‘a forest nation’. Although afforestation has increased in the last century, it started from a very low base at the start of the 20th century and Ireland still has very low amounts. On a positive note Fintan mentioned the Great Spotted Wood Pecker which has returned to Wicklow. ‘If we put in the ground work, nature will find a way,’ he said.

What about Agroforestry - where does it fit in? How can I develop woodland on a small holding/garden setting? Read more from these speakers, questions from the floor, and access slides from the evening here.

Our Native Glens

Leitrim's newest community led environmental group

Based in North Leitrim, we are very proud to announce the start of our group during our first open meeting on February 4th 2025 with 30 attendees. Our passionate cohort has since grown to over 40 willing volunteers. 

Eager to get started, we had our first meitheal on February 22nd on Tommy Earley's property. We got a great tour of Tommy's great work with native woodlands and pond building. We even caught a beautiful newt, which the children adored. Then we helped with restoring a bog by pulling out over 200 trees. Whoever wanted them took some but we still have a lot that we hope to replant soon. We finished the day with well deserved cups for tea and snacks.

Our next day out will be afternoon Saturday 1st of March 2-5PM.

If you would like to join Our Native Glens please email team@ournativeglens.org

Our Native Glens aims to create, restore and protect habitats in the North Leitrim area. The project will be community and volunteer led but with expertise and direction from NPWS, NBDC, Leitrim County Council, LAWPRO and IFI and external consultants as required. 

By creating natural habitats by planting native species we will be combatting the biodiversity crisis by allowing more species to thrive. Through the restoration of habitats, we ensure a local stewardship of these habitats, allowing biodiversity to flourish for longer. The protection of the habitats will establish a sense of connection and pride which will strengthen and grow the public's appreciation for biodiversity which is one of the biggest threats.

Read more here about the first Meitheal and the objectives of Our Native Glens.

MARCH EVENTS

Potato Day

March 2nd

Leitrim

Potato Day is coming once again to the Organic Centre, on Sunday March 2nd.

Browse our craft and food market. Check out one of the largest national supplies & variations of quality potato seeds for sale in our shop! There will be all things potato on the menu of the 'Grass Roof Cafe'.

Enjoy tours of the centre and workshops on the topics of potatoes. There will be demonstrations including by the Loy Association of Ireland, boxty making with Paula Heatley, wool spinning With Eimear O Neill, Basket Weaving with Tom O Brien, crafts and art for the children and more. 

For further info ring 071 9854338 or see www.theorganiccentre.ie

ONLINE TALK: "Digital photography as a non-invasive method of sampling Atlantic puffin chick diet at multiple Irish colonies"

March 5th, 7pm

Online

Atlantic puffins are in decline across their global range, and are one of two species of seabirds nesting in Ireland found to be in decline. Diet is thought to play a key role in the species population ecology, though little is known about the diet of Irish puffin chicks.

Our talk will look at research which aims firstly to assess the feasibility of using digital photography to survey puffin chicks diet at multiple Irish colonies, and secondly to investigate inter-colony variation in puffin chick diet.

Our guest speaker will be James Corcoran Hodgins. After developing a keen interest in climate and biodiversity policy during as an undergraduate in International Relations in DCU, James has been involved in the green movement since 2014. Having worked in Outdoor Education for a number of years, he recently returned to study, and completed an MSc in Applied Coastal and Marine Management in UCC.

Register here

Whale Tales 2025: Shared Stories from the Sea

March 7th - 9th

Down

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group invites you to Whale Tales, the biennial meeting of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, where members and people interested in whales, dolphins and porpoises in Ireland are invited to join us in our shared appreciation and admiration of these charismatic animals.

This year, we’re thrilled to host Whale Tales across the border in Northern Ireland, embracing our all-island approach to marine conservation. The event will take place at YWAM An Cuan (The Harbour) in Rostrevor, a stunning venue aligned with values of peacebuilding, unity, and collaboration.

Event Highlights

- Friday, March 7: Kick off the weekend with a screening of The Secret Lives of the Humpbacks by Andrew Stevenson, followed by a Q&A with IWDG Sightings Officer Pádraig Whooley. Free event and Open to All

- Saturday, March 8 (Members Only): A full day of engaging talks, panel discussions, and networking, ending with an AGM and a lively quiz night at the Whistledown Hotel.

- Sunday, March 9: Experience the launch of The Shifting Tides podcast, celebrate Carlingford Lough through photography and storytelling, and enjoy a scenic walk in Kilbroney Park before we depart.

More information and booking available here

Workshop: Introduction to French Polishing

March 8th, 9.30am - 4.30pm

Dublin

Join us for an engaging workshop where we’ll delve into the art of French polishing, a time-honoured technique that has been breathing new life into antique furniture since the mid-1700s.

With over 70 years of combined experience, the Rediscovery Centre are excited to share valuable tips, tricks, and trade secrets to help you restore your antique pieces to their former glory.

Get tickets here

Workshop: Hand Stitching & Creative Clothing Repair

March 8th, 10am and 2pm

Dublin

Discover the art of hand sewing at the Rediscover Fashion Workshop, where you’ll learn techniques to repair clothing without a sewing machine.

Explore skills like patching holes, mending seams, covering stains, and practising Sashiko, a traditional Japanese repair method, alongside decorative embroidery stitches for visible mending.

Leave with a unique wall hanging that you've crafted during the day!

Morning & afternoon workshops available.

Get tickets for morning here

Get tickets for afternoon here

Tree Foraging walk and talk

March 9th, 10am - 1.30pm

Galway

Come and join us in Celebrating Tree week at our event to find out about the abundance of nature’s harvest and what you can forage from trees? Fruit is an obvious answer, but did you know that the bark, seeds and leaves or needles of many trees are also edible, medicinal or can be used in crafts?

This walk and talk with forager and wild food specialist Olwyn Williams will introduce you to a variety of edible and medicinal tree crops, alongside some harvesting techniques and ways to use them as food or simple herbal remedies.

We will be outdoors meeting a variety of trees in situ, discussing identification traits and growing habits, which parts of which trees are safe to consume and which are potentially dangerous, what times of the year and stages of growth are the best for harvesting, and how to harvest them. What you will learn is suitable for personal or household use as opposed to commercial scale.

Fees: €20 - The event will wrap up with a tasting session where you will sample a selection of foraged tree crop food products.

Places are limited for more info and to book - please visit our website:

https://www.celtnet.org/events/tree-foraging-walk-and-talk

Location: Slieve Aughty Center, Kylebrack, Loughrea, Co. Galway, H62DX77

For more information please visit

https://www.nationaltreeweek.ie/

Community Tree Planting

March 15th 10- 2pm

Galway

CELT are delighted to invite you to our community tree planting event and to join us in celebrating this year's National Tree Week theme - 'Planting Trees, Growing Together'

National Tree Week is Ireland’s largest annual tree celebration and is proudly organised by the Tree Council of Ireland. This special week invites communities across the nation to come together to appreciate the beauty and crucial importance of Ireland’s trees.

CELT invite you to join us in our community tree planting day at the Slieve Aughty Center as part of a new nature restoration and afforestation project that CELT are working on in partnership with the Slieve Aughty Center. Over the coming years our aim is to work with professional foresters and other specialist land management experts at the Slieve Aughty Centre, in the restoration of critical wetlands, biodiversity, hedgerows, and agroforestry, and to create an exemplar model and center of excellence for nature restoration and bioregional education in the region, and demonstration an educational project for agroforestry and biodiversity conservation”

Event Details:

Planting trees and preparing land and at 1.30 pm we’ll stop for a communal feast.

Notes:

Please bring warm clothes for outdoors and spare warm clothes; bring a spade (if you can) and your wellies.

Location: Slieve Aughty Center, Kylebrack, Loughrea, Co. Galway, H62DX77

Donations:

If people would like to donate to the ongoing work and development of this project please visit -

For more information on National Tree Week please visit their website.

Fun Fact on the National Tree Website - Trees are part of our very identity. We are all familiar with being addressed at public events as “A Chairde Gaeil” but did you know that the Irish word for an Irish person – Gael - comes from the Welsh language Goídil. It means a person who lives in a wood!

So long ago, the Welsh people looking the 60 miles across the Irish Sea at a heavily wooded Ireland realised that we must all live in the woods. It was they who first referred to us as “A Chairde Gaeil”. Our connection with trees is as old as the Irish language itself, which is around 2,500 years old.

Free Repair Cafe

March 22nd, 10am - 4pm

Dublin

Got something in need of repair? Bring your broken bikes, furniture or textiles to the Rediscovery Centre on 22nd March, and learn to fix them with experts!

Reserve your spot here

Climate Café

March 27th, 7pm - 9pm

Carlow

Join County Carlow Environmental Network for a relaxed evening in Lambert’s Coffee House, 16-17th Dublin Street, Carlow R93 XO86.

Enjoy a relaxed cuppa in this pop up Climate Café on Thursday 27th from 7-9pm and meet like-minded people.

No booking required, just pop in say hello.

If you have any queries please email info@ccen.ie

Free Seed Swap

March 29th, 10am - 2pm

Dublin

Join us at the Rediscovery Centre for our annual Seed Swap!

Connect with fellow seed enthusiasts, no matter your gardening experience or space. Whether you have a flower pot, a balcony, a garden of any size, or simply an interest in seeds, this event is for you!

Perfect for beginners, experienced seed savers, and everyone in between, the Seed Swap is a chance to share, learn, and grow together. Any leftover seeds will support the Ballymun Biodiversity Programme.

See you there!

Reserve your spot here

APRIL EVENTS

Introduction to the Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) for PPN Representatives

April 14th, 7.30pm

Online

Join us from 7.30pm to hear from Kelley Bermingham, Dublin City PPN Representative on the Local Community Development Company.

Kelley is the Community Officer at St. Patrick's Cathedral, and has served on the LCDC since 2019. This evening she will share her knowledge and experience from her time on the committee.

There will be lots of time for questions and discussion at this event, so it is perfect for anyone who is thinking of taking a role on the Local Community Development Committee, or who is a newly appointed PPN Representative. This is also a space for anyone who has been serving on the LCDC and would like to ask about any challenges they might be facing in their own county. Together we can discuss and help each other in our roles as PPN Reps!

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/A81GCVbJRCCUyHgEv6ib1Q

MAY EVENTS

CELT Festival of Traditional Crafts Weekend in the Hills

May 10th and 11th

Galway

CELT’s traditional skills festival workshops are held over two days at Slieve Aughty Centre. Come along and choose from over 15 different crafts and skills to choose to do in our courses over two days and go home with new skills, the item(s) you made and new friends! Some of our courses are especially designed for children.

Saturday begins at 9:30am with registration and a short introduction. Courses start at 10am and finish up at about 5pm each day. Lunch is usually at 1pm and is included in your ticket price. Saturday night is spent around the camp fire telling tales and singing, so remember to bring your instrument.

Please check out all the workshops in detail and the booking link on the Celt website at the Weekend in the Hills page.

A Family Festival of Traditional Craft will also take place in July 5th & 6th

Whale Watch Ireland 2025

May 17th, 5 - 7pm

Various locations

On Saturday 17th May, IWDG in association with Inis, invite you to Whale Watch Ireland 2025 between 5:00-7:00 PM. This annual event, now in its 23rd year, comprises free and guided whale watches at local headlands and vantage points, as part of All-Ireland whale watch day. This year’s event will coincide with National Biodiversity Week Ireland which runs between May 16th-25th. These simultaneous land-based watches at around a dozen sites around the Irish coast provide IWDG researchers, whale enthusiasts and Citizen Scientists alike with a unique overview of whale and dolphin activity on the day and you can play an important part.

While there are of course no guarantees of sightings, given reasonable weather you have a good chance of seeing some of the marine species that can be viewed locally. We advise participants to dress appropriately for the weather conditions on the day. Please note, there are no boats involved and no bookings necessary. There may be a short, elevated walk from the meeting point to your watch site, so sensible footwear is recommended, and your local watch may not be wheelchair accessible. You should bring binoculars, your sense of humour and refreshments, but please leave your pets at home.

This event is suitable for all ages and is aimed at everyone from the novice wildlife enthusiast to more experienced naturalist, with a keen interest in marine wildlife and biological recording. In the event of unsuitable weather your watch leader may need to cancel your local event at short notice; so, if any doubt, please check in with them using the contact details on www.iwdg.ie/events or this link. 

Weekend Whale Watching Courses 2025

Looking for a weekend with a difference? Why not join the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) www.iwdg.ie, Ireland’s leading marine conservation NGO, on a weekend whale-watching course in West Cork during summer 2025.

In taking part, you will also be actively supporting whale and dolphin conservation and research in Ireland. Our 2025 residential weekends are once again based at the CECAS centre, Leap, West Cork www.cecas.ie, and combine a relaxed learning experience at this former retreat, providing a unique opportunity to learn more about the 26 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises, that can be found in Irish waters.

Suitable from ages of 18 years upwards, our courses cater for all levels of interest, from the complete novice to the wildlife enthusiast who’d like to learn more about Ireland’s cetaceans, how to find and identify them, IWDG’s recording schemes and how you as Citizen Scientists, can contribute to their conservation and the latest research.

Bookings link for May 23-25th Course:

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/residential-iwdg-weekend-whale-watching-species-id-course-in-west-cork-tickets-1227003072219?aff=oddtdtcreator

Bookings link for Sept. 12-14th Course:

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/residential-iwdg-weekend-whale-watching-species-id-course-in-west-cork-tickets-1227752373399?aff=oddtdtcreator

Enquiries or further details, email padraig.whooley@iwdg.ie , Ph. 00 353 (0)86 3850568

CELT OPEN DAY

MAY 24th as part of National Biodiversity Week 2025

Galway

Join us for a fun day-long celebration of biodiversity and our native woodlands at the Slieve Aughty Center and a showcase of some of our expert traditional craftspeople from our Weekend in the Hills - Festival of Traditional Crafts.

We also have an Open Call for collaborators and participants to engage with us in a new creative story telling project on the day - Writing the Land: The Great Forest of Aughty

Writing the Land is a collaborative community outreach and fundraising project for nature protection and forest restoration organizations and local communities in the Slieve Aughties. Through the development of an anthology and locally based participatory arts project, our artists, poets, community collaborators, and contributors are invited to join us in championing the once Great Forest of Aughty as a living, breathing archive that holds centuries of ancient mythology, ecological and social history. As a site rich in biodiversity, cultural and historical connections, the forest serves as the focal point for exploring the dynamic relationship between a people and their environment. Through this project, we aim to document, interpret, and co-create a shared narrative emphasising its relevance to both the local community and broader native woodland and environmental conversations urgent for our times.

We have established this creative platform to invite participants to co-create with us a project that highlights the creative nexus between the land and inhabitants of Sliabh Aughty in multiple media, written and virtual.

For more info please contact info@celtnet.org

AUGUST EVENTS

CELT: Following the success of last year's event, this summer we are delighted to be cohosting 2 exciting permaculture events during August 2025…

MARK YOUR CALENDARS & Come and Join us!

Earth Activism and Social Permaculture Training

with Starhawk and Alfred Decker

Date: 19 Aug - 22nd August

Slieve Aughty Centre, Galway

The Centre for Environmental Living and Training (CELT) in partnership with Cultivate, Cloughjordan, are delighted to offer this unique and inspiring 4 day workshop and bring together earth activists, change makers, rebels and dreamers to share some time in nature, strengthen our connections, and deepen our creative vision.

Facilitated by international guests Starhawk and Alfred Decker, with a local contribution from Davie Philip of the Cultivate Cooperative (Cloughjordan), this special gathering will take you on a journey of transformation, regenerating inner and outer landscapes.

We will explore how an understanding of ecology and the principles of permaculture can infuse our activism, including how to structure groups and organizations that can meet our core human needs, while also sharing key tools for staying calm, grounded and present during moments of chaos and challenge.

To book your place please visit -

https://www.celtnet.org/events/earth-activism-and-social-permaculture-with-starhawk-and-alfred-decker

All Ireland Permaculture Gathering

Sat, 23 - Sunday 24th August 

Slieve Aughty Center, Loughrea, Galway

CELT are delighted to be once again supporting the All Ireland Permaculture gathering returning to the Slieve Aughty Centre in Co. Galway this year -

To book your place visit permaculture.ie

For more information please visit -

https://www.celtnet.org/events/permaculture-gathering-2025

Community Heritage Grant Scheme

An annual grant scheme for community groups and not-for-profit non-governmental organisations around the country for heritage projects.

Eligible projects include conservation surveys, reports, plans, audits and work that will inform the future management of buildings and monuments, habitats, collections, or objects.

Deadline March 14th.

More info here

Conservation and Education Officer

Irish Peatland Conservation Council

The Irish Peatland Conservation Council are now accepting applications for a two year contract position of Conservation and Education Officer with the Council.

Closing date: March 7th

More information here

Tender for Research: IEN Offshore Renewable Energy & Marine Biodiversity Capacity Building Project

Review of the legislation underpinning environmental safeguards in the development of ORE in Ireland

The main purpose of this project is to review the environmental legislation underpinning the development of Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) in Ireland, both at a national and EU level.

We are particularly interested in understanding the place of the environment within the legislative framework; evaluating the robustness of the legislation in safeguarding the environment in the face of the biodiversity and climate crises; and identifying existing and remaining gaps in the legislation.

The new deadline is April 11. The project will run from late April to September 2025 and the tender value is now €25,000.

You can find out more at: https://ien.ie/learn-about-our-work/