Project Updates
Last Friday, 23rd July 2021, the Lough Erne Landscape Partnership where delighted to be joined by members from the Enniskillen Soroptimist International Club to plant a number of heritage apple trees at Tully Castle.
This is a part of the Lough Erne Landscape Partnerships ‘Tree’s for Bee’s Campaign’ which is being delivered in partnership with Fermanagh Omagh District Council. These trees are to help to sustain the lives of birds, bees and insects, and support the local food web.
A total of eight trees were planted at the picnic area at Tully Castle with volunteers getting stuck in digging holes, adding compost and staking the trees under the watchful eye of Sarah Jane, a Biodiversity Officer from Fermanagh Omagh District Council.
The ‘Tree’s for Bee’s Campaign’ aims to plant heritage trees at a number of different locations in County Fermanagh and to date has involved a number of local schools and groups. For more information and to find out about volunteering opportunities contact Heather via heather.gott@rspb.org.uk to find out more.
Join us on 23rd June at 19:30 for our virtual seminar Butterfly Species Identification and Habitat Virtual Workshop with guest speaker Rachael Conway, Butterfly Conservation.
Rachael will provide an introductory session on Butterflies, introducing species which are specific to Northern Ireland and prevalent throughout the Lough Erne Landscape. Following an introduction into the many species that can be found in our local environment we will then explore how we can improve our gardens and outdoor spaces to encourage butterflies and provide suitable habitats. Rachael will showcase some of the work she has undertaken with communities and explain how you can get involved to provide a place for wildlife in your local area.
Guest Speaker:
Rachael Conway is Senior Engagement Officer for Butterfly Conservation responsible for events, recording, surveying/monitoring and work with the butterfly and moth community. Rachael is an experienced community facilitator, deeply passionate about creating habitats for wildlife in public and private land and connecting people to nature to benefit wildlife and well being.
Check out the recording from Rachel’s seminar below.
It is no secret that Northern Ireland’s bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects are in trouble, with one of the key problems facing our pollinators being a lack of habitat and in particular, a lack of wildflowers in our countryside. On Thursday 6th May 2021 Anna Hart from BugLife explored the BugLife B-Lines initiative and habitat creation for pollinators during an online seminar.
B-Lines will link up wildflower-rich habitats across the country and help our precious pollinators and other wildlife to have a better future. Anna shared what B-Lines hope to achieve, as well as discussing the importance of habitat creation and how you can be involved.
Guest Speaker: Anna Hart
Anna has worked for Buglife since 2016. Her current role as Conservation Officer for the charity in Northern Ireland includes working with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) to deliver Common Standards Monitoring of invertebrates on protected sites and advising on threatened invertebrate species and habitats. She helped to develop and deliver the B-lines network in Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Threatened Bee Report. She has also completed a desktop study of Open Mosaic Habitat on Previously Developed Land (OMH) in Belfast and the wider Belfast area. Anna who is from Co. Armagh has also worked with The Conservation Volunteers’ as their Natural Talent Trainee in Entomology, based at CEDaR and as an Ecological Assistant working with the Environmental Consultancy firm Allen and Mellon Environmental Ltd.
More information about the BLines project in Northern Ireland is available at: https://www.buglife.org.uk/our-work/b-lines/b-lines-northern-ireland/
David Bolton from Fermanagh Beekeepers Association (FBKA) shares information about FBKA and their success stories and activities through the Lough Erne Amazing Pollinators Project.
Check out the video below!
As part of the Lough Erne Amazing Pollinators Project the Fermanagh Beekeepers Association have build and installed a number of bee boxes across the county.
Bee boxes are being installed to help support the wild bee population. So far 13 bee boxes have been installed in woodland areas. These boxes provides honey bees with more hospitable places to swarm too, and therefore helps to keep their populations safe. Sensors monitor the boxes and record activity helping to providing information about wild bee populations.
Check out the video below for more information.
We were delighted to be joined by Rose Cremin, Butterfly Conservation for our third workshop in a series of 5 on the magic of Moths and their habitats. Training was provided on the process of trapping and identifying moths to be able to map the species across the region.
Following the workshop, participants were offered the opportunity to borrow a LELP heath trap to record species in their own area. Recording has already taken place and congratulations to all participants who are now able to identify many species of moths. This vital recording will enable those working to protect pollinators to gain a greater understanding of moth habitats and the species that occur here in Co. Fermanagh.
The Lough Erne Landscape Partnership, Amazing Pollinators project hosted in partnership with Butterfly Conservation a workshop on the Habitats and Identification of Butterflies as part of a series of workshops being delivered this year.
Rose Cremin of Butterfly Conservation provided training on the methods of butterfly identification, common local species and how we can record species by using online systems such as Cedar. By recording the various species, we can ensure that pollinators are monitored and identify regions and areas of special interest and hunger zone areas and act to decrease these hunger zones in the area.
The Lough Erne Landscape Partnership (LELP) were delighted to launch their Lough Erne Amazing Pollinators Project by hosting an Introduction to Pollinators and their Habitats workshop at Castle Archdale. The project will be delivered by LELP through funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The workshop is the first of several workshops that will take place throughout the lifetime of the project. LELP are working in partnership with Fermanagh Beekeepers Association, Butterfly Conservation and Fermanagh and Omagh District Council to deliver this amazing project.
Attendees of the workshop were provided with training on the types of pollinators we have here in Co. Fermanagh, followed by a walk in the gardens to look for some pollinators and learn about their habitats.
Saturday 13 April 2019 saw the launch of the Lough Erne Amazing Pollinators project at Castle Archdale Country Park. The project is being delivered in partnership with the Fermanagh Beekeepers Association, Butterfly Conservation and Fermanagh and Omagh District Council.
The launch event took place with the first of a number of workshops “An Introduction to Pollinators and their Habitats”. This workshop provided theoretical training on pollinator habitats and types of pollinators in the classroom and then followed by an outdoor stroll in the gardens to try and locate some pollinators in their natural habitats.
The project aims to protect and enhance the habitats for pollinators in the region. This will be done through a programme of events to raise awareness of pollinators and how provide suitable habitats, this includes bees, butterflies, moths and all other pollinators.
As part of this project pollinator “hunger zones” will be identified and plant species for pollinators will be planted to enhance the habitat available. LELP will also work closely with the Fermanagh Beekeepers Association on the Wild Bee Research Project , this project will identify areas to place wild bee boxes and monitor the boxes throughout the year in order to establish the health of wild bees in the Fermanagh region.
