Ennis de Vos/O’Shea

My first post here on twitter, delighted to have found a single Stenogrammitis myosuroides, Europe’s rarest fern, in Killarney National Park on New Year’s Day. Confirmed by @NimbosaEcology who is confident that there are yet more populations to be found in Killarney! @BSBIbotany

Antarctica’s fragile ecosystems are under pressure from booming tourism - 122,000 visitors in 2024. ASOC calls for a precautionary approach to protect this shared heritage from threats like pollution & invasive species. #ProtectAntarctica 🇦🇶 Learn more: asoc.org/campaign/respo…

Trawling is ravaging inshore waters. It should have been a higher priority for the last gov to get a ban in place as nothing was wrong with the original policy. It's vitally needed to protect marine food webs and small scale fishermen's livelihoods irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/outd…

Bluefin tuna have returned to UK waters. But instead of being cherished and carefully protected like other magnificent creatures back from the brink, they are being hunted commercially to supply high-end restaurants with luxury meat. blueplanetsociety.org/bluefin-tuna-a…

In the left-hand photo, the richly forested hills of SRI LANKA, an island in the Indian Ocean roughly the same size and shape as IRELAND, whose own denuded hills are pictured on the right. Sri Lanka has nearly FIVE TIMES more people than Ireland (23 million vs 5 million), and they are significantly poorer than the Irish. Both islands were colonised and exploited by the English over several centuries. How is it that vast tracks of vibrantly intact nature remain in Sri Lanka, whose people live alongside several thousand wild elephants, a thousand leopards and an extraordinary array of other wildlife; while Ireland is among the most nature-depleted countries on earth? How did this extraordinary difference come to be? In nature terms, Ireland has next to nothing left, the temperate rainforests of the west are gone, the peatlands drained and degraded, the large species eradicated, the smaller ones on their way out, landscapes pockmarked with suburban sprawl, why? What happened? What is so different in the culture of the Sri Lankan people that enabled them to maintain the natural wonder of their island while the Irish have utterly desecrated theirs? (The UK of course is not much better, but at least we do now have a burgeoning rewilding movement.) I feel that the answer to this question is totemic at a time when the protection and restoration of nature is climbing to the top of the agenda. Why do some nations live in harmonious co-existence with nature while others fail so utterly to save theirs? What can the world learn from both of these small countries? The most amazing thing in the comparison I’ve chosen is that in spite of all of this, Sri Lanka is far more food self-sufficient than Ireland is. In other words, they kept their nature, while still producing much of their own food. What has Ireland gained from trashing its landscapes in the way that it has? It’s a funny thing that we call Ireland ‘the Emerald Isle’ when in comparison with islands the world over it’s anything but.

One year ago today, Whoopers were returning to habitats on these bogs which were being intentionally and unnecessarily removed through outdated pumping activities. The issue was raised with Eamon Ryan and Malcolm Noonan, amongst others, for the umpteenth time with absolutely no action taken. Today, there is nothing for these Whoopers to return to. This particular bog which held a County Longford record count in one visit of in excess of 350 Whoopers has been pumped out with no accountability. @fiannafailparty @FineGael @greenparty_ie @sinnfeinireland @SocDems @AontuIE @independent_ire @labour @MichealMartinTD @SimonHarrisTD @rodericogorman @HollyCairnsTD @Toibin1 @ivanabacik Have any of you anything to say on this and what you will guarantee to deliver to address such #biodiversityloss?

Because I have been engaging with non-environmentally aware people, for over 50 years, I have fully realized just how little environmental awareness, penetrates the mainstream. I've generally avoided environmentalists, because of this. 1/🧵

This took me about 30mins to complete - some promising lines of questioning included in this survey. This public consultation is a great opportunity to guide management of our National Parks for nature. Please take the time to give your input if you can!

Out doing peat depths in the eastern Sperrins and finally got to see one of the best bits of bog in the country, incredible pool systems! ⁦@UlsterWildlife⁩ ⁦@IUCNpeat⁩ #sperrins #peatlands #bog

There's nothing like finding a ping pong tree sponge in the deep sea! This carnivorous sponge, Chondrocladia lampadiglobus, was filmed by ROV Tiburon 2,555 meters deep in the Gulf of California. More fascinating deep-sea animals on our #CreatureFeature: mbari.co/34hlCzV

It's great to have Killarney National Park in the news. It matters more than most places because it is of such high biodiversity value and is entirely in the hands of the state. Here is a short 🧵 after spending some time there and meeting NPWS staff...

The State is to buy Clawinch Island, a 50-acre hotspot for wading birds located about 500 metres from the north shore of Lough Ree rte.ie/news/ireland/2…

1/3 Incredible whalewatching & birding off West Cork today. 3 Fin Whales lunge feeding! They're the 2nd largest animal that's ever lived! Also hundreds, maybe thousands of Great Sheareaters. Common Dolphins & Bluefin Tuna too. With Colin Barnes of @CorkWhaleWatch

Hooded Nudibranchs (Melibe leonina) swaying in the oceans movements feeding on passing plankton. The cold and rich waters of the Pacific Northwest are mesmerizing in their beauty, what a beautiful capture by @lonelyspruce admiring these graceful nudibranchs.

“The number of threatened trees now outweighs all threatened birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians put together“ Sad, but at least we know where we are... Now more action is needed. @malinrivers @distortedabso Amazing work over many years @bgci bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

The EU has begun legal action against UK govts over the Sandeel fishing ban This is a deeply regressive attempt to put private commercial interests over essential marine conservation Sandeels, crucial for our ecosystems are reduced to fishmeal oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu/news/eu-reques…

The commercial fishing industry kills at least 38 MILLION tonnes of wildlife each year 'by accident' & has done for decades. #Bycatch goes unpunished and reflects a total disregard for marine life by governments, policymakers & law enforcement. Article: blueplanetsociety.org/bycatch-crisis…

A Bill to safeguard 30% of Ireland’s seas has broad support among the public and politicians. Yet it has faced repeated infuriating setbacks. Read the full opinion piece in response to a recent piece by @KOSullivanIT below. #FairSeas irishtimes.com/opinion/2024/1…

The Azores Establishes Largest Marine Protected Area Network in Europe - 287,000 KM. 15% of Azorean waters are now designated as fully protected & 15% as highly protected, which means that fishing & other extractive activities are restricted or banned. news.nationalgeographic.org/the-azores-est…

Producing a kilogram of farmed salmon may require 4 or 5 kilograms of wild fish, which isn't a sustainable approach to feeding the world's growing population @newscientist newscientist.com/article/245226… @feedbackorg @FeedNavigator

I'm really disappointed to see that Govt won't have the long promised MPA legislation in place before the end of the year. And let's not confuse "Designation with Protection" . Paper parks are not worth the maps they are drawn on. #MPAs