Great Yellow Bumblebee Project

Worrying insects declines

@GYB_Project were delighted to be instrumental in setting up the Mullet Bioblitz back in July with funding from @MayoCoCo Biodiversity officer and Údarás na Gaeltachta. Great video from @TeemLens

As cattle return to the machair for winter grazing, their grazing is essential for creating favourable conditions for flowers to return next year. However, some seeds can be unwanted. Here we can see burdock seed heads doing a great job at dispensing itself via grazing cattle!

Similar to the Scottish populations of Great Yellow Bumblebees, Irish populations are now pretty much restricted to the Mullet Peninsula and Erris Coastal

Join our team! We are currently setting up a panel for the position of: - Project Manager - Lough Carra Life Project Closing date for application: Thursday, September 18th Full particulars and application form can be found here: mayo.ie/careers/curren…

Discover some of the best plants for bees: Devil's bit scabious youtu.be/7FQ0LgljTos? An absolute beauty :)

High tide this morning at Belmullet, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Not a day to forget your waterproofs.🌊💦🌊 #stormerin #belmullet #comayo #ireland RTs appreciated as ever. 😊

A beautiful wet coastal meadow packed full of devil's bit scabious

Biodiversity Tip No. 23 A positive grassland indicator plant used to assess if grassland is in ‘good’ condition, a sign that the grassland is semi-natural, not managed intensively and it has received only small amounts of fertilisers, herbicides, and other improvements.

In Blacksod Bay, Co. Mayo, a live stranding hotspot, common dolphins live strand year after year. Local volunteers give everything — but they need the right tools. Help fund Ireland’s first Dolphin Rescue Trailer. 💙🐬 👉 Please support gofundme.com/f/help-fund-ir…

We are inviting people who swim at beaches, lakes and rivers to help identify areas that should maintain existing bathing waters designations and areas that are commonly used for swimming but not identified at present. Closing Date: Sept. 26th More info: mayo.ie/news/Bathing-W…

Dunlin Headstarting 2025 – Part 3: Release pen build – Co. Mayo The Breeding Waders EIP and LIFE on Machair teams were hard at work building a release pen for the headstarted Dunlin on a stunning machair site in Co. Mayo. 🎥 In this video, Mark Reed from LIFE on Machair gives you a quick overview on the construction of the pen. 🙏 Huge thanks to the landowner for generously allowing access and supporting this vital conservation work. This is a retrospective series, documenting the journey from egg collection in May to release in July. Follow along daily to see how it all unfolded. @agriculture_ie @fotawildlife @NPWSIreland @LIFEonMachair

One if the most valuable plants for pollinators at thus time if year. 🐝🙂

To celebrate @HeritageWeek 2025 and its theme 'Exploring Our Foundations', our Farmland Officer Ruth Wilson looks back at the tradition of haymaking on farms, which has taken place in Ireland for centuries & forms part of our cultural and natural heritage tinyurl.com/23dha9rs

Sometimes bumblebee nests get predated. Here a Lapridarius/ Red tailed bumblebee nest which appears to have been predated by a fox. Bees appear to be trying to make repairs. If you read 🧵 you'll see how much was dug out.

Glorious field on knapweed doing its thing. Knapweed is a superfood for many types of bumblebees.

Always lovely to find some Gentians while surveying.

@_Stickybeak So far looks like better year than last year. We have our fingers crossed.

@GYB_Project This has been by far the best year we've known for them here, including several sightings of them laying their eggs - even in our back yard! How are your GYBs doing this year?

Also had even more fabulous views of Hummingbird Hawkmoth feeding at Common Bird's-foot-trefoil flowers - check out that curly tongue!

Biodiversity Tip No. 20 Species-rich wet meadows and pasture can provide a more varied herbage ➡️ beneficial to grazing livestock as it provides them with a greater variety of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients than ‘improved’ grasslands which support only a handful of species.