We were delighted to launch the ‘Biodiversity on your Farm’ project this year, in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
The project will challenge farmers to find 40 species on their farm across the year. The species have a pollinator focus and will include a weekly ‘Biodiversity management tip’.
The aim of the project is to encourage farmers to keep an eye out for biodiversity on their farms, especially pollinating insects, and record their sightings here
Farmers don’t have to have any previous experience to start recording. We will have a species profile each week to help with identification and they can contact our Farmland Pollinator Officer for further help, at any stage, just email pollinators@biodiversityireland.ie
Alan and Cheryl Poole, spoke to our Farmland Pollinator Officer about some of the wildlife they have spotted on their dairy farm following a farm biodiversity walk in 2022.
Alan said, ‘It’s nice to find out what biodiversity is on your farm.’
Alan found that after learning more about biodiversity, it was easier to spot the wildlife on his farm.
Alan continued, ‘Now as I continue my work on my farm, I ask myself what can I do differently or better to help biodiversity. There is so much potential to be realised by making small changes.’
Alan also mentioned, ‘It’s amazing the importance of a simple thing like hedgerows, as it turned out, they were the common denominator between all the farmers who attended the evening biodiversity walk on my farm.’
