Dragonfly Dash & Butterfly Bash
National Heritage Week Recording Challenges
National Heritage Week runs from tomorrow Saturday 17th to Sunday 25h of August, a celebration of Ireland’s rich natural and cultural heritage. To support National Heritage Week, celebrate Ireland’s natural heritage, and contribute to the Butterfly Atlas 2021 & Dragonfly Ireland Atlas 2024, we’re running both a Butterfly Bash and Dragonfly Dash challenge to encourage everyone to get out and record wildlife over the course of the week.
Everyone can get involved and no matter how common or rare the species please submit your records as normal through our butterfly and dragonfly recording forms: https://records.biodiversityireland.ie/start-recording
You can keep an eye on the real-time progress of the Butterfly Bash here:
https://www.biodiversityireland.ie/record-biodiversity/butterfly-bash-2019/
Or if you would like to keep an eye on progress with the Dragonfly Dash click here: https://www.biodiversityireland.ie/record-biodiversity/dragonfly-ireland-2019-2024/dragonfly-dash-aug-2019/
The message is simple: we’re hoping to capture as many records of Butterflies, Dragonflies and Damselflies as possible during National Heritage Week!
Filling the gaps for Butterflies
Following on from our success in filling in the gaps for the Butterfly Atlas 2021 last year, we’re running with a more targeted approach this year again. Given the fantastic support we’ve received to date for the Atlas there are certainly fewer gaps than last year, but if you’re out and about over Heritage Week please take a look at the map on our Butterfly Bash page to see where your butterfly recording will have the most impact and keep track of what butterflies are being recorded too!
Dragonfly recorder survey
Casual records are the bread and butter of most of our recording challenges. But if you are able to offer a bit more experience in identifying Dragonflies and Damselflies, why not try completing our Dragonfly recorder survey – much the same as casually recording the presence of particular species except with the added dimension of estimating numbers and doing a very quick and simple habitat assessment. All data gathered during site surveys also counts towards our Dragonfly Dash!
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For further information please contact: info@biodiversityireland.ie
Butterfly Atlas 2021
Running from 2017 to 2021, the Butterfly Atlas will bring together information from all our butterfly recording activities into one overarching project to map where butterflies currently exist in the Irish landscape. The atlas is being run on an all-island basis in co-ordination with our partner organisations: Butterfly Conservation Ireland, Butterfly Conservation UK and the Centre for Environmental Data and Recording; supported by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
Dragonfly Ireland 2019 – 2024
Dragonfly Ireland 2019 – 2024 is an all-Ireland survey run jointly by the National Biodiversity Data Centre and by the Centre for Environmental Data and Recording in Northern Ireland. It is a project which is calling on members of the public to get involved by reporting their sightings of dragonflies and damselflies to the Data Centre with the aim of reaching a number of objectives including the publication of the 2024 Dragonfly Ireland Atlas. Dragonfly Ireland is part of a 3-year citizen science project funded by the Environmental Protection Agency
