The ‘Biodiversity on your Farm’ project will help you learn more about the species you are likely to find on your farm.
Every week we will focus on a different species, and share a simple tip for managing your farm for biodiversity.
This project is a new recording initiative in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Species # 1: Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum
– Steven Falk
Across the year, we will be highlighting 40 different species, with a focus on pollinators. Keep an eye out every week for a new species profile, tips on managing your farm for biodiversity, as well as identification guides and training courses.
To take part, send us your sightings! This project is suitable for all knowledge levels, and you can submit your sightings through an online recording form or through the mobile App (link to App is coming soon)
Are you up for the challenge?
Alan bringing in the cows for milking.
Alan took this photo of a bumblebee resting on a pallet in the yard.
Alan moved the bee to a Dandelion to feed, and was delighted to find out that she was a Red-tailed Bumblebee Queen.
Alan said: ‘It was great to see other Red-tailed bumblebees feeding from Thistle flowers later in the year, along the cow lanes’.
Alan found this moth resting on the back door of the farmhouse.
This Dark Arches moth is usually only out and about at night. Its caterpillar feeds on grasses, including Common Couch and Cock’s-foot.
Alan was excited to find this caterpillar, which he described as having a ‘phenomenal colour’.
The family were intrigued to find out it was a Pale Tussock moth caterpillar that feed on a variety of leaves including Hawthorn/Whitethorn, Blackthorn, Crab apple, Birch and Oak leaves.
As an adult the Pale Tussock moth has distinctive forward facing furry legs, as seen in the photo above.
Alan and Cheryl Poole and their family are dairy farmers in Co. Wexford. They spoke to our Farmland Pollinator Officer to share some wildlife they have spotted following a biodiversity walk on their farm in 2022.
Alan found that after learning more about biodiversity, it was easier to spot wildlife. Alan says: ‘Now, as I continue my work on the farm, I ask myself what I can do differently or better to help biodiversity. There is so much potential to be realised by making small changes. ‘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 an evening biodiversity walk on my farm’.
Farming with nature in mind can be a valuable tool, benefitting our farming systems and building resilience for future changes (from climate to economic).
Here are just some of the benefits:
Alan Poole, a dairy farmer from Co Wexford says , ‘Now, as I continue my work on the farm, I ask myself what I can do differently or better to help biodiversity. There is so much potential to be realised by making small changes.’
If you have any questions, please get in touch with our Farmland Pollinator Officer at pollinators@biodiversityireland.ie
The Farmland Pollinator Officer post is funded by Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine as one of its contributions to assisting implementation of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan 2021-2025.
