Farmers across Ireland are being invited to take part in a new biodiversity recording scheme, the Farmer’s Wildlife Calender – climate tracker.
The aim of the scheme is to document some of the impact that a changing climate is having on Ireland’s biodiversity and weather.
The National Biodiversity Data Centre (NBDC) is asking farmers to submit first sightings of eight specific naturally occurring events.
Farmers are being asked to record the date on which they first see:
Barn swallow.Cuckoo. Primrose flowering. Blackthorn flowering. Frog spawn. Orange-tip butterfly. Grey mining bee. Large red damselfly. Natural cycles
"Nature depends on factors such as temperature changes and the length of daylight hours to indicate progression of their natural cycles, such as a blooming flower or a frog spawning. These events are highly sensitive indicators of climate change," said NBDC director Liam Lysaght.
"What we are trying to achieve here is the construction of a more detailed picture of our environment and how it is responding to a changing climate.”
He gave the example of mistiming of the arrival of migrating birds and the availability of food for them that could have been disrupted due to a difference of temperature.
Details of how farmers can get involved can be found here.
Read more
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Farmers across Ireland are being invited to take part in a new biodiversity recording scheme, the Farmer’s Wildlife Calender – climate tracker.
The aim of the scheme is to document some of the impact that a changing climate is having on Ireland’s biodiversity and weather.
The National Biodiversity Data Centre (NBDC) is asking farmers to submit first sightings of eight specific naturally occurring events.
Farmers are being asked to record the date on which they first see:
Barn swallow.Cuckoo. Primrose flowering. Blackthorn flowering. Frog spawn. Orange-tip butterfly. Grey mining bee. Large red damselfly. Natural cycles
"Nature depends on factors such as temperature changes and the length of daylight hours to indicate progression of their natural cycles, such as a blooming flower or a frog spawning. These events are highly sensitive indicators of climate change," said NBDC director Liam Lysaght.
"What we are trying to achieve here is the construction of a more detailed picture of our environment and how it is responding to a changing climate.”
He gave the example of mistiming of the arrival of migrating birds and the availability of food for them that could have been disrupted due to a difference of temperature.
Details of how farmers can get involved can be found here.
Read more
Scottish beef going green
Burning a thorny issue for hill farmers
EU to give farmers cash for carbon capture
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