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Tidy TownsNotice Nature Award
Lorraine Power/Billy Flynn
Flynn, Furney Environmental Consultants
Tidy Towns Competition
• Ireland’s longest running env project
• Specifically rewards groups & areas that relate their work & area to wider living environment
Tidy Towns Competition
• Represents a chance for environmental well-being to be assessed & celebrated
• Highly supported by local authorities and & other bodies
Notice Nature Campaign
• Ireland’s NN campaign aims to:
1. raise awareness of importance of biodiversity
2. encourage everyone to play their part
• Convention on Biological Diversity• EU goal - halt loss of biodiversity
by 2010
TT Notice Nature Award
• Biodiversity Award• Separate applic, in TT pack• Total prize fund €8,000 • 7 regional prizes of €1,000, overall prize
of €1,000• Get credit if you are doing it anyway!• It’s all connected - let’s help protect it!
What is Award for?
Reward communities making efforts to:
1. Ensure protection of nature
2. Create new areas for nature
3. Enhance what’s already there
4. Raise public awareness of nature
What is Biodiversity?
• The total number of different living things in a given area
• Won’t it always be here?
• What use is it anyway?
Some of the 'Services' provided by Biodiversity
• Clean Food• Clean Air• Clean Water• Medicines• Materials• Landscapes• Inspiration• Recreation…
What Projects Can You Enter?
1. Protection of biodiversity sensitive area (e.g. woodland/hedgerow)
2. Enhancement of biodiversity areas
3. Dev. of new area of biodiversity importance
4. Communicating importance of biodiversity issues
First, can you find out what’s there?
• Surveys often recommended
• Allows for ‘baseline’ data
• Alerts you to anything really good
(or bad!)
• Helps to plan work, set priorities
• Lets you understand the area better
• Essential for interpretation
Wildlife Begins with Plants
• Think wild and go native
• Colourful annuals often of little use
• Lots of resources out there
• Garden centres are now as good a place as any to ask.
Native Trees and Shrubs are Best
• Choose locally suitable species- what’s there already?
• Think long-term• Keep other areas in
mind• Avoid invasive aliens
Such as…
• Rhododendron• Cherry Laurel• Bamboo• Fuschia• Box privet
Grasslands and Wildflowers
• Many options out there• Choose only suitable for
area, • experiment if space • Can look messy at first• Results can be
spectacular
Be bird-brained
• Of around 200 birds studied over the last decade, 25 are on the so-called Red List.
• Less than half are ‘Green-listed’
There’s much we can do
• Protect habitat when you can. It’s key.
• Leave space in your places and plans
• Step in and lend a hand when you can
You can:
• Put up and maintain feeders
• Plan, place and take care of nesting boxes
• Keep track
Remember that:
• We are trying to keep a balance
• Rear and release schemes not always best
• Allowing native species to become established is better
Water
• Teems with life when healthy
• Can greatly add to the diversity of an area
• Broadens scope for types of species
Water
• Features can be created
• Survey important• Always seek as
much information as possible on this
Mammals
• Much fewer species of mammals than other groups
• Very vulnerable to many pressures
• Development is biggest threat
Room for Wildlife in a Busy Area?
Don’t forget the flying mammals..!
• All bat species in Ireland are protected
• All are potentially vulnerable
• Are very difficult to survey
• More popular than you might think!
Where do you go to get information?
Where to get help
• Your local conservation ranger (National Parks and Wildlife Service) www.npws.ie
• Your local authority Environmental Awareness Officer
• Your County Heritage Officer• Heritage Council - ‘Conserving & Enhancing
Wildlife in Towns & Villages’
Where to get help
• TT handbook - Wildlife & Natural Amenities
• Birdwatch Ireland www.birdwatchireland.ie
• Irish Wildlife Trust www.iwt.ie• An Taisce www.antaisce.org
Helpful Web Sites• www.noticenature.ie • www.greenwave.ie• www.irishwildflowers.ie - identify wild flowers
by month & colour• www.wildflowers.ie - useful site for creating &
maintaining wildflower meadows & gardens• www.biology.ie - great website on general
Irish wildlife & lots of interactive surveys
And then tell the world!
• Spread of information is very important
• Modesty doesn’t get you points
• Don’t be afraid to have high hopes for the environment.
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