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NEWSLETTER: April 2023
Update from the Project Team
The first farm walk of 2023 was a great success, thank you to all that attended and to Trevor for being an excellent host.
The next farm walk is scheduled for the 20th of April on John McHugh’s farm in Clondarrig. Email eip@biodiversityireland.ie for more details.

Plant to Spot
Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula)

The early purple orchid or Magairlín Meidhreach, in Irish pictured belowwas taken on Colm Flynn’s farm in Athy. It has oblong leaves with purple spots and the flowers have a strong scent. It flowers from April to June. The tuberous roots of this this species were considered very effective as a love charm in folk beliefs (MacCoitir 2006). It features in Biran Merriman’s poem Cúirt an Mheán Oíche:
….“That should snare a strapping young chap
Whom, in a web of love, I will trap.
'Tis many I have seen who play this game
Watch out! I'm about to do the same
It's a great help for coupling, so they allege
To mix crushed apples and powdered veg
The purple orchid is an aphrodisiac
With mandrake's root I will attack
And other plants that I cannot name
I'll use with great relish in this ballgame”…
It is illegal to trade wild orchids internationally without a permit from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites). In Ireland Orchids are protected under the Flora Protection Order, 2022. It is illegal to cut, uproot or damage the listed species in any way, or to offer them for sale.

Pollinator to Spot
Eristalis tenax (Tapered drone fly)

This is a large species of hoverfly and common on farmland. It is a good hoverfly to identify in early spring. It has a tapered abdomen and yellow “feet” (aka tarsi) on the front and middle legs. It can bee seen from February to November.

 
Additional information
Biodiversity on your farm species and tips. Every week a different species will be profiled https://biodiversityireland.ie/surveys/biodiversity-on-the-farm/.
The report from the Citizens Assembly on Biodiversity Loss can be accessed at: https://citizensassembly.ie/wp-content/uploads/Report-on-Biodiversity-Loss_mid-res.pdf.
Regenerative Agriculture – Understanding the opportunities and challenges 25th and 26th April. Hybrid event organised by the Association of Applied biologists. More details can be found here.
20th April: Farm Walk with John McHugh 11:30 – 1pm. Register by emailing eip@biodiversityireland.ie
22nd April Irish Spring Conference 10-5pm Botanic Gardens Glasnevin. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/botanicalsocietyofbritainireland/873126.

Contribute to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan by carrying out a Flower-Insect Timed count (FIT count).
Simply, watch a 50x50cm patch of flowers for 10 minutes and count the insects that visit. Find out more information at https://pollinators.ie/record-pollinators/fit-count/ or watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrKqKm3dRV8.
 
What you can do this month
If you are spraying fertiliser or sowing a crop, consider leaving an unfertilised or unsown field margin at the base of your hedge.

Don’t forget to check your solitary bee nest sites and maybe create some new ones.
 
Farmer Profile
For the last 8 months of the project, we hope profile eight participant farmers.

First up is John McHugh, an organic, dairy, tillage, beef, and pig farmer in Co Laois. He is the 5th generation farmer of the land. He graduated from University College Dublin with a degree in Agriculture in 2001 and inherited the farm from his parents (Clondarig Farm).

Up until 2015, John was an intensive dairy, derogation famer, milking 160 cows with plans to expand. He realised how his inputs were controlling the way he farmed and wanted to create a more resilient farm that his children could carry on. He analysed his figures and profit margins and realised that he could create a more resilient farm, with lower financial risk, that he can pass on to his children. He has been studying regenerative and restorative farming practices and implementing these practices on his farm. John believes that “Diversity drives the resilience in nature”.

John is trying to reconnect his farm with the local community, building bridges that can be beneficial and empowering to all involved. The farm is mostly in grass with some spring oats as well. Since 2015, he has sown multi species swards and herbal leys. He manages the fields in a way that is enabling the natural, native diversity back on the farm. He achieves this by having long grazing intervals and by reducing grazing pressure, which in turn allows pastures to flower and seed, enabling natural succession and helping pollinator populations in the process. John cuts most of his hedges on a 3-5-year rotation, he has moved the fence out to allow for a 2-metre margin on some hedges and has wide ditches acting as margins on others. His hedgerows are a haven for pollinators providing both food and shelter.

Twenty different pollinator species were recorded on John’s farm during the 2020 hedgerow pollinator surveys.
If you are interested in learning more, please come along to Clondarrig Farm on the 20th May at 11:30 for a farm walk. You can also keep an eye out for the Biodiversity On your Farm Species and Tips.
Contact details
Phone: +353 (0) 51 306240
Email: eip@biodiversityireland.ie
Twitter: @BioDataCentre
Facebook: Biodiversity Data Centre
 
Protecting Farmland Pollinators is an EIP (European Innovation Partnership) project being administered by the National Biodiversity Data Centre. The Project is funded by the EU Recovery Instrument Funding under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2022.
Is tionscadal EIP (Comhpháirtíocht Nuálaíochta Eorpach) é an Protecting Farmland Pollinators atá á riaradh ag National Biodiversity Data Centre. Tá an Tionscadal maoinithe ag Maoiniú Ionstraim Téarnaimh an AE faoin gClár um Fhorbairt Tuaithe 2014-2022.
Aspects of the Project are subject to change in response to participant feedback and project monitoring.

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