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Backyard Biodiversity

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Donegal County Council encourage you to get outdoors and discover what biodiversity lurks in your backyard, local park or where you go for a walk.  Our Backyard Biodiversity signposts you to Citizen Science websites, How to guides and other organisations that are running seasonal campaigns that encourage people to watch and enjoy all the wonderful wildlife that makes their homes in back gardens, local parks and spaces. 

Bumblebee ID Course Free Buzzy Bee Counting – FIT count  Irish Stoat Survey  Ladybird Atlas 2025 
Irish Butterfly Monitoring Scheme  Dragonfly spotting  Explore Your Shore  Backyard Biodiversity spotting 
Farmers’ Wildlife Calendar   Spring Flowers Project     

Do your bit for Biodiversity

  • If eligible, sign up to ACRES https://www.acresdonegal.ie/ further benefit wildlife, 
  • Follow the codes of good agricultural practice,
  • Leave field margins uncut later in the season for birds, insects and mammals, and
  • Restrict any cutting of hedgerows to every other year, allowing some stretches to flower and fruit each autumn  
  • Sponsor a local biodiversity project and help make it happen,
  • Create your own wildlife garden in your company grounds, and
  • Volunteer your staff to lend a hand with local conservation projects which will give your team new skills and help local biodiversity. 
  • Create a community wildlife garden and increase your local sense of pride and stewardship for the environment,
  • Help plant a woodland or preserve a local site for the future, and
  • Help implement your local Biodiversity Action Plan https://actionforbiodiversity.ie/  or help shape the new Donegal Biodiversity Action Plan. Contact the Donegal Biodiversity Officer at biodiversity@donegalcoco.ie  to find out how. 
  • Help build a better picture of local biodiversity and become a wildlife recorder! Record any sightings of wildlife to the National Biodiversity Data Centre here at biodiversity.ie Recording System :: Ireland's Citizen Science Portal (biodiversityireland.ie) or download and use the Biodiversity Data Capture app on your smart phone
  • Have a go at wildlife gardening and enjoy the small wonders in your own patch. Or why not create a street garden and encourage your neighbours to do one thing for biodiversity in their gardens too!,
  • The Heritage Council have produced a series of short films with simple steps you can take in your garden for biodiversity here. A Gardening for Biodiversity booklet can be found here.
  • Create your own compost heap, reducing your waste and reducing the need for peat compost,
  • Report wildlife crime. Incidents such as dumping and water pollution should not be ignored, as these have an impact on local biodiversity. Local people are ideally placed to report such activities, and this can go a long way towards preventing further decline of our habitats and species. Find out more at https://www.npws.ie/wildlife-crime 
  • Volunteer! There are always local projects that need the help of volunteers and give people a chance to learn about helping their local wildlife. These could be tree planting days, bird box making, scrub clearance or even hay making. 
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