Come join us for rockpooling at Jordanstown on 21st September! We're heading down to the shoreline to find cool crabs, stunning starfish, weird worms, and if we're lucky some nudibranchs - sea slugs! We'll record what we find through the app iNaturalist, which helps us to identify what we've seen. Our records can also help paint a picture of the biodiversity in the area, so its a very handy app! We'll meet at the bandstand by the Loughshore car park - just a 15 minute walk from Jordanstown train station - at 17.30. Wellies recommended, and gloves recommended to minimise any chance of cuts from barnacles.
Join us on 20th July for a walk up Black Mountain and brush up your botanical know-how! Thanks to the work of the Black Mountain Rewilding Project, the Mountain is a treasure trove of interesting wildflowers, and with the knowledge you'll gain from Jake Dalzell, you'll soon be able to boggle your friend's brains with your botanical brilliance! We'll also be keeping an eye out for and identifying butterflies we identify along the way too, so its due to be a lovely day!
Feeling like you came up the Lagan in a bubble when it comes to knowing your wildflowers? Never fear, Wild Belfast is here! Join us at Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park to put yourself to rights and learn all about the plants that share our parks and add a pop of colour to our lives! We'll be meeting at the carpark at 10.30am on Saturday 6th July
Have you ever heard the screeching birds over Queen's Quarter or elsewhere in the city and wondered what they were? Or do you await the return of these avian aerial acrobats each year? Though their screeching is a staple sound of summer evenings, the loss of suitable nesting sites is putting our Swifts in severe decline. Come along to the Crescent Arts Centre on Monday 24th June to learn more about conservation efforts for these amazing aviators!
This isn't Dungeons and Dragons - its Damsels and Dragons! It might not be a fantasy game full of adventure and suspense, but the world of Odonata is just as interesting! Join us on the Lagan Towpath to get to know some of our native dragonflies and damselflies. These ancient insects have existed for over 300 million years, and look suitably prehistoric when you see them soaring by - you can picture them darting through the giant ferns and trees of the Carboniferous period, don't you think? Come along with us along the Lagan and learn all about these beautiful and skilled riparian hunters!
Join Moya Cannon, Lev Parikian, Conor McKinney and Mary Montague for a discussion on Nature writing and creativity. Historically, “nature writing” has been considered a form of escapism, the avoidance of harsher realities that entails withdrawal from human society. Today, in the light of the climate and biodiversity crises, traditional nature writing is challenged by “eco-writing”. This conversation between writers and scientists (and those who are both) will be a vital one to re-energise our sense of connection with the natural world and the importance of writing about it to make sense of the times and give heart to our lives.
You could be forgiven for thinking that Ireland's bees are limited to just bumblebees - but you'd be wrong! A wonderful array of bee species occur throughout Belfast, with a rich variety of looks, hair-dos and life cycles. Bees that mine, bees that build and bees that thieve, come and meet them with expert Brian Murray of @BeesofIreland. Part of the day will be a field trip, so please come prepared! There will also be a seated workshop for part of the day.
As part of Belfast 2024 we're a series of Living Murals. These are murals that bring species to life and bring species to live! Our 2024 slots for walls is currently full but we're hoping to extend the living murals project into 2025. Do you know of a wall at least 3m high in the Belfast City Council area that could become a masterpiece & offer wildlife a home? Send a photo and the location of your wall for consideration to contact@wildbelfast.org and make sure to get the permission of the owner! After that we'll take it from there!
Murals that don't only bring species to life, but bring species to live!
How can we make our urban spaces more biodiverse and resilient? Join Wild Belfast and the QUB Planning Department in this discussion on how to make space for nature in our neighbourhoods, villages, towns and cities. This practice-oriented conference will explore ways we can take action to make our spaces more natureful and resilient.
Moths are misunderstood! Though the name might conjure thoughts of small fluttery grey things that eat your clothes and are more obsessed with lights than teen girls were with Boyzone in the nineties, in reality there’s far more to them than that. With mimicry, colour and varieties aplenty, come along on 18th of May to meet some of the wonderful moths that call Lagan Meadows home!
We are competing in a “Bioblitz” as part of the City Nature Challenge 2024. Meet our experts and help us record wildlife across Belfast and go toe to toe with cities from around the world to record the most species. Feel free to drop in and drop out with the range of events we will be holding on the day!
We are competing in a “Bioblitz” as part of the City Nature Challenge 2024. Meet our experts and help us record wildlife across Belfast and go toe to toe with cities from around the world to record the most species. Feel free to drop in and drop out with the range of events we will be holding on the day!
Join us for a fun and informal marine recording at Loughshore Park in Jordanstown as part of the City Nature Challenge! Whether you are an enthusiastic beginner or a rockpooling expert, you are welcome to join us! We will be recording our findings on the iNaturalist app (although this is not mandatory, but this is a great way to start recording the species you see if you haven't done it before!). We will start at 5:30 pm, meeting at the bandstand next to the carpark, which is a 12 minute walk from Jordanstown train station. Good shoes are recommended (wellies are ideal) and you may wish to wear gloves to reduce the chance of being cut by barnacles. Everything is, of course, weather permitting!
As part of Belfast 24 we are delighted to announce the launch of our Beer Mat Safari Competition!
Take a dander with us on a journey of bird song and how species can be identified from their songs.
Say goodbye to our winter vagrants and hello to our summer arrivals. Learn about migration and tips to identify birds that migrate.
Join us for a fun and informal marine recording at Loughshore Park in Jordanstown! Whether you are an enthusiastic beginner or a rockpooling expert, you are welcome to join us! We will be recording our findings on the iNaturalist app (although this is not mandatory, but this is a great way to start recording the species you see if you haven't done it before!). We will start at 10 am, meeting at the bandstand next to the carpark, which is a 12 minute walk from Jordanstown train station. Good shoes are recommended (wellies are ideal) and you may wish to wear gloves to reduce the chance of being cut by barnacles. Everything is, of course, weather permitting!
Come along and find out more about the winter bugs we share our green spaces with from harvestmen to shield bugs there's loads to see!
Join us for a fun and informal marine recording at Loughshore Park in Jordanstown! Whether you are an enthusiastic beginner or a rockpooling expert, you are welcome to join us! We will be recording our findings on the iNaturalist app (although this is not mandatory, but this is a great way to start recording the species you see if you haven't done it before!). We will start at 11.30am, meeting at the bandstand next to the carpark, which is a 12 minute walk from Jordanstown train station. Good shoes are recommended (wellies are ideal) and you may wish to wear gloves to reduce the chance of being cut by barnacles. Everything is, of course, weather permitting!
Our next event is on the return of the murmuration to Albert Bridge. We'll watch the spectacle with Conor McKinney, discuss why / how it happens and the conservation that led to it's return. Ravenhill Rest, east Albert Bridge Sat 13th Jan 3:30pm
Our events series continues on the 28th October as Joshua Clarke hosts a tour of Our Opiliones. This species group have a fascinating array of tricks up their (very long) sleeves - book below to find out more!
Join us for a fun and informal marine recording afternoon at Loughshore Park in Jordanstown! Whether you are an enthusiastic beginner or a rockpooling expert, you are welcome to join us! We will be recording our findings on the iNaturalist app (although this is not mandatory, but this is a great way to start recording the species you see if you haven't done it before!). We will start at 10.30am, meeting at the bandstand next to the carpark, which is a 12 minute walk from Jordanstown train station. Good shoes are recommended (wellies are ideal) and you may wish to wear gloves to reduce the chance of being cut by barnacles. Everything is, of course, weather permitting!
We are excited to be taking part in this year's Open Botanic street closure event where we will be talking all things wildlife with cameos from the wonderful creatures in our mobile rockpool!
This privacy policy sets out how we treat any information that you give us when you use this website, sign up for more information, or attend any of our events.
We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy policy.
What we collect
We may collect the following information:
- Full name
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- Other information relevant to customer surveys
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- What we do with the information we gather
We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:
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Information Sign Up
As part of the registration process for more information, we collect personal information (eg. name, phone number, email).
We use that information for a couple of reasons: to tell you about what is happening at WILD BELFAST; and occasionally other news from other linked organisations that we feel is of interest, but principally to tell you about other events; to check our records are right and to check every now and then that you’re happy and satisfied. We don’t rent or trade email lists with other organisations and businesses.
At present we are building our records as a relatively new project, but in future we may use an established third-party provider (such as MailChimp or a box office system) to deliver our e-newsletter or to process ticket sales. We may gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies to help us monitor and improve our services. If we choose to use a third party provider in future we will publish their own privacy policy here and we will send you notification of this in advance if you are on our contact list.
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Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites as they are not governed by this privacy policy. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy policy applicable to the website in question.
Security
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.
Sharing of Data
Our events may be presented in partnership with other companies, venues and facilitators. Please be assured that we do not share your personal details with any other company or individual without your consent. Where activity is delivered with a partner, venue or organisation, we may provide them with a customer list in order that they can contact you in the event of any last minute changes. Partners, venues or organisations are not allowed to store this beyond the event. They can’t contact you for marketing or other purposes unless you have explicitly opted in to hear from them.
We may share anonymised personal information such as audience demographics and sentiments with other organisations, particularly funders to help them understand the impact of their investment and to help us secure future funding.
We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to other third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen.
Changes to this Privacy Notice
We may occasionally change or update this policy. You should check this page to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from December 2023
Access to Your Personal Information
You are entitled to view, amend, or delete the personal information that we hold at any time. Email your request to contact@wildbelfast.org
If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible using the contact details below. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.
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Contact Details
Email: contact@wildbelfast.org