Leave No Trace
Get all the family involved as you hit the trail with nature activities designed to keep everyone entertained!
Outdoor Art Class
Leave No Trace encourages everyone to “Take Only Pictures” when out for a walk or run in the outdoors. But if you’re feeling creative, why not create your own picture through art? Bring a little notepad and pack of pencils or crayons with you on your walk, and when you spot something or somewhere beautiful, stop and take a minute to enjoy and capture the image onto the page. Remember to double check that all pencils and crayons are accounted for before you leave and dispose of any pencil shavings, leaving no trace of your creative process in nature!
Items needed: Notepad, pencil case, pencils or crayons, pencil sharpener.
BioBlitz/Seashore Safari
A BioBlitz is fun way to improve your environmental knowledge and ability to identify different species, all while contributing to citizen science! Using ID guide cards from the National Biodiversity Data Centre (which can be found in most book shops or online), members of a group work together with the guide cards to identify and count as many species of plants, animals and bugs as possible over a short period of time. Each group writes down their findings on a notepad and also takes a photo of the first of each species that they find.
You can then submit your Irish BioBlitz to The National Biodiversity Data Centre via their website or the FIT Count app (available on Google Play or the App Store). They also have a vast amount of information for anyone looking to get into citizen science and increase their knowledge of nature. We highly recommend checking it out!
Our top tip: Head to rock pools when the tide is out or have a sneaky peak under deadwood or rocks in the woods – there’s so much life to discover!
Items needed: National Biodiversity Data Centre ID swatches (they range from bugs, plants, flowers, birds, shells, marine life, and more!), pens, notepad, a mobile phone with a camera, FIT Count App.
The Masked Singer – Bird Call Edition
Ever wonder who is singing in the treetops? Ireland is home to so many amazing species of bird, and each one has a special bird call to help identify them. Use the Merlin Bird ID App to familiarize yourself with the call of songbirds and learn about the birds living in (or visiting) our parks and trails.
Items needed: Mobile phone, Merlin Bird ID app.
Take a Guided Walk
Learning more about our parks and trails can instil a deeper appreciation for it. Discover the wonder of nature and our heritage by taking part in a guided walk. Local guides know so many amazing facts about the habitats, history, heritage, and folklore of the area.
Go on a Fairy Hunt!
According to Irish folklore, Ireland’s woodlands have been the home of fairies for centuries. But they’re very good at hiding and move really fast! Keep your eyes peeled around the bottoms and tops of trees and watch to see if they’re hitchhiking on the backs or birds and animals. And take plenty of photos of nature and see if you can catch them on camera!
And remember to Leave No Trace. Give the fairies’ animals friends plenty of space and don’t add any fairy doors to the trail without permission. It’s never a good idea to make the fairies mad by littering their home!