To kick off National Mammal Week, we hosted Animal Detectives @ulsterfolkmuseum.org 🕵️
We learnt to ID mammal footprints, homes & poos 🐾
Don't forget you can record signs, as well as sightings, for our mammal recording project! 📲
The larvae live burrowed in the riverbed for up to 7 years before metamorphosing into adults!
Adults have 1 nostril on the top of their head and 7 breathing holes on each side of their body.
Be sure to record your sightings with CEDaR Online Recording or the iRecord app! 📲
The brook lamprey (𝘓𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘪) is the only of Ireland’s three lamprey species that spends its entire life in freshwater!
A primitive fish, it is jawless – instead possessing a sucker-like mouth which it uses to move rocks and create nests called redds where it deposits eggs.
We'll be joining @bsbibotany.bsky.social & BugLife at this BioBlitz for this year's #CityNatureChallenge
Come along & chat to us about how your @inaturalist.bsky.social records can be used to promote conservation in Northern Ireland!
Checkout what Wild Belfast are up to too!
Recording wildlife with us is simple, we only need to know WHO, WHAT, WHERE & WHEN.
Get recording today on CEDaR Online Recording or the iRecord App📲
Dive deeper into the world of Freshwater Insects with our 2-day ID course!
Mayflies, stoneflies & caddisflies are excellent indicators of water quality, & used in habitat monitoring world-wide.
📆 6th - 7th May
📍 Belfast Hills
nationalmuseumsni.digitickets.co.uk/event-ticket...
🚨Swift numbers in Ireland have declined significantly in recent years, they are a Northern Ireland Priority Species.
🧳These birds are summer migrants, coming here from Africa to breed & normally nesting in the eaves of buildings.
🪽Swifts may spend up to 10 months at a time in the air without landing!
🥇They are also the fastest bird in the UK in level flight, able to reach close to 70mph!
Species of the month: common swift (𝘈𝘱𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘶𝘴)!
📏In flight they can be seen to have long boomerang-shaped wings & forked tail. They are brown in colour though they may appear black against the sky.
🪰Their diet consists of flying insects, they avoid stinging species.
DiveNI is back! Click the link below to see footage from a recent dive:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ojw...
⚠️Hazardous conditions can persist after a storm event, if you participate in recording efforts you are doing so at your own risk. Continue to check weather warnings, & please stay safe.
⚠️The Met Office have issued a yellow weather warning for wind for the whole of Northern Ireland lasting from 2pm on Saturday until 3am on Easter Sunday.
⚠️Storms are dangerous and can pose a serious risk. Do not go to the coast or travel whilst weather warnings are in place!
After storm events like this, species that are normally found deep below the waves may be washed up on the coast. Found something? Record your sighting with our Storm Watch submission page or the iRecord app! 📲
Strong winds are expected across Northern Ireland over Easter weekend as Storm Dave passes over. Gusts of 50-60mph are forecast with exposed areas facing even stronger winds up to 80mph. In NI, the peak of this stormy weather is anticipated for early afternoon on Saturday 4th.
Looking for an activity over Easter break?
Join us for a Wildlife Walk @ulsterfolkmuseum.org as Spring blooms all around us and nature comes to life!
📅10th April
⏰2pm
Book tickets: www.ulsterfolkmuseum.org/whats-on/wil...
Search for clues @ulsterfolkmuseum.org where your family can tracking & identifying the tell-tale signs of mammals that live amongst us.
This family workshop is a perfect day out for detectives, young and old!
See the link for tickets: www.ulsterfolkmuseum.org/whats-on/be-...
April Fish! 🎣
Cuckoo Wrasse (Labrus mixtus) is 1 of our most colourful native fish. A marine species living in rocky reefs.
🧡Females are pink-orange w/ black & white markings
💙Males are electric blue w/ orange patches
Check out the new recording page: www2.habitas.org.uk/records/angl...
⚠️These signals can benefit both the potential prey and predator.
📲Have you seen any of these species? Record you sightings with CEDaR Online Recording or the iRecord app!
What exactly is aposematic signalling?
❌Many species advertise to predators that they will be harmed by their defences like toxicity or bad taste if they attack them.
🎨This is done via signals like bright colours, unpleasant odours, noises or other characteristics.
Join this year’s #CityNatureChallenge, April 24–27 & contribute to the world’s largest #CommunityScience event 🌍
With National Museums NI, Wild Belfast, @bsbibotany.bsky.social & BugLife
All you need is the free @inaturalist.bsky.social app📲
Join the project: www.inaturalist.org/projects/cit...
Last week 60 amazing volunteers planted 1000 native trees @ulsterfolkmuseum.org 🌳
Thanks to everyone who was involved
& also @tcvnational.bsky.social, Woodland Trust & National Museums NI. Happy to see oak, hazel, alder, cherry & rowan saplings in our woodland ahead of international day of forests🌱
Search for clues at the @ulsterfolkmuseum.org
Track & identify the tell-tale signs of mammals that live amongst us🦔
This family workshop is a perfect day out for detectives, young & old!
📆Saturday 18th April
⏰11am-2pm
Get tickets: www.ulsterfolkmuseum.org/whats-on/be-...
Delve into the world of Plant Pathogenic Fungi with Jake Dalzell this spring in our fully outdoor session.
📆 Saturday 16th May
⏰ 10am-4pm
Get tickets: nationalmuseumsni.digitickets.co.uk/event-ticket...
🍴Feeds on hydroids.
📍Named for Boston (as 1st described from Massachusetts Bay) but found in rockpools & sublittoral zone from W.Europe to the E.coast of N.America.
🤔Sometimes mistaken for F. auriculata, but broader & has less blue iridescence.
Let us know if you see any!
Spp of the month: Boston Facelina
🫥Has transparent head & visible red oesophagus.
📏Up to 55mm. Red-brown cerata (tentacles) can be ½ body length.
White spots along tails & between rhinophores (sensory antennae-like organs).
Long oral tentacles & pink patch around the mouth.
Wood Anemone can be a sign of ancient woodland.
Found between the trees @ulsterfolkmuseum.org, this slow-growing pollinator food plant was once thought to be a lucky charm.
Last year we received 77 records of Anemonoides nemorosa. Let us know if you see any this year!
Collect & identify species of seaweed found in the Intertidal & Subtidal zones of NI with Emeritus Prof Christine Maggs!
Some experience of recording or using a microscope is recommended for this course.
Get tickets: nationalmuseumsni.digitickets.co.uk/event-ticket...
Happy to share info on a funded AHRC CDP4 PhD Opportunity:
🌱 Reawakening the Living Landscape: Integrating Heritage & Sustainability at the Ulster Folk Museum.
With 4 supervisors from Newcastle Uni & National Museums NI
If interested, please see link: www.ncl.ac.uk/hca/study/hi...
A call to budding botanists across Ireland: Find out how to record your first 100 plants in tonight's great webinar!
🌸🍁🌱🌼🌿🌾🪷🪻🌳
More info: bsbi.org/take-part/ev... @npwsireland.bsky.social @cedar-ni.bsky.social @irishwildlifetrust.bsky.social @irishwildlife.bsky.social #botany #Ireland #recording