Ireland’s BioBlitz 2012

18 & 19 May

About BioBlitz ..

BioBlitz is a scientific race against time. The aim of this fun event is to find as many species as possible within a park over a 24 hour period. This is a unique event where scientists, students and the general public can come together and learn how scientists and recorders use their skills to study the wildlife of an area. It will also introduce the non-specialist to the fabulous wealth of biodiversity that occurs all around us.

The first national BioBlitz event was held in 2010  with Conemarra National Park coming out tops and beating 4 other parks with a final tally of 542 species. Things heated up in 2011 and armed with experiences good and bad and lessons learned from the previous year, our scientists distributed themselves amongst 5 new parks. The standard of recording across all 5 parks was remarkably high but Killarney National Park was unstoppable and beat all competition with a staggering 1088 species!

Reigning champions (2011) Killarney National Park

2010 winners - Connemara National Par

For more information on last year’s event visit http://bioblitz.biodiversityireland.ie/bioblitz-home-2011/

A significant development for 2012 is that BioBlitz has now become a cross border event.  We are delighted to announce that CEDaR, Northern Ireland will join forces with the National Biodiversity Data Centre on 18 & 19 May.

The 4 parks for BioBlitz 2012 are:

  • Crawfordsburn Country Park, Co Down
  • Glengarriff National Nature Reserve, Co. Cork
  • Lough Boora, Co. Offaly
  • Phoenix Park, Dublin8

Crawfordsburn Country Park, Co Down

Glengarriff Nature Reserve, Co Cork

Lough Boora, Co Offaly

Phoenix Park, Dublin

The event will be held in conjuncion with CEDaR, Northern Ireland (Centre for Environmental Data and Recording) http://www.nmni.com/cedar; Bord na Móna http://www.bordnamona.ie/; OPW (Office of Public Works) http://www.opw.ie/en/

The event will commence at 17.00 hrs on 18 May 2012 and finish at 17.00 hrs on 19 May 2012. If you are interested in finding out more about Ireland’s natural heritage or would like to join one of the participating teams, please contact the National Biodiversity Data Centre for further details:

Email: info@biodiversityireland.ie

Phone: 051 306 240

BioBlitz 2012 will co-incide with the first ever international Fascination of Plants Day http://www.plantday12.eu/home.htm on 18 May.