Getting busy for the bees' sake:The bumble bee population has dropped 50 per cent over the last 20-30 years in farmland areas of Ireland, according to a new study.
The Ag-Biota five-year scientific study also noted a decline in numbers and types of bees, birds and insects and plants due to the removal of hedgerows and greater use of chemicals and machinery in farming nowadays.
“This report shows that there is clear scope to reintroduce biodiversity in agricultural habitats without compromising agricultural productivity or output,” says Larry Stapleton of the Environmental Protection Agency, which commissioned the University College Dublin study.
See epa.ie
The stars of history
The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) is piggybacking the UN International Year of Astronomy in their celebrations of science and heritage this year. To mark the International Day for Monuments and Sites on April 18th, ICOMOS Ireland has arranged guided tours of the Historic Science Centre and Great Telescope at Birr Castle, Co. Offaly. The 19th-century telescope, designed and built by the 3rd Earl of Rosse, was the largest in the world throughout the 1800s. Tours start at 2.15pm. Admission free. See birrcastle.com.
Grand designs, great buildings
An exhibition of the best entries to this year's Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI) will be run from Tuesday next until April 22nd, in the Irish Architectural Archive, 45 Merrion Square, Dublin 2 (10am-5pm Tues-Fri, adm free). Design work for outstanding contemporary architecture, including Dublin's new Light House Cinema and other buildings in Dublin and beyond, will be on show. The exhibition will tour to Ballymun, Tallaght and Sligo later this year. Meanwhile, a panel discussion on climate change with Senator Ivana Bacik, Irish Timescolumnist John Gibbons and journalist Victoria White goes ahead in Dublin's IFI at 5.45pm on Thursday. Free tickets on 01-6793477.
sthompson@irishtimes.com
ECOWEB
getgrowing.ie
Network with the increasing numbers of people growing their own food on this new site. Find out how to grow herbs in window boxes, vegetables in tubs on your patio or join others to dig vegetable patches in community or school gardens or local authority allotments. Excellent links to other sites too.