Booklet of Peat-based Haiku poems

The arts have a huge role in communicating science to non-scientists and can be a valuable bridging tool in helping interpret scientific principles.

The Haiku (or Sci-cu or Scientific haiku) is short and sweet. Anyone can write one, using the simple formula of 3 lines with syllables counts of 5, 7 and 5 . Trying to distil scientific principles and messages into this most concise mode of communication brings a rigorous discipline to the work that appeals to scientists. Haiku has a traditional association with the natural world and its brevity is also ideal for Twitter with its strict character count, so the CANN project decided to celebrate COP26 by tweeting a Haiku-a-day on the subject of peat’s role in combatting climate change in the run-up to the meeting in November 2021. A brief explanation of the science behind the haiku was also given in 280 characters.

These Haiku Tweets were widely shared and it was one of our most popular social media campaigns ever, so we decided to collect all the haiku together in this little booklet and publish them on the website

To download a copy as pdf, click here

Or for an easier reading experience online, go to the flipbook click here

 

CANN Project finalist in Europe-wide competition

A jury of 1000 European citizens is working hard to single out this year’s most innovative political projects, and The CANN (Collaborative Action for the Natura Network) project, led by Newry Mourne and Down District Council, is through to the finals! The prestigious Innovations in Politics Awards, now in its fifth year, asks politicians from all over Europe to submit their most outstanding political initiatives over a range of themes. Cathy Mason, the chairperson of NMDDC, nominated the CANN Project as an exceptional example of partners working together across borders to develop practical solutions to the urgent problems of climate change and biodiversity loss.

“Details of the huge range of work being undertaken by the CANN project in our district and others, in a swathe from Sligo to the Highlands of Scotland impressed me,” said Cathy Mason

“However, what immediately struck me was the strength of the partnership, and the way councils, charities, academic institutions and government departments are working together, showing real political leadership,” she continued.

The CANN project is a finalist reaching the last ten in the Ecology section of the awards, whittled down from over 400 entries across Europe. The winners of each of the nine categories will receive one of the coveted trophies in a special awards ceremony held in the New Year.

The CANN project aims to improve the condition of protected habitats and to support priority species found within Northern Ireland, the Border Region of Ireland and Scotland, allowing the region to meet key EU biodiversity targets and ensuring the future of these internationally important habitats and species.

Fire-fighting and Fire-prevention techniques demonstrated on Cuilcagh

On Thursday 14 October, The CANN project along with partner agencies and Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) held a wildfire awareness event for key site users and landowners to increase awareness of how wildfires can be prevented, and how NIFRS responds to wildfire incidents, with the aim of driving down wildfires in the Cuilcagh Anierin Mountain, and the rest of Northern Ireland.

In the last three years, NIFRS has attended 6,300 wildfires across Northern Ireland. Dealing with wildfires unnecessarily draws NIFRS resources away from where they are needed most, protecting our community.

In a bid to manage and respond to wildfires, NIFRS Enniskillen District has been working with The CANN Project along with the Pau Costa Foundation, PSNI and Fermanagh and Omagh District Council to develop a wildfire management and response plan for Cuilcagh Anierin Mountain, County Fermanagh.

 “Not only is there a huge environmental cost in terms of loss biodiversity and increased atmospheric carbon, but wildfires unnecessarily tie up fire services’ time and resources. Therefore, the purpose of this event was to show the multi-agency response and management of wildfires before, during and after incidents, and generate awareness of the impact of wildfires on habitats, species, carbon and farming in these upland areas,” said Podge McKeon, district commander NIFRS.

The CANN project’s focus is on preventing fires through changes in land management. In a hierarchy, the best solutions are re-wetting the peatlands and working with farmers to graze animals, next, ecologists would move to management of fuel load through cutting and lastly the use of prescribed burns. In this event, the safe use of slow, shallow, cool burns were demonstrated.

“Wildfire planning creates a really useful tool to help focus habitat management in places where small changes can have a big impact. The partnership approach demonstrated in events like this is vital for the long-term health of our peatlands. Over 60 people from both sides of the border attended this event and the links made will be invaluable in managing the land to prevent fire as well as fighting such fires as do occur”. said Simon Gray, Senior technical officer with CANN partners Ulster Wildlife

Finance Minister explores value of peatland on Cuilcagh visit

Finance Minister Connor Murphy today paid a visit to the peatland restoration project on Cuilcagh Mountain in Fermanagh, exploring a new vision for Northern Ireland’s peatlands with representatives from  CANN partners Ulster Wildlife,

“With COP26 approaching and the pending decision by the NI Assembly on the Climate Bill, this visit has highlighted the role of nature-based solutions as an important part of the pathway to net-zero emissions as recommended by the Climate Change Committee,” said Minister Connor Murphy.

Making a long-term difference through natural solutions requires investment, however, there is an important inter-generational return. Restoration of our unique habitats is no exception, particularly peatlands which can provide considerable benefits to our society called “ecosystem services”. These benefits can only happen when peatlands are in good condition. Peat soils cover an estimated 18% of NI’s land area, however, 88% of our peatlands are now considered in need of restoration due to years of drainage, afforestation, wildfire, erosion and historic overgrazing.

Jim McAdam J Fulton and Connor MurphyShowing Minister Murphy the progress made in restoring areas of Cuilcagh’s degraded peat, Jennifer Fulton, CEO of Ulster Wildlife, said,

“Restoring peatland offer significant value for money preventing the loss of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and in their long-term removal and storage. They are a source of clean water and can reduce the risk of damaging and expensive flash floods downstream, not to mention the cultural and amenity value of these beautiful and biodiverse habitats.”

“Currently, peatlands in damaged condition, are emitters of greenhouse gases. Just one cubic meter of peat – the size of an armchair – holds the equivalent amount of carbon that would be released from a car in 300 return trips from Dublin to Belfast. We have over a billion cubic metres held in our peat soils, storing a massive amount of greenhouse gases, and we need to invest to make sure they aren’t released, harming our efforts to reduce the effects of climate change.”

Peatlands cover just 3% of the world’s surface but store more carbon than all other vegetation types in the world combined. However, peatlands in damaged condition are net-emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs). It is estimated that NI’s degraded peatlands are emitting 170,500 tonnes of CO2 each year, and 223,200 tonnes of GHGs (in CO2 equivalent) in total. Peatlands will be an important part of NI’s climate action plan. An ambitious peatlands restoration programme would provide significant long-term benefits both in reducing carbon emission and in providing vital ecosystem services. If works like those seen in Fermanagh are more widely applied, the emission of greenhouse gases would be stopped almost immediately, and our restored peat soils would become ‘fit for purpose’ to start capturing millions more tonnes of carbon each year. An investment in our peatlands pays dividends annually, a fact which is not lost on the Department of Finance.

Loughshore people get a taste for boggy delights

Local people enjoyed a guided culinary and foraging walk around Peatlands Park this week and had the opportunity to brew their own pine needle tea and produce their own apple juice.

The event was organised by a new environmental grouping established to celebrate and protect the important wildlife habitats between the River Blackwater and the Bann. The development of the group and its lively programme of events is part of the outreach work of the CANN project, which is delivering conservation work restoring the raised bog on the site through re-wetting and clearing of invasive rhododendron. This was one of a series of events that are all advertised on Facebook, search for https://www.facebook.com/HfN.BlackwaterBann to find out more.

People of all ages took part in the exploration, enjoying the last sunshine of autumn (along with a couple of showers), and tasting some of the riches of the season.

“Our guide, Daniel Monaghan,  a local teacher and story-teller,took us on a walk around the park and explained the different habitats of bog and woodland here at Peatlands Park. We learned about the properties of sphagnum moss and the role bogs can play in combating climate change” said Paul Higgins who lives locally.

“On the way round, we gathered pine needles and apples from the local heritage orchard and sampled our own freshly pressed apple juice and enjoyed the refreshing taste of pine needle tea” he continued.

Survey Successes: Snakes and Lady’s Tresses

Our Conservation Officer on Islay, Angharad, has been out in the sunshine (and sometimes rain!) surveying habitats on our project peatland sites. The information gathered in these surveys is used to help the team monitor the condition of the peatland habitats and create conservation action plans for each site. Peatlands are sensitive to trampling and overgrazing and invasive species such as Rhododendron ponticum, so it is important to do regular ‘health checks’ to make sure the habitats are in tip-top form.

Angharad randomly assigns multiple survey points across each site and visits each point with a big quadrat to conduct the surveys. She lays the quadrat on the ground and takes a peat depth measurement using the new peat probe. The deepest peat record so far is 6.4 m which nearly swallowed the whole peat probe and equates to 6400 years of peat deposition! Angharad also measures the vegetation height, moss cover, area of bare peat, and presence of trees or invasive plant species. The level of grazing in each quadrat is also recorded. This involves looking for evidence of munched heather and rummaging through the vegetation for deer droppings.

These surveys are also a great chance to get up close with some of the wildlife that lives on our peatlands. Hen harriers often fly by for a closer look at what’s going on, and one or two adders have been spotted (and quickly avoided!) on the walk to a new survey point.

The biggest highlight was finding a new colony of rare orchids called Irish Lady’s Tresses near a survey site. Angharad was delighted by the find,

“The exact site will remain secret to keep them safe, but all in all, I was pretty chuffed with the unexpected find, made even better by how pretty they are,” she said,

“This beautiful small wild orchid has small creamy-white flowers coiling in three spirals up the stem. Each flower is in a dense spike, and the sepals and petals are joined to form a lip of a tube!” she described.

These orchids are only known at four locations on Islay. A total of 14 flowering plants were discovered, the greatest number of any single site to date. These plants are quite rare, mainly found in northern and western Ireland and the west coast of Scotland. See this map.  Irish Lady’s tresses are a UK Biodiversity Action Plan species and are on Ireland’s Red List for Vascular plants.

Eye Spy Wildlife on Sliabh Beagh

Eye Spy wildlife on Sliabh Beagh, published today, results from a great collaboration between book lovers and nature lovers.

The Library service of Monaghan County Council reached out to the CANN project and its officers working on Sliabh Beagh, to see if there was a way of helping enrich the lives of local citizens by making the limited lockdown walks more meaningful. The CANN project wants to encourage more citizen science on the mountain and took the opportunity of the Library’s Keep Well COVID funding to create this booklet.

The Keep Well campaign aims to show people of all ages how they can mind their mental health and physical wellbeing by adding healthy and helpful habits to their daily and weekly routines. The CANN project believes that recording wildlife on a regular walk adds richness and encourages people to go out more often. The citizen science of data gathered in this way is essential to the long-term health of the mountain and the long-term health of the people encouraged to walk. Unless the CANN team knows what species live where, it is difficult to conserve them, and walkers can provide the eyes and ears to record this information.

The booklet features twenty species of birds, terrestrial animals, insects, and plants found on Sliabh Beagh. Spotter points are collected depending on how rare or common the species is. People are encouraged to use their mobile phones to scan a QR code to record what they see with the National Biodiversity Data Centre. QR technology is also used to link users to the bird song and other sounds that might help them identify what they are looking at or listening to.

 

Monaghan County Library Service celebrated the launch of this booklet by decorating the windows of all its branch libraries throughout the county with beautifully handpainted images of the animals and plants featured in the booklet.

The booklet is available for free from libraries and has been delivered to all primary schools throughout County Monaghan. It is also available as an electronic flipbook on the County Council website here .

 

For Peat’s Sake – a Bog Infographic

We have just published this handy little A5 infographic. This simple, quick reference guide provides information at your finger tips, with easy, memorable icons.  What is a bog? Why are bogs important? How can a bog be damaged? How can bogs be protected and managed?

To download a copy, click here .

Or for an easier reading experience online go to the flip book here 

Printed copies are available from the Monaghan County Council Heritage Office

Keep Up-To-Date with CANN


Click the button below to download a PDF copy of our most recent project newsletter


Download

Website designed by Visionworks Interactive

Skip to content