The Festival of Farmland Biodiversity takes place throughout May and celebrates farmland biodiversity.

The National Biodiversity Data Centre, which organises the festival, wants people to get involved by sharing photos of ponds and hedgerows on their farms and to learn more about the species on their farms through monitoring initiatives.

Gathering monitoring data helps researchers to better understand and protect the biodiversity around us.

The organisation stated: “By taking part in our monitoring schemes, you will become apart of our recording network and help us achieve our aim and our understanding of farmland biodiversity.

Our biodiversity relies heavily on the agricultural management that farmers choose

“We want to encourage a greater appreciation of biodiversity on farmland, provide opportunities for farmers to actively engage with biodiversity, and generate data and information to help protect habitats and species.

“Over two-thirds of Ireland is designated to agriculture. Our biodiversity relies heavily on the agricultural management that farmers choose.”

There is a wide selection of information available on the centre’s website to help identify different species and how to report sightings.

Species a day

There is also a suggestion to identify a species a day where farmers can take a picture and post the species to social media with the hashtag #SpeciesADay.

From pictures of flowers, birds and insects to trees blossoming, the centre wants you to record sightings through the citizen science portal. You can also email photos to farmland@biodiversity.ie. For more information on the Festival of Farmland Biodiversity, see www.biodiversityireland.ie/farmlandbiodiversity.