Our new beer mats for the #Fleadh have been created and distributed throughout bars in #Belfast! Supported by #BelfastCityCouncil they celebrate the role our natural heritage has in Irish art. Our winning artists can be seen in Insta: @thelittlefiend @entropyial @clairtyart @caolmacdonaldartist

Check out our new "Living Mural" in #Cullybackey. Designed in partnership with local community celebrates the towns connection with River Main and includes Swift nesting bricks. In partnership with Alpha Housing and our wonderful artist can be found here www.instagram.com/wallartbyale...

#Belfast based artist?? We've launched a call to celebrate the connection of Irish natural & cultural heritage for #Fleadh2026! We're providing four winners the opportunity to win £350 and have their work distributed across the city during the Fleadh. And theres more! 🧵 ⤵️ The top 20..

View from the stage at the biggest anti-racism rally in Belfast yet

Also by Hannan: “the blue eyed sheiks” of Icelandic Banking will save us (2004). Brexit will be a huge success and we won’t leave the single market (2016) “Covid won’t kill you” (2020)

Deeply concerned about #Belfast Councils ham fisted approach to new playing field strategy Not content with pitting sports provision against music, they now seem to be pitting it against biodiverse green infrastructure (GI). New pitches should contribute to new high quality GI, not degrade it.

What a turnout, Belfast! Thanks to everyone who came down this evening to celebrate the starlings with us - our hearts are full 💚 Massive thanks to all that put time and effort into pulling off this event, and to @thisisdakota.bsky.social and @wildlifeni.bsky.social for leading it!

I took this in March 2019. It’s amazing to see them back

This sight is genuinely one of the experiences I recommend any visitor to Belfast to take in if they can. It's beautiful to watch.

Conor McKinney@wildlifeni.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Did you see #winterwatch last night? Belfast's starling murmuration took centre stage to the delight of audiences across the UK and those watching at Belfast itself. But did you know we nearly lost it..?

Did you see #winterwatch last night? Belfast's starling murmuration took centre stage to the delight of audiences across the UK and those watching at Belfast itself. But did you know we nearly lost it..?

Wild Belfast, Queen’s University planners and some in the council hope to make Belfast the first national park city on the island of Ireland… A series of public conversations kick off this evening in the city centre. Find out more here 👇 open.substack.com/pub/theearth...

Belfast becoming a national park city could ‘bring people together’ says Wild Belfast founder

A new campaign to make Belfast the first national park city on the island of Ireland could be just the thing to bring “people together” rather than “tearing them apart” says Wild Belfast founder, Cono...

open.substack.com

What can we celebrate already as a city? Where can we do better? #WhatIf #BelfastNationalParkCity

Our #Belfast #NationalParkCity workshop is well underway. Attendees are writing a postcard to themselves from 2050. They've been asked: 1) What do you see? 2) What's changed locally? 3) Who's here, and what's their r'ship with nature? 4) How do you feel living here? What would you say?

Thanks to Slugger O'Toole for allowing me to write about the joyful insurgency taking place here in Belfast to explore the idea of Belfast becoming a National Park City and the power of asking "What if". You can check it out here: sluggerotoole.com/2025/10/18/w...

What if Belfast was a National Park City?

Conor McKinney is the founder of Wild Belfast and a local wildlife activist / conservationist; What if? is a powerful question. In a time of myriad health, climate, ecological and social crises it can...

sluggerotoole.com

This Robin has developed camouflage.

Typically a univoltine species (i.e one flight season April to June) in Northern Ireland the Holly Blue butterfly, a protected species, has developed a second flight season, likely due to our warming climate. This one was seen outside its typically associated flight season in Garvagh yesterday.

The media propensity to run "police probe [cultural figure x]" stories is corrosive to our polity. Few if any of these probes get anywhere, but the No Further Actions never get similar prominence. And what lingers are the police interventions, as if such activity is normal and to be expected.

Sooz Kempner@soozuk.bsky.social · last yr.

The police investigation in to Kneecap was huge fucking news. Days of headlines pushing the fact it had the police involved. Dropped without a word. I’m so fucking angry with the government, the police and the complicit media.

We need more urban green infrastructure. Every development using private or public funds should be required to include it. European heatwave caused 2,300 deaths in 10 days: www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/...

European heatwave caused 2,300 deaths in 10 days, study finds

Researchers find human-caused climate change raised temperatures by up to 4C, with 1,500 deaths linked directly to it.

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Did you ever wonder where all the starlings went at the Lagan Bridge? Wild Belfast member Dawn re-tells the beautiful and poignant story of the murmurations disappearance, and return. Article by @wildlifeni.bsky.social → bit.ly/3ZQ9Rx2 #Murmurations #WildIreland

Digitising our workshop on how we make Belfast a National Park City - outcomes en route! Fab contributions so far: - We're a confluence of past and future - Make natural heritage last as long as built heritage - Make gardens a public good Get involved - email contact@wildbelfast.org.

As the OEP outline the importance of protecting wildlife at a local level, and the value of local wildlife sites in doing so, councils across Northern Ireland are showing no ambition in Local Development Plans to zone new sites, or are revoking them entirely. www.theoep.org.uk/report/local...

We're taking our exploration of #Belfast as a National Park City into one of Belfast's best loved meanwhile sites. I'll be joined in discussion with our host Gawain as well as Perla from Sustrans and Lizzy from Belfast Hills to explore a National Park City, what to celebrate and how we can do more

Whenever they come crocodile-tearing at your doorsteps, remember this. This action plan was to address water quality issues affecting Lough Neagh and beyond, their political cowardice compounds the issue. #DUP #UUP #TUV #SINNFEIN

“Where did all the starlings go?” This was the question Lagan rower Dawn Patterson brought to Wild Belfast. Watch as Dawn re-tells the beautiful and poignant story of the murmurations disappearance, and return. Article by @wildlifeni.bsky.social → bit.ly/3ZQ9Rx2 #Murmurations #WildIreland

Meadow restoration taking shape at PEC in Botanic Gardens. These are what traditional grasslands would have looked, smelt and buzzed like. Bravo to upsurge project, Belfast City Council and partners. Let's see more of this 👏🦋🐝🐞

It's #worldswiftday and I'd like to share a story with you about our swift mural. Equipped with a solar powered caller to attract swifts to the nesting bricks, we had one issue - how to turn the caller on (>10m high) once the swifts arrived?

Join us at Queen's University on Tuesday 10th June from 10am for a discussion reflecting what if we treated Belfast like a National Park. We'll hear from an array of experts and muse how Belfast can be better for us and biodiversity. Register here: lnkd.in/evrHtZGs

Remember to register for the Planning at Queen's University Belfast and Wild Belfast conference asking "What if Belfast was a National Park City?" E.g. what if schools and universities offered nature rich green infrastructure to encourage ecological awareness and an asset for communities?

🗞️Authors from the @ipbes.net #InvasiveAlienSpecies Report have published the Global Impacts Dataset of Invasive Alien Species derived from the report, creating a global resource for investigating and managing the impacts of invasive alien species. 🌍🧪 Read more in ‪@nature.com‬ bit.ly/43APoP7

What if Belfast was a National Park City? After last year's "Making Space for Nature' conference that's the question we'll be exploring in our next conference on the 10th June with Planning at Queen's University Belfast. What if we had better access to green space?