BioBlitz in Dublin, 2025

Exploring Our Coastal Foundations – Dublin BioBlitz 2025

 

 

🗓️ Date: Saturday, 23rd August
📍 Meeting point: Irish National Sailing School

⏰ Time: We had three two hour sessions throughout the day, select a session that suits you (starting 12 pm, 2 pm, or 4 pm).

 

From tiny isopods through various seaweeds to magnificent grey seals – this year’s MARBEFES BioBlitz, hosted in Dún Laoghaire (County Dublin, Ireland) was full of exciting finds. The event was held during National Heritage Week, aligning with this year’s theme, “Exploring Our Foundations,” which highlights biodiversity and healthy ecosystems as essential to society.

UCD organising team (Dorota Kołbuk, Nettan Carlsson, Tasman Crowe), IOPAN scientists, student volunteers, and citizen scientists joined forces to record as many coastal species as possible within one afternoon. UCD team led four guided walks to the shore, each lasting about two hours. During these explorations, participants had the opportunity to search for and identify a variety of coastal and marine species, including crabs, sea anemones, and a variety of seaweeds – all with expert support. Each record was submitted to the National Biodiversity Data Centre database. Our younger participants also had a chance to play seashore bingo, which helped them learn about local marine life in a fun way. At the end of the day, the group was joined by Karin Dubsky from Coastwatch, who delivered a talk on local biodiversity, with particular emphasis on seagrass in Sandycove.

 

Acknowledgements:

UCD researchers would like to thank several partners: Muriel Rumball and the INSS (event host), Martina O’Brien (Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council); Agnieszka Tatarek, Józef Wiktor, Kuba Witek (IOPAN); Karin Dubsky, Roslyn Shaw, Nika Scheepers (Coastwatch); Dave Wall (NBDC). 

We also wish to recognise the contributions of all the UCD students and PhD researchers who volunteered their time and effort to help out with species identification, logistics, and safety: Beatrice Belotti, Ríanna Carroll, Alessia Confortini, Ines Durand, Niamh Kennedy, Jérémy Liegey, John McDonnell, Cathal Moloney, Maria Santos, Lola Sontgerath, Avery Vogt. We also thank UCD SBES staff for supporting the event: Kaylee Beine, Jen Coughlan, Jens Carlsson, George Hoppit, Rebecca Whitla, and more. Most of all, we thank all the citizen scientists who joined us on the day!