Monitoring and Mapping

Dragonfly Ireland 2019-2024 is an all-Ireland survey run jointly by the National Biodiversity Data Centre and the Centre for Environmental Data and Recording in Northern Ireland and is a citizen science project funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. 

 
The Survey’s Goals include: 

• Increasing the number of Dragonfly and Damselfly records – these records will contribute towards a 2024 Dragonfly Ireland Atlas 
• Obtaining a visual assessment of habitat quality at surveyed sites 
• Assessing the value of Dragonflies and Damselflies as bio-indicators of freshwater habitat quality and climate change 
• Training and supporting a network of experienced dragonfly recorders in Ireland. 

All data collected is freely available on the NBDC website and we encourage your participation. 

Bat Conservation Ireland runs several citizen science initiatives: 

• The all-Ireland daubenton’s bat waterways survey is the most popular scheme among members of the public and those new to bat survey work.  
• Citizen scientists participating in the car-based bat monitoring project drive known routes in 28 locations across Ireland and record all bat sounds along the roadside. 
• The brown long-eared roost monitoring project involves counts of individual bats within, or emerging from, brown long-eared bat roosts to determine the trends in this species’ population.

BirdWatch Ireland runs many surveys which increase our knowledge of birds, their populations and their changing needs.  

The valuable data collected by dedicated BirdWatch Ireland citizen scientists provides us with one of the largest and longest running biodiversity datasets collected in Ireland.  

BirdWatch Ireland have a range of bird surveys, suitable for all ages, from complete beginners to the most experienced birdwatchers – so please get involved! 

The Geological Survey Ireland (GSI) runs a number of citizen science initiatives: 

The LiDAR public feature identification enables the public to help in the identification of karst and archaeological features from the LiDAR web viewer. Verified archaeological sites are added to the Sites and Monuments Record on www.archaeology.ie.

The GSI is also responsible for maintaining the National Landslides Database. To date, over 2,500 landslide events have been mapped and these underpin the National Landslide Susceptibility Map. If you have information on a landslide you can submit this to the GSI, they would be delighted to hear from you! 

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group established whale and dolphin recording schemes throughout Ireland in 1991 with the help of citizen scientists. 

• The Stranding Scheme reports about 250 strandings every year.  This number is increasing each year and can be used to identify 'unusual' stranding events. 
• The Sighting Scheme records about 1,500 sighting records of 10 to 12 species annually and has validated an incredible 28,000 records to date.  

Records can be seen here: www.iwdg.ie, there are also training courses, other resources and weekend whale-watching opportunities available for those interested in getting involved.

The Irish Wildlife Trust runs citizen science projects to monitor the distribution of a range of Irish species. 

These projects combine elements of awareness raising, training and species surveying and are open for all to take part in.  

Currently, the Irish Wildlife Trust is running

• a national reptile survey, 
• a bee identification and monitoring project and 
• canal wildlife surveys