THE connection between nature, the environment and the Irish language was explored and celebrated at a recent unique event at Belfast’s Window on Wildlife.

The RSPB nature reserve at the docks welcomed Irish speakers for a day-long ‘It’s in our Nature – Tá an Dúlra inár nDúchas’ event where visitors were treated with song, folklore and birdwatching all through the Irish language.

Among the events was a wildflower garden walk with Aoife de Bhál, the warden at Window on Wildlife and who explained the various plants and their uses.

She said the common nettle was her favourite plant of them all.

“They are so common and they have so many benefits,” she said in Irish.

Aoife de Bhál
3Gallery

Aoife de Bhál

“You can make tea from them when their leaves are young in the spring but at this time of year I collect the seeds. 

“They can be added to salads and I add them to my porridge every morning.

“And of course the nettle is very valuable to nature, with around 30 butterflies and moths using it to breed on.”

Aoife said one of the main reasons for informing people of the value of wildflowers was because much of the old knowledge held by our ancestors had been forgotten.

“If you look at the Dúchas Irish folklore archive, people are always talking about collecting things like nettles from the hedgerows all over the country to use as salad. We’ve lost a lot of that knowledge.”

Among events were a talk by noted hillwalker and filmmaker Cormac Ó hAdhmaill and storytelling with tunes from piper Cormac ‘Buzz’ Ó Briain, who focused on Irish songs relating to birds.

Cormac ‘Buzz’ Ó Briain
3Gallery

Cormac ‘Buzz’ Ó Briain

Dublin nature author Niall Mac Coitir helped identify the various birds that can be seen from the hides at Window on Wildlife, including the three species of terns that breed on specially-made floating islands.

“I live in Clontarf near Bull Island so I see these same waders there,” he said.

Window on Wildlife visitor experience manager Tim McCann said the event was a great success.

“We have about 50 people attending and it’s fantastic that the RSPB – Europe’s biggest bird conservation group – is embracing the Irish language with events like this. “We started with a couple of small Irish language events – for example at Samhain – but this is the biggest yet.”