Bandon Environmental Action Group

25/04/2026

Help improve our river. Take part in the survey with the app.

Help improve our rivers. From 24th and 30th April 2026 , t ake part in The Big RiverWatch survey!

23/04/2026

🐝Bandon is taking part in this year's An Taisce National Spring Clean
🐝We are asking everyone to join us this Sunday at 12:00 in Riverview/Supervalu Car Park
🐝We will spread out across the town to pick litter, sweep and remove any waste.
🐝If you can't join us in town, please try to do a litter pick in your estate, on your street or outside your shop and send us a few photos of your efforts via e-mail or DM.
🐝If we all work together, Bandon can be Ireland's cleanest town!
🐝Please bring a high viz and gloves if you can, we will have some spare if anyone is stuck.
🐝E-mail [email protected] for more
This is Bandon An Taisce - National Spring Clean Bandon Environmental Action Group Cllr Ann Bambury Bandon Kinsale Gillian Coughlan BBA Bandon Business Association

06/04/2026

Our latest bulletin. Enjoy.

20/03/2026

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1341047004714234&id=100064268402357

16/03/2026

A great new arrival, adding to the diversity and importance of the woods.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AjjgsSQiH/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Not the best of photos but having heard him drumming for a few weeks it was such a pleasure to finally catch a glimpse of the colourful Great Spotted Woodpecker in the Park this morning. Just another reason why this priceless woodland should remain undefiled in the name of progress.

16/03/2026

The past few weekends have kept us busy planting around 1,700 native trees and shrubs along the Clare O’Leary Walkway.

A big thank you to Trees on the Land for supplying the trees this year, and to the team from Dell who volunteered their time to help with the planting.

While the creation of the new section of walkway did lead to the loss of some woodland and scrub, we’ve planted up one of the banks to help speed up natural succession and stabilise the slope. At the far end, we’ve also created a native hedgerow to act as a buffer between the path and the road, and planted up the old car park area which currently has no planned use.

We’ve also added Irish honeysuckle and dog rose to increase diversity, support pollinators, and provide some beautiful blooms for walkers to enjoy in the years ahead.

Great to see this well used walk getting a boost for biodiversity, wildlife, and the local community.

13/03/2026

Dell volunteers hard at work this morning with Brian from Trees on the Land doing his instructing spiel. Loads more trees planted here. Big 👏 to the volunteers for their sterling work.

11/03/2026

To mark Tree Week this week BEAG will be hosting a group of Dell volunteers to finish the planting (approx. 800 trees) at the picnic area at the end of the Clare O’Leary Walk this coming Friday. A big 👏 to Dell and to Trees on the Land.

08/03/2026

Ancient woodland clues of Bandon Woods

The delicate white stars of Wood anemone are one of the first signs that woodland is coming out of dormancy for Spring. But these flowers tell a much deeper story about the history of a woodland.

Wood anemones spread incredibly slowly. Instead of relying on seed, they mostly expand through creeping underground rhizomes, often advancing only 2–3 cm per year. That means a patch just two metres across could potentially represent around a century of slow growth. Because of this, carpets of wood anemones are widely considered an indicator of ancient or long-established woodland, something ours has in abundance.

In Bandon Woods, we’re lucky to see them growing alongside other classic spring woodland plants such as:
• Dog violet
• Wild garlic
• Lesser celandine

These plants form part of a woodland community that takes advantage of the brief burst of sunlight before the tree canopy bursts out above, and when found in combination all strengthen the evidence of Ancient status.

Bandon Woods has these living in good numbers beneath mature, long-established trees. When these plant grouping are combined with older trees and undisturbed soils, they can point to woodland that has been present for a very long time.

Wood anemones disappear again by early summer, retreating underground until the following spring. But for a few short weeks each year they put on a delicate spectacle that remind us how important and historic these habitats truly are.

We have been raising awareness of this habitat and its vulnerability for some time and its conservation has never been more important.

Photo credit