Irish Nautical Trust

18/10/2026

Small bird. Very important lunch plans. 🐦

Meet the Dunlin, one of the little wading birds that makes use of Dublin Bay. In Irish it is a breaclóg - meaning ‘little speckled one’.

These birds spend much of their time searching mudflats for tiny invertebrates. They might not look particularly glamorous in their winter plumage, but they’re perfectly adapted to life on the shoreline.

Dublin Bay is an important feeding and resting place for Dunlin and many other waterbirds.

Beyond the busy city and working port, there’s an entire natural world sharing these waters with us.

Thanks BirdWatch Ireland for the info!

https://birdwatchireland.ie/birds/dunlin/

16/10/2026

You’d be forgiven for thinking this was a rubbish dump.

It’s actually floating in Dublin Port.

Plastic bottles, packaging, timber and all sorts of discarded material can become trapped between vessels, pontoons and quay walls.

From above, much of it goes unnoticed. From the water, it’s a different story.

This is the environment the Liffey Sweeper works in — removing floating rubbish before it has another opportunity to move with the tide.

14/10/2026

It looks like a clean-up boat. But the original idea was bigger than that.

When the Liffey Sweeper project launched, it wasn’t described simply as a boat for picking rubbish out of the river.

It was an environmental research project.

The vessel was designed to collect floating and just-below-surface debris — including plastics, cans and bottles — while helping build a better picture of what was moving through the Liffey and towards Dublin Bay.

And that distinction still matters.

Every collection tells us something.

What type of material is appearing?
Where is it accumulating?
What happens after rainfall?
How much is natural material?
What shouldn’t be there at all?

A city can clean up what arrives.

The more interesting question is whether the information gathered can eventually help stop some of it arriving in the first place.

That’s where a little boat on the Liffey starts becoming a much bigger idea.

Dublin Port Company

https://www.dublinport.ie/irish-nautical-trust-launches-liffey-sweeper-clean-capitals-rivers/?

12/10/2026

Meanwhile, in one of Europe’s busiest working ports… the neighbours are raising families. 🐣

Common and Arctic Terns return to Dublin Port each summer to breed.

And this year there was some very good news for them.

In May, two new purpose-built tern nesting pontoons were installed at the Dublin Port Greenway and Great South Wall ahead of the 2026 breeding season.

Hundreds of pairs of Common and Arctic Terns use purpose-built pontoons and other dedicated nesting areas within the Port, with the work forming part of a long-running collaboration between Dublin Port Company and BirdWatch Ireland.

We love this particular Dublin contradiction:

Cranes. Cargo ships. Containers. And hundreds of tiny seabirds raising the next generation in the middle of it all.

A working port and wildlife habitat don’t have to be separate worlds.

https://www.dublinport.ie/new-tern-nesting-pontoons-on-dublin-port-greenway-and-great-south-wall/?

09/10/2026

Ever wondered how something dropped nowhere near the Liffey can still end up in it? 🌧️

One answer is sitting under our feet.

Rain washes material from roads and other hard surfaces into gullies and pipes — and from there it can reach Dublin’s watercourses.

That’s one of the reasons Dublin City Council is currently expanding its Rainscapes programme, using features such as planted basins and permeable surfaces to slow rainfall and help remove pollutants before water reaches rivers. Phase 2 began in August.

At the other end of that system, this 👇 is the sort of mixture the Sweeper encounters.

Leaves. Branches. Timber.

And mixed among them, the things that definitely didn’t grow there.

The best piece of litter for us to collect will always be the one that never reaches the river in the first place.

https://www.dublincity.ie/environment-and-climate-action/protecting-against-floods/rainscapes?

07/10/2026

This is where the city and the sea meet.

Leaves, branches and seaweed belong in natural systems.

The bottles, wrappers, food packaging and other plastics mixed through them don’t.

And there’s a reason we keep talking about plastic.

Across Europe, just 10 commonly found single-use plastic products, together with fishing gear, account for 70% of marine litter found on beaches, according to the EPA.

For birds, marine litter creates two particularly well-established risks: ingestion and entanglement.

BirdWatch Ireland notes that seabirds can mistake plastic for food, while fishing line, packaging and other plastic can entangle birds and impair their ability to fly, swim or feed. Plastic incorporated into nests can also ensnare young birds.

The Liffey Sweeper’s job is interception: removing non-natural floating debris while it’s still in the river and Port — before it has the opportunity to travel further.

05/10/2026

LIFFEY LOST PROPERTY OFFICE

Found: 1 tyre 🛞

Location: River Liffey
Condition: Well travelled
Mileage: Unknown
NCT: We’re not optimistic.

If this belongs to you, we’re afraid its parking privileges have been revoked.

Another glamorous day at the office for the Liffey Sweeper. 😂

03/10/2026

This might look like an industrial landscape. To thousands of birds, it’s part of home. 🐦

Dublin Bay is one of Ireland’s important areas for wintering waterbirds.

And there’s a rather remarkable number behind that statement.

In Dublin Port Company’s monitoring data, the highest totals during the five winters reported were in 2021 and 2022 — when more than 20,000 birds were recorded across Dublin Bay.

Brent Geese, Oystercatchers, Dunlin, Redshank, Knot and Godwits are among the birds using the Bay, while Common and Arctic Terns breed within Dublin Port itself.

Which is why something floating down the Liffey isn’t necessarily just a city-centre litter problem.

The river leads through the Port and into Dublin Bay.

And what leaves the river can enter somebody else’s habitat.



https://www.dublinport.ie/biodiversity/?

01/10/2026

A slightly different view of the Liffey Sweeper this week… 👀

She’s currently out of the water — and unfortunately it isn’t just for a quick wash.

The culprit? Logs. 🪵

Large pieces of timber and natural debris moving through the river have caused damage to the Sweeper’s propeller, so she’s been lifted out for repairs.

It’s a useful glimpse at a side of river cleaning that doesn’t get talked about very often. The crew aren’t only dealing with bottles, cans and packaging. Branches, logs and substantial quantities of natural material all make their way through this busy tidal river too.

Ironically, some of the material we’re out there trying to remove is also capable of putting the Sweeper herself out of action. 🤦‍♀️

Repairs underway — and hopefully back doing what she does best soon.

The Liffey Sweeper project has been supported by Dublin Port Company and Dublin City Council since its pilot-project beginnings.



Useful source: Dublin Port — original Liffey Sweeper project⁠ https://www.dublinport.ie/irish-nautical-trust-launches-liffey-sweeper-clean-capitals-rivers/?

28/09/2026