Congratulations to Glengarriff Nature Reserve who won Ireland’s BioBlitz 2012 – recording a total of 1,020 species over the 24-hour period.  Crawfordsburn Country Park, Co. Down just pipped Lough Boora, Co. Offaly into second place, recording 984 and 940 species respectively. Phoenix Park was a long way back in fourth, having recorded 528 species.

Glengarriff Nature Reserve - Ireland's BioBlitz 2012 Champions

Lough Boora were awarded the trophy for the site that recorded the most species of vascular plants with 334 species – this was a special award to celebrate International Fascination of Plants Day which fell on 18th May 2012.

Crawfordsburn Country Park recorded the most species per unit area.

Thank you to our partners: Northern Ireland Environment Agency / National Museums of N. Ireland, CEDaR, N. Ireland, Bord na Mona, National Parks and Wildlife Service and Office of Public Works who facilitated the hosting of sites.

This event would not have been possible to run without the huge voluntary effort of all the recorders who gave of their time and expertise freely to assist with the recording. To all of you, a very special word of thanks.

We were honoured that President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins launched Ireland’s BioBlitz 2012 in the Phoenix Park. The President also provided us with the first record for the 2012 event, telling us of the Hairy St. John’s-wort Hypericum hirsutum a protected species that grows within the grounds of Aras an Uachtarain.