)
)
)
)
)
)
Berry Picking By The Sea For FREE
Dublin City Council is inviting Dubliners to pick and bring home juicy ripe sea buckthorn berries at Bull Island this Saturday for free! These berries are growing wild in the Nature Reserve and are delicious to eat when cooked. However, the plant is taking over from the native protected plants in the dunes, and the Council have a plan to remove it altogether. This berry-picking day will help to provide free food while reducing the spread of this invasive species and help to conserve the dunes habitats. A free demonstration and tasting with recipes for sea buckthorn to take home from local chef, Liam Moloughney of Moloughney’s award-winning restaurant of Clontarf, will give us ideas for the table.
Dublin City Council Parks Services, along with local golf clubs on the Island, has been working for the past several years to control and eradicate the sea buckthorn plant. This event will help to control the plant without using chemicals, while providing benefits to Dubliners. The berries from the shrub are one of the most enriched plant sources of Vitamin C, 15 times more concentrated than oranges! They can be used to make pies, jams, lotions and liquors. Its main pathway of spread on the Island is by the birds eating and spreading seed. Therefore, picking the berries in autumn can prevent its spread throughout the dunes. The plant is now legally listed as an invasive species in Ireland since 2011 and control of it is an objective of the City Biodiversity Action Plan and the Bull Island Management Plan.
When and Where:
Saturday 19th October between 11:00 am and 1.30 pm Berry-picking Event at North Bull Island Biosphere. Meet at the Interpretative Centre. Guest Chef’s advice and information on sea buckthorn at 11:00 sharp.
All Welcome. Bring gloves and secateurs as the shrubs are thorny and bags for berries.
Our Guest Chef is Liam Moloughney, of Moloughney’s Restaurant of Clontarf
Contact:
Niamh Ni Cholmain, Biodiversity Facilitator, Parks Services
tel.: 222-3369 mobile: 087-057-7970
Email: niamh.nicholmain@dublincity.ie