Your name and whereabouts?
Shaun, Benvarden, Ballymoney.

Favourite local wildlife?
Mallard Ducks because I have them on my pond and I feed the ducklings, making them very friendly and funny to watch.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Great spotted woodpecker.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
4 years.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
My own nature reserve - Brockagh Wood.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
'Flora Hibernica' by Jonathan Pilcher and Valerie Hall. The artist Bob Speers.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
It is crucial for human wellbeing, provides essential resources, biodiversity is vital for medicines and, of course, protecting against climate change.

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Your name and whereabouts?
Amy, Comber.

Favourite local wildlife?
Bumblebees.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Not rare, but an Irish Hare on top of the Mourne Mountains. First time seeing one in real life.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
4 years.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
Tollymore Forest Park.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
Any documentary hosted by Sir David Attenborough.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
Nature is what makes life beautiful.

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Your name and whereabouts?
Angela, Castlewellan.

Favourite local wildlife?
We have lots of red squirrels that visit our garden every day. We have a feeding box which I put organic monkey nuts, peanuts and hazelnuts in. They are very entertaining and we have got to know each one's different character. We don't get too close because they are wild animals, but they do recognise us. We have a forest behind our house, so they watch our movements, too. We feel blessed to have them visit every day.         

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Red squirrels and the odd pine marten.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
7 years.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
My garden or Tollymore Forest Park.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
I enjoy Springwatch or Winterwatch.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
It's important to protect nature so that it lasts for future generations. It's also good to live with natural surroundings without chemicals, in harmony for the environment. 
 

Your name and whereabouts?
Carole, Belfast.

Favourite local wildlife?
Garden wildlife, as I can watch more often and can directly support them, meaning I can see the difference I make.  

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Kingfishers in Glenarm and Ballylumford. The best I've seen was a corncrake and chicks in Scotland.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
12 years.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
In the summer, it's the beach with the seabirds and other wildlife, e.g butterflies. I swim so I can see crabs, seals etc. I don't enjoy the jellyfish. In winter, colder weather, I like the hills - Glens of Antrim.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
A book I would recommend is Common Garden wildlife in the UK. I can usually (99%) find what I'm looking for.  

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
It's important to conserve nature, as it impacts on us and how we survive. A lot of the time, we are impacting negatively on nature (from car use, waste etc.) and we need to counteract or balance this out. If we don't, we'll lose it. We can't manufacture a living pine marten from plastic or cardboard or a 3D printer, and a pine marten needs a home and food - just like us. By supporting Ulster Wildlife, this enable the organisation to secure habitats and educate others on this important work.

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Your name and whereabouts?
Gill, Portstewart.

Favourite local wildlife?
My favourite local wildlife is actually my own back garden. I have a WildSpace registered through Butterfly Conservation ... and have lots of visitors and permanent residents. Flora, vertebrates and invertebrates ... Wild orchids to Lepidoptera to hedgehogs! My wild back garden is my therapy ... When I moved in, it was just a boring, big, clean and tidy lawn ... now after 7 years ... it's very, very different!

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
I have now seen all 3 types of fritillary ... 2 at Umbra and one near An Creagán (marsh fritillary). I found and photographed a micromoth at Umbra that was a new one.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
6 years.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
I do visit Umbra with permission from Andy Crory ... and I can try the Portstewart dunes on a good day. I love all wildlife areas and have a thing about bog lands at the minute!

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
There are 3 good Facebook pages: Butterfly Conservation Northern Ireland, Moths Ireland and Insects/Invertebrates.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
I could write a very long paragraph ... but to me, the ultimate issue is that humans really need to take a long hard look at themselves worldwide. We have been destroying natural ecosystems so much more recently than living alongside and respecting them. We NEED them ... but they don't need us! The world would be perfectly capable of existing without humans! 

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Your name and whereabouts?
Ashley, Portadown.

Favourite local wildlife?
I love all wildlife, but with a very small garden, the best I can do is try to attract as many butterflies and bees with flowers. Our garden is where I record butterflies for Butterfly Conservation. I also feed the birds.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
I'm not sure if it is rare, but about once a year we have a sparrowhawk visit, when there are lots of young house sparrows around.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
15-20 years.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
Usually at the coast but I LOVE trees!

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
Any book by Jim Crumley, the Scottish nature writer.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
Because we are just one part of nature and by supporting nature conservation, I'm also supporting humanity.

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Your name and whereabouts?
June, Newtownabbey.

Favourite local wildlife?
Squirrels and wood pigeons come to my whistle to be fed. And Hedgehogs - one kept coming until after new year to be fed this year.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Buzzard comes at Christmas for the turkey carcass. 2 years now. Bat nursery in next door's chimney. Now sealed. Otter used to call into the garden.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
10 years.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
St Cooey's Well. 

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Your name and whereabouts?
Sammy, Randalstown.

Favourite local wildlife?
What I find at Antrim Castle Gardens in Randalstown.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Kingfisher and orange-tip butterfly.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
Quarter of a year.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
Anywhere there is peace and beauty, so I capture all nature on my camera.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
'Nature  Watch'. Books on macro photography.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
For my great-grandchildren.

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Your name and whereabouts?
David, Belfast.

Favourite local wildlife?
Fox family. I started putting it cat food in the back garden in the hope of seeing a hedgehog on my camera trap; however, instead it mostly attracted foxes. I've stopped putting out the food, but the foxes still come and this spring there were also a couple of young fox cubs.  I've also had a badger on the camera trap a few times, but no hedgehogs yet.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
A badger (via the camera trap).

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
3 years.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
The Mournes.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
Like so many people, I love watching David Attenborough programmes.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
With human population expanding, less and less wild areas remain, so it is important that what we do have is taken care of.

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Your name and whereabouts?
Avril, Bangor.

Favourite local wildlife?
The wren - Britain's smallest bird with such a big and beautiful voice. Quite elusive and very quick.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Dolphins swimming off the coast in Donaghadee.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
1 year.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
Castle Park in Bangor. There is such a variety of trees and it's the perfect place to identify the change in seasons.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
A recent programme on BBC called Birdsong, where Seán is attempting to identify all the birdsong native to the island of Ireland. The awareness of how many endangered species we have is quite alarming.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
It's important to protect nature to maintain the overall balance of our natural world as it was intended to be. 

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Your name and whereabouts?
Lucy, Saintfield.

Favourite local wildlife?
Red squirrel.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Woodpecker.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
5 years.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
Ballydugan Medieval Settlement, Downpatrick. I have been a volunteer gardener there for 5 years, and it gets me close to nature, especially insects but also small mammals, like field mouse and pine marten.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
'Wilding' by Isabella Tree. I was infected by the unfolding realisations of what nature will do when you stand back and let take the lead. Has made me do less and observe more.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
Because it literally is our home. It is real, not man-made. More boundaries and limits need to be set to prevent trashing the planet completely. If mankind can't appreciate and respect nature, its natural laws and processes of ecology, it will annihilate itself in the race to make a profit.

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Your name and whereabouts?
Colin, Belfast.

Favourite local wildlife?
Castle Espie.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Red squirrel.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
Two years.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
The north coast.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
Anything with Chris Packham

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
We are protecting ourselves when we protect nature. 

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Your name and whereabouts?
Victor, Bangor.

Favourite local wildlife?
With respect, I'm not sure what this means. For instance, what is local? My focus is on the broad ecological decline and how all of us can do whatever we can, in partnership with UW, to make a difference, to help off-set agricultural impacts and help nature recover. Within my small retirement community, that's practicing an experimental and constantly changing form of wildlife gardening off-set by being conventional and 'neat and tidy'. As we have demonstrated, they can co-exist to benefit wildlife and people.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Maybe it's memories of the 1950/60s listening at night to corncrakes and nightjars around north Armagh, or watching a spotted flycatcher. What's now rare? Everyday insects. So, this good year, 2025, watching and enjoying the sight and sound of many butterflies, bees and other insects.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
About 6 years.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
My sheltered housing scheme garden in Bangor, plus Balloo Woodland and Wetland.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
For me, books have been so much more important than TV/videos, particularly if well written. Almost anything by Robert MacFarlane, plus a favourite, 'Crow Country' by Mark Cocker, which helped me understand and observe rook lives. Recently, Birdsong with Seán Ronayne on BBC was inspiring and beautiful.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
We are protecting ourselves when we protect nature. 

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Your name and whereabouts?
Ciaran, Carrickfergus.

Favourite local wildlife?
Fox. We've had fox cubs on our lawn.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Long-eared owl.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
10 years.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
Glenarm because there's the woods with red squirrels in close proximity to the sea with dolphins.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
'H is for Hawk' by Helen Macdonald.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
In case it dies out and also it improves mental well-being. 

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Your name and whereabouts?
Thomas, Newry.

Favourite local wildlife?
Buzzards.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
5 years.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
Derrynoose wood. It is the most wildlife-friendly and diverse place I know, with lots of walks.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
'Wild Woods' by Richard Nairn.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
Nature is gratifying. What you contribute is what's returned.

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Your name and whereabouts?
Ian, Enniskillen.

Favourite local wildlife?
Red squirrels, pine martens and swifts.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Pine marten.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
A year and a half.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
Florence Court, Fermanagh.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
'Words from the Hedge' by Richard Negus.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
Because some of our native and endearing species are under threat.

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Your name and whereabouts?
Marjorie, Antrim.

Favourite local wildlife?
Birds.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Nothing rare or unusual. Plenty of birds and a badger.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
6 years.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
In the garden and along the River Bann.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
Anything by David Attenborough.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
Important to protect natural habitats, as it is important for human existence.

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Your name and whereabouts?
Jacqueline, Ballymena.

Favourite local wildlife?
Hedgehogs.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Red squirrel.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
1 year.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
Clady River walk (Portglenone Forest), The Black Glen (Castlerock), Glenariff Forest Park.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
'Barra's Wild Days Out'. Anything with David Attenborough.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
Nature is so important for our health and wellbeing. We spend too much time indoors. We need sunlight and the sounds, colours and sensations of nature to improve our mood and energy. Nature needs to be protected for the benefits to future generations.

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Your name and whereabouts?
Phil, Kilkeel.

Favourite local wildlife?
Mourne Park. Large area of semi natural parkland.

What's the rarest local wildlife that you've seen or heard?
Bright yellow slime mould.

How long have you been an Ulster Wildlife member?
20 years+.

Your favourite place to spend time in nature in NI?
Murlough.

A book or TV about nature that you would recommend? 
Impossible Monsters - Michael Taylor.

Why is it important to you to protect nature?
Otherwise we are sleepwalking to suicide.