Irish Peatland Conservation Council

The IPCC’s mission is to protect a representative sample of the peatlands of Ireland for people to enjoy today and in the future. Their great work includes the protection of the Marsh Fritillary, Europe's only endangered butterfly, at Lullymore West Bog in Kildare.

Based at the Bog of Allen Nature Centre, the work of IPCC is diverse and includes submissions on public consultation papers, observations and submissions on planning applications affecting peatlands, management of a network of five nature reserves, development of conservation management plans, species monitoring and public awareness initiatives including online and hard copy publications and public and school peatland events.

The Good Causes funding awarded was used for a project entitled 'Enhancing Breeding Habitat for the Endangered Marsh Fritillary Butterfly on Lullymore West Bog, Co. Kildare'. This reserve is a wet grassland habitat home to Europe’s only endangered butterfly, the Marsh Fritillary. It is also a nature reserve of national importance for the diversity of native and migratory butterflies identified on the site. The funding support received enabled the IPCC to, for the first time, introduce two grazing donkeys, Neddy and Lexi, on the nature reserve who would reduce the dominant purple moor grass on the reserve in turn allowing the food plant of the Marsh Fritillary increase cover. The project also had a citizen science element offering two training days on butterfly monitoring and Marsh Fritillary habitat assessment and four volunteering days for members of the public.

We’re proud to support such a dedicated organisation protecting our peatlands.