Skip to main content

Dara McAnulty | inspirational young naturalist

Hi,

Today, I'm going to talk about a young naturalist from Northern Ireland. We haven't had one of these for quite a while (the last one was Wangari Matthai in late August 2021), so I'm really excited to write this new one about the inspirational naturalist Dara McAnulty!

General information

Dara McAnulty was born in 2004. He comes from Northern Ireland, where he lives with his parents and siblings. He is a writer, blogger, activist and naturalist. Dara, his mum and his siblings are all autistic and Dara says that this is the reason he sees the natural world as he does.

Books and blogs

Dara wrote his blog 'Naturalist Dara'. His first book 'Dairy of a Young Naturalist' (which we reviewed here) was published in 2020. It documents a year in his life and how he connects with nature. His second book, 'Wild Child': A Journey Through Nature' came out in 2021, it again describes nature, this time 'going on a walk' with Dara. Both are very good reads.

Awards

He has won multiple awards for his books including the Wainwright Prize for UK nature writing, he is also the youngest person ever to win the RSPC medal. Dara also won the Non-fiction Books are my bag award. All in all, he has won many awards and truly is an incredible young man.

Your Green World Blog TeamšŸ’š


Images:
Title image: This image is owned by a blog editor.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ozone layer

Hi everyone, What even is ozone? And the ozone layer? Where does the hole in the ozone layer come from and what does it mean? Is it dangerous? What can be done? Often the ozone-talk can be complicated and confusing, keeping an overview is hard and understanding all the problems always difficult. Let us break it down a bit for you: What is the ozone layer? We'll start with the basics: The ozone layer is part of the stratosphere, which is the second layer of the Earth's atmosphere, between 10 and 50 km above the Earth's surface and made up of protective gases. One of these protective gases is ozone. There is not much ozone in the atmosphere, only 0.3 molecule of ozone per 1 million molecules of air. This is because ozone is chemically unstable and only forms when ultra violet radiation (UV light) hits oxygen and breaks the bonds between the atoms. It fact it is so unstable that even when it has formed, it breaks down again relatively quickly. This leads to ozone turning back ...

Announcement: Factfile

This image is owned by a blog editor.

March 2021 Factfile - some news from the past month, animals that YOU voted for and more!

Hi Everyone! We hope you are all okay and will enjoy this month's wrap up post. We have managed to post a little more this month but we are off school soon so we may be able to post more! News! Recent European droughts and heatwaves are said to be worst in 2000 years The British newspaper, 'The Guardian' reports that the series of droughts and heatwaves since 2014 have been the worst in 2000 years. These heatwaves have disastrous consequences such as early deaths, crop failure and forest fires. For more information, click  here . This is definitely the final bit of proof that climate change exists and that it needs to be stopped! Rise in deforestation in 2020 A horrifying 42 000 squared km of forest was chopped down in 2020, making it the third worst year since 2002. The most affected areas were humid tropical forests such as the Amazon, the Congo and other forests in South America and South-East Asia. These forests a...

19.07.2020: Animal of the week: Honey Bees

Hi everyone, This week's animal is the honey bee. Enjoy! General Information An average honeybee hive is made up of one queen, hundreds of male drones and thousands of female workers. If the queen bee dies then a new queen is created. The workers select a young larva and feed it with a special food called ‘royal jelly’. The ‘royal jelly’ makes the larva grow into a fertile queen. Queens live for several years but the workers only live for five or six weeks. An average worker will make a twelfth of a tee spoon of honey during her entire life. Drones are turned out of the hive and left to die in Autumn. In the summer months, the queen bee is very busy, she can lay up to 2500 eggs in a single day. How they affect the world around them Honey bees are very important for flowers, fruit and vegetables. This comes from the fact that they are pollinators. They help the plants by transferring pollen between male and female parts, meaning the plants can g...

10 animals on the edge of extinction you didn't know about no. 9 - South Island takahē

Hello Today we’re talking about the South Island takahē, porphyrio hochstetteri . They are flightless birds, endemic to New Zealand. Takahē are brightly coloured and weigh 2.3-3.8 kg. They have red legs and a large red beak. Their feathers are coloured blue and green. They have wings, but these are only used during courtship or rivalry displays. They are territorial, with one family’s territory reaching anywhere from 4 ha to 100 ha (0,04-1km^2). Pairs will live in the same territory each year. They breed once a year and will raise 1-3 chicks (normally 2) each year.  Both parents raise the chicks together.  In the wild, takahē live in native grasslands and have a lifespan of 16-18 years. If snow covers the ground then they will move into nearby forests. They eat tussock grasses, sedges and sometimes rushes. But they are opportunists, so they will occasionally go for insects or even ducklings and...

Mental Health: The benefits of being in nature

Hello everyone, and welcome to this week's post! Today we thought we would talk to you on the benefits of being in nature for your mental health. This has been a much talked about subject recently, so it felt fitting that we would do a post about it. Fresh air and exercise have long been used as ways to make you feel better, whether you are suffering from a physical ailment or issues with your mental health. Just spending time outside is known to generate many positive emotions, including happiness and feeling calmer just to name a few. Over longer periods of time, it is shown to help with anxiety and depression. Although it obviously can't solve the underlying problems, it can definitely help us. However, it is less known how vital it is that the nature is 'high quality' in order to gain these effects to their full extent. This 'high quality' nature is often litter-free and clean, both of which are important if y...

December Top Tips | 10 ways to re-purpose a plastic bottle

Welcome to December! We thought it would be cool to find 10 ways you can use a plastic bottle even after you have refilled it gazillion times, so you don't waste all the plastic . Because, even if you try to avoid plastic bottles at all costs, you will inevitably end up using hundreds of them throughout your life. The impact on the environment is undisputed, from the land animals to the creatures of our seas, plastic bottles can have a detrimental impact. But we can reuse them in lots of fun ways, here are our ten favourites. Have a good December and a great new year, you'll hear from us! 1. Bird Feeder At one of our blog meet-ups, we actually made a bird feeder out of an old plastic bottle, so this is definitely one we can vouch for. It's super simple, as long as you have some good scissors to cut the bottle and a suitable place to hang it. Below is a photograph of ours for some inspiration, and there are plenty of resources online to ...

Energy comparison: natural gas

Hi everyone, Today we're talking about natural gas. Natural gas is a commonly used fossil fuel. So we thought we would go over the pros and cons of natural gas. So first of all, we can quickly cover what natural gas actually is. In its natural form it's a mix of mostly methane and then some other chemical components like propane and butane. However, it's normally processed so that it's almost pure methane. Natural gas forms when organic materials (like dead plants and animals) are crushed into the ground. So it's like coal in that sense. The most popular theory is that the different conditions like temperature and pressure then control whether coal, oil, or gas is formed. Natural gas reserves are found globally. The largest gas fields are in Russia, under the North Sea, in the United States, Canada, Algeria and the Middle East. It's often found near to or even in oil fields. Natural gas is colourless, odorless, tasteless and ...

October Top tips | homemade presents

Hi everyone, So today we're going to talk about sustainable homemade presents. If you start now, then some of these would make amazing Christmas presents. 1. Knitting, crochet, embroidery & more yarn items You can make some incredible presents by knitting or crocheting with wool or thick yarn. All you need are needles and wool/yarn. Wool can be expensive if you want good quality so check out this post about making your own yarn out a t-shirt! With thinner yarn you could make some amazing thing through embroidery. Here are some project ideas: Scarfs  Socks Blankets Jumpers Pouch Dishcloths Table mat Headband Fingerless gloves Keychains Friendship bracelets Wall decorations Handles for hot pots and pans Figurines Bag designs 2. Origami Origami is an amazing way to show someone that you put time into what you made. You can use paper of any size, colour or pattern. Here are some ideas: Swans ...

23.08.2020 Animal of the week: Little Egret

Hi everyone, This week's animal is the Little Egret. This is a less well-known bird, so we are excited to share it with you! Habitat Little Egrets are a species of small heron and live in many different places across the world such as Africa, Australia, southern Asia, Europe and the UK. Like herons, Little Egrets live in open spaces that have a lake or river running through them. Some of the ones that live in Europe migrate to Africa. Diet Because it is an aquatic bird, the Little Egret feeds on a range of fish, amphibians, small reptiles and birds, insects and worms. They aren't fussy! Some Little Egrets have made use of humans and have been known to throw bread into the water to attract fish for it to eat. Dangers Little Egrets are classed as Least Concern , so their numbers aren't declining like many other amazing birds are at the moment. That's all for this week, we hope you have learnt some new facts! Images: 1...