Declan is an ecologist from Leitrim based in Cork. He has worked as an ecologist for 6 years and has a keen interest in botany, which he has furthered through undertaking the Irish Wild Flower Identification Course in ATU Sligo . Starting in April 2025, Declan began collecting wildflowers across a multitude of habitats in Ireland. As he was based in Cork, a significant portion of plants were collected in Cork with others collected in Kerry and Kilkenny.
Numerous challenges were faced during this collection period including bad weather, mechanical issues with his van (as a lot of the country was driven for these plants!), and land access. All plants were collected on public land, which limited where wildflowers could be picked.
Declan thoroughly enjoyed the course, having passed the exam in early September 2025, and would recommend it to anyone interested in botany. This website will break down the course information and how Declan went about collecting, pressing, and displaying his plants in his herbarium. He hopes you enjoy this website!
Wildflowers were collected and identified using Zoe Devlin's 2nd edn 'Wildflowers of Ireland' as a reference guide, while habitats were recorded with adherence to (Fossitt, 2000) .