On Sunday 11th October a troop of young people from the 63rd Dublin/14th Port Donabate Sea Scouts visited North Bull Island to learn about the Biosphere and take part in a seashell scavenger hunt.

Sean a Bull Island Volunteer and Dean the Biosphere Coordinator were on hand to meet and greet the super enthusiastic young people and their leaders.

The cubs learned about the formation of North Bull Island and it’s links to Plymothian Captain William Bligh, who’s famed for his part in the Mutiny on the Bounty, rather the advice he gave which led to the formation of Irelands most designated nature reserve! One particularly clever cub shared his knowledge of Irish to explain the naming of North Bull Island.

The cubs also discovered why biosphere’s are so special, learning that they are managed for the benefit of people, culture and nature. They also learned about some of the challenges it faces due to disturbance from people and their pets and the harm caused by dog waste to the ecology on the island.

The cubs were organised into three groups and were set the challenge of collecting as many different shells as possible, using the Coastwatch/ Dublin City Council seashell guides. The youngest of the three groups who called themselves ‘The Newbies’ won the competition by collecting an astonishing 16 different species of Gastropods or Bi-valves and promptly changed their name to ‘Team Champion!’.

After the scavenger hunt the cubs learned about a few more of the challenges faced by the biosphere, including the threat from invasive species, with all the cubs expressing an interest in returning when they become full scouts to help map and tackle the invasive species.

The Biosphere Coordinator thanked the cubs for their interest in the biosphere and commended them on their new-found knowledge of seashells and looked forward to welcoming them all back in the future.

The Gastropod and Bivalve posters are available in our resources section, see link below.