Love Your Wellies
Love Your Wellies is FarmPEAT’s flagship community outreach initiative educating young people about the carbon and biodiversity benefits of raised bogs and agricultural peat soils. Through webinars, field trips, and our annual competition, FarmPEAT encourages students to think of their local landscape’s history and heritage alongside wider challenges associated with peatland health.
Love Your Wellies 2024
Click on the images to view the full entry.
Awards Ceremony
Love Your Wellies 2024
On 20th June 2024, we were delighted to join the Irish Peatland Conservation Council for a tour of the Bog of Allen Nature Centre and their Lodge Bog boardwalk. They guided us through the story of bog formation, Ireland’s history of turf cutting, and peatland biodiversity. On the boardwalk, we learned about the Sphagnum plugs planted to improve bog health and saw plants such as Bog Asphodel, bog cotton, and Sundews. We also learned about aquatic biodiversity through pond dipping back at the Centre!
Afterwards, we moved to Lullymore Heritage & Discovery Park to celebrate our Awards Ceremony! Ray Stapleton spoke about the role of Lullymore as an educational space for schools from all over Ireland, bringing students closer to our natural and cultural heritage.
Meabh Boylan, Biodiversity Officer with Kildare County Council, joined us to present the awards and share some words of inspiration with the students. She emphasised the importance of communicating biodiversity and climate issues, and how the Love Your Wellies finalists accomplished this in their brilliant entries.
After the Ceremony, some of our finalists took the opportunity to explore Lullymore’s boardwalk and other activities. Thank you to all who entered this year’s competition!
1st Overall: “What’s going on out on our bogs?”
Sheola Rosney
Gallen C.S., Co. Offaly
4th - 6th Year (Secondary)
Inspiration
“The bog in Pullough has played an integral role in our community for decades. Times have changed, Bord na Mona announced the cessation of peat production and now many of us find ourselves unfamiliar with what once was so very familiar. With this in mind, I decided to research and create a resource for my local primary school.”
2nd Overall: Hoppers New Home
Juno Carroll, Ruth Prendergast, Caoimhe Boland & Vikoria Vitek
Tullamore College, Co. Offaly
1st - 3rd Year (Secondary)
Inspiration
“We loved learning about how bogs have been overused and decided it would be nice to write a children’s story to spread awareness…two of us wrote the story and two of us illustrated it.”
“We got our book printed and we gave it to our local primary school so the teacher could read it for the younger classes.”
Joint 3rd Overall: Mount Lucas Bog
Logan Kelleghan & Keenan Owens
Scoil Mhuire Naofa, Co. Offaly
3rd - 6th Class (Primary)
Inspiration
“Inspired by our recent school visit to Mount Lucas Bog and wind farm. We have included natural occurring flora and fauna from the bog…We have labelled all the wildlife that live on the bog. “
“Turbines pepper the bog landscape in our local area of Rhode and we are proud of what our community is doing for the planet.”
Joint 3rd Overall - Wildlife in the Peatlands: Through the Fox’s Eye
Erin Arru
Ardscoil Mhuire, Ballinasloe
1st - 3rd Year (Secondary)
Inspiration
“As someone who was lucky enough to live in the countryside for my whole life, nature and wildlife will always have a special place in my heart.”
“A day in the life of Dobby, a carefree and adventurous red fox. He makes himself at home in a beautiful, peaceful bogland which is threatened by machinery cutting turf nearby.”
Junior Infants - 2nd Class Category Winner: Clara Bog
Luke Bradley
Ballybryan N.S., Co. Offaly
Junior Infants - 2nd Class (Primary)
Inspiration
“I went to Clara Bog with my mammy, daddy, brother and sister, and I saw some trees, flowers, and a viviparous lizard, and that’s the only place you can find them in Ireland.”
“I walked around here till I saw frogspawn, and I touched it”.
1st - 3rd Year Category Winner: Boga
Lily Hogarty, Katie Canning & Eabha Gaffey
Ardscoil Mhuire, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway
1st - 3rd Year (Secondary)
Inspiration
“We decided to do a boardgame style project for our project to help kids learn more about peatlands and bogs but for it to also be enjoyable and fun.”
“Our game has the same rules as Jenga but in an answer/question style”.
4th - 6th Year Category Winner: Ireland’s Bog Plant Species
Georgia Jennings
Tullamore College, Co. Offaly
4th - 6th Year (Secondary)
Inspiration
“After visiting Clara Bog on my school Geography trip, I was surprised to learn about its biodiversity.”
“The plants that grow on the bogs are important because they help the bog grow by trapping moisture but also provide food and homes for the native creatures of bogs.”
Love Your Wellies 2023
Overall & Category Winners
FarmPEAT proudly partnered with Lullymore Heritage & Discovery Park for this year’s competition.
This year’s ‘Love Your Wellies’ Competition awards were hosted by Lullymore during their 30th Anniversary celebrations.
Lullymore also kindly included a bonus prize for the 1st Place Overall entry of a class visit to experience everything Lullymore Heritage & Discovery Park has to offer.
1st Place Overall - 2023
‘Tiola’ by Olivia Paczkowska
St. Colman’s N.S., Mucklagh, Co. Offaly
3rd - 6th Class (Primary)
Inspiration
“I thought a lot about the bog cotton when I was working on the cotton material and remembered seeing the buds of the bog cotton at Clara Bog”
“The printed paper has a scaly effect like that of a reptile. ”
2nd Place Overall - 2023
‘Bog Snap’ by Ashley Coyle
Tullamore College, Tullamore, Co. Offaly
4th - 6th Year (Secondary)
Inspiration
“The game ‘snap’ has always been a special part of my childhood, I have developed a love for the bog and I wanted to incorporate these two things together ”
“this allows others to learn about our environment through this educational game.”
3rd Place Overall - 2023
‘Bog Busters’ by Conor Monaghan, Noah McDermott, Conor McNeill & Ross Philips
St. Colman’s N.S., Mucklagh, Co. Offaly
3rd - 6th class (Primary)
Inspiration
“We wanted to show the dangers to the animals living in boglands from farming, particularly draining the boglands and turf-cutting for horticulture.”
“We wanted to show how much the bog matters to the animals that live at the bog.”
3rd - 6th Class Category Winner - 2023
‘The Bog Man’ by Caoimhe Delaney, Rosie Singh and Casey Coyne
Daingean N.S., Daingean, Co. Offaly
3rd - 6th class (Primary)
Inspiration
“We didn’t want anyone to forget about Croghan man who was found close to where we live.”
“We found the research interesting and really enjoyed making our project.”
1st - 3rd Year Category Winner - 2023
‘Rainy Days’ by Millie Bonfield
St. Michael’s College, Kilmihil, Co. Clare
1st - 3rd Year (Secondary)
Inspiration
“I started to think about the logo for the competition. It’s so simple but conveys the idea very clearly.”
“It shows the similarities between all farmers because it is the most used tool on peatland.”
4th - 6th Year Category Winner - 2023
‘Changing Times’ by Abbie Maunsell, Shauna Geraghty, Grace Gratton & Siyana Petrova
Tullamore College, Tullamore, Co. Offaly
4th - 6th Year (Secondary)
Inspiration
“It represents the changing nature of bogland over time”
“from its creation due to the carbon cycle, the discovery of bog bodies, to the production of peat, to the future of cutaway bogs.”
Love Your Wellies 2022
Overall & Category Winners
1st Place Overall 2022
‘The Boglands’ by Mark Fox
Kilteevan N.S, Kilteevan, Co. Roscommon
3rd - 6th Class (Primary)
Inspiration
“I decided to make a 3D model of a bog because my mam and the Kilteevan Tidy Towns Committee planned and developed a bog walk at Cloonlarge Loop in Co. Roscommon.”
“My mam loves going for walks in the bog. She loves the peace and quiet and watching nature.”
2nd Place Overall 2022
‘Bog Over Time’ by Mia Guilfoyle, Eleanor McCormack, Angeline Leonardo & Sophie Hunt
Scoil Eimhín Naofa, Monasterevin, Co. Kildare
3rd - 6th Class (Primary)
Inspiration
“Past covered farming, community and the past of the bog. Present covers community, and how we are going wrong with the heating of our homes, and Future covers renewable energy, environment and helping our planet. The whole project is about change through time.”
3rd Place Overall 2022
‘Media Trap’ by Amelia Kobzda, Alison Flood, Julia Kurpis & Dagmara Pasieka
Coláiste Chiaráin, Athlone, Co. Roscommon
1st Year - 3rd Year (Secondary)
Inspiration
“In our art piece, we tried to show the positive impacts nature has on our mind and body.”
“So to represent this we decided to make a dreamcatcher. Something that a lot of kids are familiar with and that gives kids comfort. Dream catchers can trap our bad dreams.“
Junior Infants– 2nd Class Winner 2022
‘Farmers Day’ by Caoimhe Murphy, Sarah Healy, Ben Dowling, Angelina Sasunts & Anna Sasunts
Scoil Bhride, Lackagh, Co.Kildare
Junior Infants - 2nd Class (Primary)
Inspiration
“We thought a farmer’s day was very easy, the fact they got to choose their own hours, but after our research and our interview with our local farmer we are so thankful for all they do to produce the amazing produce for us all!”
3rd - 6th Class Winner 2022
‘Bogopoly’ by Eimear Lovern, Antigoni Arvaniti, Ksenia Kieltyka & Isabelle Murphy
Scoil Eimhín Naofa, Monasterevin, Co. Kildare
3rd - 6th Class (Primary)
Inspiration
“We thought about the shrinking attention span of people today along with some people having little to no interest in learning about the environment.”
“We could change people’s idea of what was good for our environment in a subtle way.”
1st - 3rd Year Winner 2022
‘Love Your Past, Seize Your Future’ by James Duffy
Athlone Community College, Athlone, Co. Westmeath
1st - 3rd Year (Secondary)
Inspiration
“After a trip to the bog, suddenly I was flooded with ideas! I was also researching what the bog meant to farmers and locals and how all their best memories from the bog were a long time ago…now they wanted to preserve the bog for their children.”
4th - 6th Year Winner 2022
‘Buried In The Past’ by Aisling O’Brien
Ballinamore C.S, Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim
4th - 6th Year (Secondary)
Inspiration
“My inspiration was the stories of the bog bodies. These were the bodies of people who were buried in the bog.”
“The bog bodies are said to be predated back to the time between 8000 BC and the Second World War.”