Vice-county H3 (West Cork)

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The Ellen Hutchins Festival

Ellen Hutchins (1785-1815) was an early Irish botanist who specialised in seaweeds, lichens, mosses and liverworts. She is known for finding many plants new to science, identifying hundreds of species, and for her botanical illustrations in contemporary publications.

The Ellen Hutchins Festival, during Heritage Week in August in the Bantry Bay area, is an annual celebration of Ellen’s life and work, botany, botanical art, and the biodiversity and beauty of Bantry Bay. There are guided nature walks, botanical art workshops, exhibitions, boat trips, seaweed events, talks, living history events, a Wild Child Day, self-guided trails and botanical art demonstrations.

Find out more about the Ellen Hutchins Festival and other events

Resources you may find useful

Hodd, R.L. 2020 Mosses and Liverworts: An introductory guide to the Bantry Bay area

Discover the intriguing and beautiful miniature world of mosses and liverworts. Written by one of Ireland’s top bryologists Dr Rory Hodd, this small book  will encourage you to get up-close to a wonderful part of nature. Focussing on the rich variety of habitats around Bantry Bay, the reader will be introduced to some of the most commonly found bryophytes of West Cork, as well as some of the most spectacular. The 50-page A5 booklet is full of colour photographs taken mostly in south-west Ireland and the cover features a specially commissioned illustration by award-winning botanical artist, Shevaun Doherty.

You can purchase the book from the Ellen Hutchins website.

Buy the book