Welcome to Invasive Species Week!

Invasive Species Week is an annual event to raise awareness of invasive non-native species and how everyone can help prevent their spread. 

Activities and events will be held all week across England, Guernsey, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

To celebrate this collaboration, Invasive Species Week was launched at the British-Irish Council Environment Ministerial Meeting on Thursday 8 May.

Left to right: Andrew Muir MLA, Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Northern Ireland Executive), Dr Alasdair Allan MSP, Acting Minister for Climate Action (Scottish Government), Pam Cameron MLA, Junior Minister in the Executive (Northern Ireland Executive), Mary Creagh MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Nature) (UK Government), Aisling Reilly MLA, Junior Minister in the Executive (Northern Ireland Executive), Timmy Dooley TD, Minister of State at the Department of Climate, Environment and Energy with special responsibility for the Marine (Government of Ireland) and Huw Irranca-Davies MS, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs (Welsh Government). Image: British-Irish Council Secretariat.

Our daily theme

Throughout the week we’re highlighting some of the things people can do to reduce the impacts of invasive non-native species.

Our theme today is ‘Learn about invasive non-native species’. We have lots of awareness raising materials available on our Invasive Species Week webpages to help spread the word, including a new infographic to share and a new version of our mini guide to invasive non-native species.

Events today

The first of our daily webinars is taking place at 13:00 on the results of a recent horizon scanning exercise to identify future non-native species threats. Find out more and register to attend.

Other events taking place today include:

• 10:00-16:00: The 'Beyond the Boundary: A Case of Garden Escapers' exhibition from North Wales Wildlife Trust is running daily at Storiel museum, Bangor.
• 10:00-15:00: South West Lakes Trust are running a pop-up stand at Roadford Lake Visitor Centre.
• 18:00: Guernsey Nature Commission are running a talk at the Frossard Theatre, Guernsey.

Later this week

Our webinar series continues throughout the week:

• Tues 13 May: Invasive non-native species: why they are a problem and how to help protect your sport and the environment with the Angling Trust, British Rowing, Paddle UK and the Royal Yachting Association (RYA).
• Weds 14 May: When species do establish – managing aquatic plant invasions - with the Environment Agency.
• Thurs 15 May: Invasive herpetofauna in the Caribbean UKOTs and wider Caribbean Region - with Natural Selections of South Florida and the Cayman Islands Government.
• Fri 16 May: INNS on the Tees - with Tees Rivers Trust.

View details of all events taking place this week.

Get involved

There’s still plenty of time to get involved if you haven’t already made plans!

Visit www.nonnativespecies.org/invasivespeciesweek for more information and resources.

You can also follow the official Invasive Species Week X account at @InvasiveSp and search #INNSweek to follow along with the latest updates. Remember to use the hashtag in your posts to make them easier to find.