Nature Ireland was founded by Cóilín MacLochlainn from Dublin, Ireland. Cóilín has worked for a variety of national environmental charities since the mid-1980s, variously editing, producing and contributing to their membership magazines.
He studied natural sciences in college and obtained a Master’s degree in zoology at University College Dublin (UCD) in 1983. His thesis focused on aspects of red deer ecology in Glenveagh National Park, Co Donegal.
He worked as water pollution officer for Leitrim County Council, and later obtained a graduate diploma in journalism from Dublin City University (then the National Institute of Higher Education). Since then he has worked predominantly as a science writer, editor and magazine producer for Irish environmental ngos, though contributed as a freelance to various newspapers and magazines including The Irish Times, Evening Herald, Technology Ireland and The Farmers’ Journal.