Connecting a 21st century urban forest to the primeval forests of ancient Ireland.

 

A few weeks ago as part of the wonderful pioneering European-wide More Trees Now initiative, the Tuatha volunteers planted in Terryland Forest Park oak tree saplings that came from Coolattin Woods nursery and were donated by the inspirational educationalist Denise Garvey.

This is the second such gift from Denise who gave us similar oak saplings last year that became the foundation for a Ukrainian woods in Terryland.

Coolattin Woods in Wicklow is one of the final remnants of the great primeval forests that covered Ireland until the great clearances of the plantation period from the early 17th century onwards.

But much of the last trees left in Coolattin were only cleared during the 1970s and 1980s and exported as high quality veneer. It took the first large scale eco campaign in Ireland of the modern era lasting nearly 20 years to save the last of its ancient trees in the locality of Tomnafinnogue following the direct intervention by the then Taoiseach Charles Haughey

UK businessman and Wicklow resident Brian Kingham took over Coollattin in 2016 and has undertaken an ambitious reforestation of the estate.

So we are so proud that the community-council driven Terryland native forest now has a direct connection the birth of the Irish environmental movement and the great forests of ancient Ireland.

May we in the Tuatha wish everyone a joyful New Year and amy we all contribute in our own way towards making 2024 a year of progress in tackling the Climate and Biodiversity Crises.

Galway city's Woods, Parks and Green Spaces finally Get Wardens!

 

I am happy to report that the on-the-grounds staff that our precious forests, parks and green spaces have so desperately required for decades has finally being sanctioned and funded by City Hall.

Last Christmas, I was devastated by the damage (see photos above) done to Terryland Forest Park by a group of anti-social elements who ripped up trees and fences for firewood, covered its woods with cans, bottles and other detritus, and intimidated visitors. (Read my article that I wrote in response to this destruction which appeared in the Galway Advertiser on January 7th). 

Our community campaign that followed demanding the establishment of a unit of full time on-the-ground wardens for our city's parks gathered public support and the agreement of councillor Imelda Byrne to put forward a motion for such new staffing to occur. 'Maith thú' Imelda.

Her motion was unanimously passed by her fellow councillors at a meeting of Galway City Council last Spring with an agreement that the funds would be allocated in the 2022 budget. This was confirmed last night at a finance meeting in City Hall.

Admittedly, the new three wardens are to be known as 'community wardens' with a remit for parks, rather than as 'parks wardens'. But it is a good start and we can work on the detail later. In a time when urban forests are so crucial in tackling Climate Change, acting as carbon sinks and restoring biodiversity, that is a day fro Galway to be proud off. Thanks Imelda Byrne, all city councillors and officials, and of course veteran environmental forest park activists such as Car Stanley, Colin Stanley, Ryan Crowell, Dan Clabby, Peter Butler, Martina Finn; Galway City Community Network representatives such as Eleanor Hough, Ann Irwin and Derrick Hambleton and so many others.

There is also good news that our other demands for a Biodiversity Officer and a Tree Officer have also been sanctioned. The former post is to be filled next month and the latter in February. Onwards & Upwards/Beir bua!!!

Let's Make Scenes of Park Vandalism History- Join the Protest at 1.40pm Tomorrow (Mon) to Demand Park Wardens for Galway city's public parks

Bench in Terryland Forest Park that has lain broken & un-repaired for 2 years

Help keep our public parks including Terryland Forest Park and Merlin Woods clean and safe by maintaining the pressure on Galway City Council to follow the example of many other Irish and European cities in establishing a full-time Park Warden unit.

We were promised at last month's protest outside the council January meeting that the deferred motion from Councillor Mark Lohan, to set up a permanent on-the-ground parks staff crew, would be voted on at the next council meeting on Monday February 4th.
We thank Niall McNelis Mayor of Galway City for this commitment- he is someone that has long being an activist promoting a Clean Galway through his involvement in mass litter pickups and the Tidy Towns competition.
Getting the motion passed is a first step in reclaiming the public green spaces for the people of Galway, and in protecting these very important rare urban habitats for our precious but increasingly threatened native mammals, birds, insects, trees, flowers and other living things.
We want our public woods, wetlands, parks, meadows and waterways to be 'Carbon Sinks' to tackle Climate Change, Outdoor Classrooms for our schools, Outdoor Labs for our second and third level students, Outdoor Gyms for physical exercise enthusiasts, Nature Playgrounds for our children, Nature Trails for walkers, Zones of Tranquility and passive Leisure for people of all ages, Rural landscapes for revitalising nature-friendly farming, and Sanctuaries for our endangered native flora and fauna.

Many of our elected public representatives have already declared their support for a Park Wardens unit for Galway city including Mayor Niall McNelis, Billy Cameron, Cathal Ó Conchúir, Mike Cubbard, Cllr Frank Fahy, Mairéad Farrell and Michael Crowe. So in advance of tomorrow's we have declarations of solidarity from councillors of all political parties and from the independent councillor Mike Cubbard. That is great news! In advance of the meeting, we have lobbied all the other councilors on the issue.

But it is important that the people of Galway city show their determination that such a policy is implemented by turning up outside City Hall at 1.40pm on that day. Of course increased investment in infrastructure is also needed. But the establishment of a park wardens unit is an important first step.
So we ask you to join us and to bring along your friends, neighbours and family members. Together We Can (as we done so many times before) Make a Difference!

p.s. the  Shame!

Michael D. Higgins: Protector of Irish Wildlife & Irish Bogs.

Dáire standing in Monivea Bog surrounded by bog cotton

As Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Michael D. Higgins signed, on behalf of the Irish government in 1997, the EU Habitats Directive that requires member states to maintain or restore favourable conservation status for certain habitats and species.

Of particular importance were the Irish bogs which account for 10% of the world’s total. This Habitat Directive was and is vital to protect the small number of bogs that are classified as Natural Heritage Areas. Peatlands possess unique biodiversity as well as being important areas for flood prevention, water quality and as critical storage areas for carbon, up to 57,402 tonnes of carbon per year (EPA BOGLAND project).

Michael D became one of the few Irish government ministers ever to enact legislation to protect endangered wildlife and their habitats and to reverse the millennia old destruction and exploitation by mankind of the planet’s natural heritage.

As a former owner (i.e. guardian) of a bog and as a son of a man whose family lived and worked on the great Bog of Allen for generations, I was so proud of what Michael D as Minister did to protect some of the last remaining bogs of Ireland.

Could Galway become Ireland's first Urban National Park?

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A call for the political, community, environmental, business and sports sectors to work together in transforming Galway into Ireland’s first National Park City has been made by a local science, environmental and community advocate. Brendan Smith, Galway’s current Volunteer of the Year, has said that the city should follow the recent example of London where Mayor Sadiq Khan has put his full support behind ambitious plans for London to become the world’s first urban national park.

“Such a status would not in any devalue the traditional designation of a National Park which is about protecting wildlife in natural environments located in rural countryside or marine areas. It would be a new type of park designation in which people and biodiversity could live in mutual benefit. Galwegians could become world pioneers in helping to create something this is so urgently needed as we are becoming an increasingly urbanized planet with over half of the global population now living in cities and where scientific research is clearly showing that our disconnect with Nature is impacting negatively on our wellbeing as well on the health of the planet.  Many of the serious challenges facing Galway as with many other cities such as obesity, mental health, low community cohesion, poor air quality, pollution, high waste levels, illegal dumping, car-based traffic gridlock, urban sprawl, sterile green spaces, flooding, biodiversity loss and the negative impact of climate change could be overcome by becoming an Urban National Park.

“A ‘Green’ identity for Galway would complement our Arts and Science-Technology characteristics.  The city already has enormous advantages due to its physical and human geography. It is located at the juncture of the Atlantic Ocean, the world famous natural landscapes of Connemara and the Lough Corrib/Mask waterways that reach deep into the hinterland of rural Mayo. It will become the terminus for the proposed Dublin-to-Galway cycleway and the starting point for the Connemara Greenway which is garnering enthusiastic support in the west of the county.  With twenty per cent plus of its landmass classified as green space that comprises wide range of natural wildlife habitats including coastline, woodlands, bogs, hedgerows, farmland, karst limestone outcrops, wetlands, lakes, rivers and canals. There is also still in existence a plethora of almost forgotten rural laneways or botharíns on the outer perimeters of the city, a remnant of its rural heritage that could easily become a network of walking and cycling trails. Just as importantly the city has a proud tradition over the last few decades of community environmental activism that has led to major successes that have helped protect biodiversity and enhance the quality of life of its citizens. 

 During the early part of the last decade, Galway was at the forefront of urban ecology initiatives in Ireland due to an active collaboration based on mutual trust between a diverse range of stakeholders that included Galway City Council, third level colleges, ecologists and local communities. This partnership led to the city in 2000 creating Ireland’s largest urban forest park in the Terryland-Castlegar district that with over with 90,000 native Irish trees has become a major natural ‘carbon sink’, the rolling out of the country’s first three bin pro-recycling domestic waste system in 2001 and in introducing the first municipal cash-for-cans scheme a few years later. 

Other eco-initiatives soon followed including a mapping of the city’s diverse habitats, a growing neighbourhood organic garden movement and the mapping of a 25km looped heritage cycle trail along its rural perimeter. Over the last few years eco-initiatives such as Outdoor Classrooms for schools, development of wildflower bee-friendly meadows, restoration of traditional drystone walls and the creation of a series of roosts for bat colonies have occurred due to the energetic work of volunteers. We can continue to harness the enthusiasm and power of local communities, schools, retired associations and youth groups through novel schemes such as a volunteer park rangers and nature trail guides to make the vision of an Urban National Park a reality. But we need to do more if we are to create a sustainable green city of the future. We must become a laboratory for new smart sensor technologies and transform our planning policies in order to integrate renewable energies, a safe walking/cycling/public transport infrastructure, rainwater harvesting, green roofs, neighbourhood farming and urban villages of cohesive communities into our city’s fabric.

Following the example of London, taking advantage of our Green Leaf designation and realising our city must do something radical to protect biodiversity, absorb population growth and secure a quality of life for its citizenry in a time of climate change that could be devastating to the planet, the drive to create a Urban National Park could be our salvation.  

 “At a Green Leaf themed meeting last week attended by city officials, environmentalists and community activists, the idea was very well received. There is a need now for all stakeholders to come together to plan out the principles for such a designation and put together a multi-sectoral team with a unity of purpose to start implementing the process."

 

Volunteers are needed in Preparing a Community Garden for its 'Big WInter Sleep'.

Once again volunteers are needed this Saturday (October 14th) from 11.15am to help prepare the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden for its winter sleep.

Last Saturday lots of great work was undertaken in cleaning up the facility, recognising that as the main crop of vegetables, herbs and fruits had been harvested a few weeks ago and with autumn leaves falling, the trees and plants are now going into hibernation.

 Though volunteers did an amazing amount of work last Saturday we not complete all of the tasks required. So we are back this weekend and your presence would be so much appreciated for digging, trimming, grass cutting, weeding, painting, path making and completing the dozens of other tasks that are needed to be done in order to allow the garden looking somewhat pretty before winter sets in.

As is our tradition, teas/coffee/water and salads will be provided to all attendees.

 

TEDx Talk - I survived!

What an experience! Having done the 'walk' so many times, I now had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do the 'talk'.
To say that I wasn't nervous having to take part in such a prestigious event and summarise such an important topic as I had in 18 minutes would be untrue. To be honest, I was a nervous kitten in the lead-up to the event. So unlike me!

But surrounded by professional speakers all experts in their own field in such a prestigious venue as the Town Hall Theatre in front of a sell-out audience who I knew would scan a critical eye over word I spoke and every gesture that I made, weighed heavily on me.
Anyway, I gave it my best shot on the night; thankfully I did not freeze or forget my words and so hopefully I gave justice to the hard work of all community campaigners, environmentalists and the socially aware Web/Internet of Things technologists of  Galway city and beyond.

My theme was on the urgent need for cities to be Green and Smart.
My advanced preamble was:
“As the Earth is being transformed into an Urban Planet characterised by an unprecedented growth in human population, energy consumption, technology revolutions, depletion of finite resources, huge mega settlements and climate change, the future of the human species is under threat.  So cities, the new abode of our race, have to radically transform in the areas of energy, transport, health, water, food, environment, social, housing, governance and work if they are to accommodate huge numbers of inhabitants in a way that gives them a beneficial quality of life that is sustainable.
Brendan Smith looks at the need to bring nature back into our everyday urban lives. Using Galway as an example he makes the case that, as well as relying on smart technologies, cities have to be characterised by organic farms, community gardens, rooftop/exterior building vegetation, woodlands, waterways, outdoor classrooms, Greenways and local community stakeholdership. “
The Galway TEDx talks will be up on YouTube in the next few months. In the meantime I will publish a longer written version of my talk in late October (when my travels to Africa and the Middle East are completed for this year).

Finally I would like to give a big public thank you and a traditional Irish ‘Bualadh Bos’ to two brilliant hard working creative gentlemen, namely Darragh O'Connor​
and Cormac Staunton who were the brains and brawn behind TEDx Galway. With a wonderful range of international, national and local speakers and an eclectic mix of subjects, they did a superb job. Darragh- you have a wonderful future ahead of you as a 'Master of Ceremonies' extraordinaire.

Guided Bat Walk: Terryland Forest Park on Sat May 27th

The Galway branch of the Irish Wildlife Trust in association with the Galway Bat Group will host a public guided bat walk in Terryland Forest Park this Saturday (May 27th).
Rendezvous: 9.30pm in the Dunnes Stores (Headford Road) car park.

A scientific survey by students from NUI Galway undertaken under the stewardship of Dr. Catriona Carlin found six species of bat living in the park - Leisler, Daubenton, Brown Long-eared, Nathusias pipistrelle, Common pipistrelle and Soprano pipistrelle. 

The walk is free and all are welcome to attend. 
Bat detectors will be available for participants. For those taking part in the walk, please remember to wear suitable walking shoes and clothing.
The walk will commence in the section of the Terryland Forest Park behind Dunnes Stores, moving towards the woodlands adjacent to the Liosbaun business park.

The Drystone Walls of the Forest.

What is now the Terryland Forest Park was once a mosaic of small fields divided by drystone walls.

In the mid 1990s our local residents' associations campaigned on and ensured that this area near to the centre of Galway city was transformed into a woodland park rather than being covered with a series of housing estates.
For we wanted a 'Green Lungs' for the citizens of Galway.
Though the trees were planted and the pathways laid out, many of the boundary walls remained. Some gradually fell into disrepair, became covered with ivy and got largely ignored.
But over the last year council staff supported by volunteers have began work on restoring some of these walls in Terryland Forest Park to their former glory (see photo).

Drystone walls have been a feature of the Irish landscape for 5,000 years. Most though were built after the Great Famine (An Gorta Mór) of the mid 19th century when the open system of farming was replaced as the Anglo-Irish landed estates were redistributed to the former tenantry resulting in a patchwork of small farms across Ireland.
With no mortar holding the stones together, skilled craftsmen carefully select stones that will balance and sit into the wall.
The gaps between the stones helps stability by allowing the wind currents to pass through, representing fine examples of millennia old engineering.

They also provide habitats for a variety of birds, mammals and insects. The stone surfaces support mosses, lichens and plants.
So these drystone walls that are so characteristic of the West of Ireland are more than just part of our built heritage, they are a vast network of ecological corridors, providing green highways for flora and fauna.
However with the decline of the small working family farm, mechanisation, urbanisation and road development, the small field and accompanying drystone wall boundaries are disappearing quickly from the Irish countryside. The replacement perimeter wooden, concrete, cemented stone and wire fencing offer nothing to wildlife.
So Terryland volunteers are doing their bit to protect our natural and built heritage.

Commenting on the restoration of the drystone wall in Terryland Forest Park, Dr. Colin Lawton of the Zoology in NUI Galway said, "These stone walls are really important for our small mammals such as mice, voles, shrews and stoats. The rodents hate to move across open spaces so dart along linear features such as walls and fallen logs. Shrews like the feeding opportunities all the little nooks and crannies provide and stoats just like holes to explore and features to mark. The switch to wire fencing has had a major impact in the countryside. This is a great worthwhile project."

Save Galway City's Green Spaces from the Bulldozer

A leading community activist has condemned as ‘environmental and health vandalism’ the proposals by Galway city council to advocate the construction of buildings and a road through the main urban parks as a betrayal of the hundreds of dedicated residents, scientists, teachers and youth who regularly give their time, energies and ideas to developing and maintaining the local authority’s woods, parks and green spaces for the benefit of the general public.  

According to Brendan Smith of the Terryland Forest Alliance, “There is a deep sense of shock and a feeling of betrayal amongst Galway’s army of environmental volunteers as we witness council officials undertaking a complete U-turn on long standing environmental policies, which will have serious negative consequences on people’s health, on air quality, on the education of our children, on the county’s commitment to combat global climate change and which will led to the destruction of sensitive wildlife corridors that have taken decades to nurture. We are calling on citizens and their elected representatives to save our city from what can only be described as institutional environmental and health vandalism and are hosting a public meeting on this issue at 7.30pm on Thursday November 24^th in the Maldron Hotel near the Kirwan Roundabout on the Headford Road.”

Community made wildflower meadow in Terryland Forest Park, Summer 2916

In the last few weeks, we have been informed by City Hall that the Terryland Forest Park multi-sectoral steering committee that includes NUI Galway, GMIT, An Taisce, HSE, schools and communities can no longer met due to budgetary restrictions; that a road will be built through the same forest park; that an ancient meadow in Merlin Woods will be bulldozed to make way for a hospice in spite of suitable alterative sites existing nearby; that the council propose to make it illegal for children to climb trees and that the number of workers in park maintenance are being reduced. 

2008: 10,000+ people sign petition which successfully stopped a road being built through Terryland Forest Park

It is only a few years ago that a petition signed by over 10,000 Galwegians stopped a road being built through Terryland Forest Park, a park referred too as the “People’s Park” as most of its 100,000 trees were planted by the people of the city from March 2000 onwards. The council are ignoring the reasons why people did so. For the latest scientific research shows the fundamental importance of trees and nature to people’s well being, which is why the next generation of cities across the world are integrating parks, food gardens and forests into their urban infrastructures. Ireland has the highest rate of obesity and weight excess in Europe whilst over 20% of our young people suffer from some form of mental health disorder, much of which can stem from what is known as Nature Deficit Disorder(NDD).  Experiencing the clean air as well as the calming and stimulation effect of the ‘Great Outdoors’ is now being promoted by the medical profession worldwide as an alternative to the costly drugs and pill culture.

Hence for the sake of our citizens, our future generations and our planet the council’s retrograde steps to design out biodiversity must be halted.

These brutal actions make a mockery of the city being declared a green capital of Europe as the EU Green Leaf City 2017. Projects involving community volunteers played a key role in securing this international accolade. Activists were therefore hoping that the city’s new found international eco-status would led to significant investment and progress being made in promoting greater public access to parks; in overcoming anti-social activity such as illegal dumping and bush drinking in bogs, parks and woodlands; in finally moving forward on the Galway city-Clifden Greenway and in supporting park-based nature learning initiatives for children.  

The Outdoor Classroom

Over the last year, scientists, technologists, teachers, health experts and environmentalists have begun working together to commence the process of transforming Terryland into a huge Outdoor Classroom and Outdoor Laboratory for our educational institutions that could also provide major tourist benefit. 

Traditional Mowing of widlflower meadow in Terryland Forest Park

Heritage enthusiasts have started to use it as a learning hub for traditional rural skills and crafts including the creation of native wildflower meadows where the grass is mowed by using hand held scythes, scarecrow-making events for children, and the introduction of horse drawn ploughing into the park’s organic garden.

Yet we are now faced with the extraordinary situation that the council has decided that Galway’s communities can no longer be involved in developing a park that they actually founded. This decision is the antithesis of civic engagement, a cornerstone of the city’s development strategy. 

Community Tree Planting

Hence there is a genuine fear that the Green Leaf award could become nothing more than mere window dressing, a title without substance, a Greenwash. The council authorities are it seems treating forests and parks as a reserve land bank to be chipped away when land is needed to be cemented and tarmaced over. Not for nothing is Terryland officially recognised as the ‘Lungs of the City’; its nearly 100,000 trees that were mostly planted by the people of Galway since 2000 provide the oxygen needs of up to 400,000 people, absorb over a decade 3,800 metric tons of the carbon dioxide gas that is contributing to global warming and provide  €4.64 billion worth of air pollution control over 50 years. This park, stretching from the wetlands of the Corrib along the Dyke Road to the farmlands of Castlegar, has the potential to be even important to Galway than the Phoenix Park is to Dublin. But it is been denied the public resources that it so urgently needs whilst funds and support from steering committee members are being ignored.

We as concerned citizens see ourselves as the defenders of the council’s own recreational, health, community and environmental policies. We are not going to let officialdom destroy our precious life-giving wildlife habitats and green spaces. 

The community and environmental sector should once again be viewed as equal partners whose actions over the years have brought many benefits to the quality of life in the city, including stopping the construction of a giant municipal incinerator and its replacement by the first three bin waste recycling system in Ireland as well as the introduction of the country’s first cash-for-cans scheme.”

Enjoy the Benefits of Community Gardening

 

Community Organic Gardening has wonderful health, social and environmental benefits to offer all of us. A few hours working with others in the 'Great Outdoors' every week amongst the plants and trees can reduce stress, provide access to locally grown organic foods to improve personal diet as well as presenting opportunities to become active members of our neighborhood and the greater community of Galway.

The Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden at this time of the year is, as with horticulturalist farmers across Ireland, busily preparing for the annual harvesting of food crops that will take place in a few weeks. But after the ‘wear and tear’ of a busy period since Spring and the need to expand on its facilities, assistance is also needed in improving the overall maintenance of this green resource. This includes communal painting, pond construction, path repairing, and bug hotel building.
At the end of the communal work on Saturday, there will of course be refreshments for all volunteers to enjoy together including fruit tarts made from apples collected from the garden’s own orchard.

Rendezvous: 10.30am, Saturday, August 13th.
Google Maps location:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zy2xJB2YGAaU.kvWEedMz4s8A&usp=sharing

 

July 21st Guided Bat Walk in Terryland Forest Park

The Return of the Batwoman!

On next Thursday (July 21st) night, the Batwoman, aka Dr. Caitriona Carlin, returns to Galway city to undertake yet another night-time investigation of the presence of bats in Terryland Forest Park. You are invited to take part in this event. Rendezvous: 10pm Dunnes Stores (Headford Road) car park.
The public event will be hosted by the Galway Bat Group.

Field studies undertaken by students from NUI Galway in late 2015 found six species of bat living in the park - Leisler, Daubenton, Brown Long-eared, Nathusias pipistrelle, Common pipistrelle and Soprano pipistrelle.
The walk is free and open to the public. For those taking part in the walk, please remember to wear suitable walking shoes and to bring rain gear. Children are encouraged to take part but must be accompanied by an adult.
The walk will commence in the section of the Terryland Forest Park behind Dunnes Stores, moving towards the woodlands adjacent to the Liosbaun business park.-Bat detectors will be available to go around on the evening.
All are welcome!

Creating a Bluebell Woods: Terryland Forest Park

After the success of last year's major native wildflower 'meadow' project and the recent Wild Garlic planathon, the transformation of Terryland Forest Park into an urban biodiversity zone of multiple habitats continues this Saturday with the creation of a Bluebell Woods. 

 

The efforts of volunteers in Terryland Forest Park is helping to reverse the serious decline of wildflowers in Ireland over the last 50 years which has impacted so negatively on our indigenous wildlife, from insects to mammals.

Many of Ireland’s native wildflowers face extinction due to pollution, invasive species, urbanization, loss of habitat and intensive commercial farming. The use of pesticides and herbicides in farming in order to increase specific crop yields has meant that wildflowers and pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies are being poisoned. Hence flora and fauna species are declining alarmingly and a countryside that was once populated with flowers representing all the colours of the rainbows, that throbbed to the sounds of a wide of variety bees and birds is sadly becoming a thing of the past.

Help undo this process and to save Ireland’s indigenous flowers and associated pollinating insects and bats. Under the expert tutelage of Padraic Keirns, Conservation Volunteers Galway and Conservation Volunteers Terryland Forest Park are once again teaming up to organise another major re-flowering within Terryland Forest Park. This time it will be in woods near the Quincenntennial Bridge.

Ragged Robin in the wildflower meadow in Terryland Forest Park that was started on in August 2015

Nearly 1,000 plants have again been collected for Saturday's 'plantahon' with the primary species being 'bluebell' as we continue to create thematic flora areas in certain locations within this 180 acres nature and farmland reserve.

So we ask you to please join us on this Saturday(July 2nd).

Rendezvous: 10am near the Curry's (Galway Retail Park) entrance to Terryland Forest Park.

Google Map link: http://bit.ly/1NE6S2o

 

Operation Blathánna - Reflowering the Forest - April 25th 2015

  Under the tutelage of flora enthusiast Padraig Keirns. Terryland Forest Park Conservation Volunteers & Conservation Volunteers Galway city during Spring and Autumn 2014 undertook a series of native wildflowers plantathons in the Terryland Forest Park, Ireland's largest community-initiated urban forest.
The aim of 'Operation Bláthanna' is to plant the wildflowers that will dramatically increase the biodiversity of this great natural resource.
Our first large scale flower planting for 2015 will take place on Saturday April 25th. 
Rendezvous: 10am in car park in front of Galway Bay FM.

The Terryland Forest Park area designated for the April event will be a woodland behind Riverside estate & Liosban business. will include Bluebells, Bugle, Cow Parsley, Crow Garlic, Ground Ivy, St. Patrick’s Cabbage, Pendulous Sedge, Sitchwort and Wood-rush.
There will also be a clearance of long grass and briers.

During June 2014, volunteers collected the seeds of Bluebells and Wild Garlic from mature forests in Galway and spread them across suitable areas of Terryland Forsest Park.
In September, hundreds of Primroses were planted in the forest.

Last year then represented the beginnings of a major biodiversity project to plant appropriate indigenous species in the meadows, woods and hedgerows of this unique urban natural heritage resource. The flowering of the forest with sanicle, foxglove, st. patrick's cabbage, cow parsley, raspberry, primrose, wild garlic, bluebells and many more indigenous varieties will dramatically increase its attractiveness to a wide variety of insects, birds and many other types of wildlife.

For further information, contact Brendan at speediecelt@gmail.com.

The Return of An Sídhe

The Fairies Take up Residency in our Forest Garden!

Thanks to the artistic, creativity and imagination of one of our younger volunteers, the fairies (Sídhe) are starting to appear amongst the trees, rocks and wildflowers of the Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden. The 'little people' have not been seen in the locality for decades, as their once green homelands were destroyed by concrete, tarmac, traffic, hoards of dumped refuse, pollution and chemical toxic fertilizers.

Yet over the last decade, the ongoing planting of tens of thousands of trees and wildflowers in the man-made Terryland Forest Park, the return of insects, foxes and birds, the removal of rubbish and the development of an organic neighbourhood garden created a natural environment where fairies could once again live. 

All it needed then was the magical paintbrushes of Lynette McGowan to cast their awesome spells and the 'little people' miraculously started to appear last week from underneath rocks and from behind the base of tree trunks!

Can you help us with this wonderful work of maintaining a little community garden and natural woodland in Terryland Forest Park?

Once again we need volunteers from 11.15am on Saturday (Aug 2nd) to continue supporting the ongoing enhancement of the Living Willow Tunnel, in laying the foundations for a giant Celtic Cross feature that will form the axis of the garden as well as the more mundane tasks of weeding, watering and general upkeep. We will also be litter picking and putting up locally made (Cumann na bhFear) bat boxes in the adjacent woodlands.

So with so much tasks to be completed, we could use your presence on the day!
Google Maps location: https://goo.gl/maps/YW3Zj