BioBlitz

Great excitement here in the Suck Valley in Co Roscommon as we count down to the launch of the first ever BioBlitz in this part of the county. For anyone that is unsure what a BioBlitz is, I will quote from National Geographic “A BioBlitz is an event that focuses on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area over a short period of time”

In the Visitors (Angling) Centre On Friday 7th June at 4.30 pm Eanna Ni Lamhna will give us a brief talk on her vast knowledge of Biodiversity and related topics, she will present the prizes in our schools art competition and at 5 pm she will drop the flag and start our 24 hour BioBlitz on the Suck Valley Way.

We will have some light refreshments available in the Visitors centre and also the Knockcroghery ukulele band will provide us with some wonderful tunes!

At 9.00pm in St Ciaran’s hall in Castlecoote,  Niall Cribbon will give us a talk on his vast knowledge of Bats and what species we might find in the Suck Valley area

At approx. 10.00pm we will walk a few hundred yards from St Ciaran’s community hall led by Bat Expert Dave Fallon through the beautiful tidy town winning village of Castlecoote to the bridge, where we hopefully will see some of the species that Niall spoke about.

That will conclude the events for Friday evening, and we will look forward to seeing you all out again next day (Saturday 8th)

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Bright and early on Saturday morning ….5.30 am to be precise, we will all meet in the grounds of the beautiful Donamon Castle (ample parking available) Dave Mc Kay and Padraig Rocke will lead a Dawn Chorus walk which should arrive into Castlecoote around 7.30 am .Transport will be provided back to your car! Castlecoote stores will be open for Tea/coffee etc. Waterproof footwear and clothing are advised…

At 8.00am the moth traps that were put out in various locations on Friday night will be opened in St Ciaran’s Hall Castlecoote to reveal what species of Moth is living in the area.

At 9.00am we are off walking again on a guided nature walk from Castlecoote to Athleague.

At 9.00 am in the Visitors Centre in Athleague AKA “Base Camp” will open its doors feel free to drop in anytime during the day. Workshops will begin at 12 noon. These will include some short-guided walks, Bug hunts in and around the Centre grounds and riverbank and small mammal exhibition. Catherine Seale and Rebecca Dobson and many more experts will be on hand all day to answer your questions and demonstrate how you too can identify the species  we have here in the Suck Valley

Laura Gallagher from National Parks & Wildlife Service will have a stuffed mammal and bird display, microscopes to look at insects, a slideshow of wildlife footage collected from trail camera and night vision equipment, and some books on identifying Irish wildlife.

Inland fisheries will have a live display of what can be found in the River Suck and are available all day to answer your questions.

All the children’s art from the 6 schools in the region will be on display in the Visitors centre.

Martina Butler from RCC will run workshops from midday which will be mini beast hunts with the children discovering what is living in the ground and in the trees surrounding us

You will have an opportunity to follow the count as each find is logged into the Biodiversity Ireland data base…It is estimated we will discover upwards of 500 different species living on the Suck Valley Way.