We had a great day, avoiding the worst of the rain: starting at Louisburgh Town Hall. For the outdoor activities we headed down to the Bunowen river by the bridge for a demo of Electrofishing by Inland Fisheries Ireland and a demo of kick sampling by our Community Water Officer.  It didn’t rain too much despite the awful forecast. If you were put off from coming because of that  weather forecast, you missed out!

After the river stuff we went into Books at One to look at our finds under microscopes generously set up by Connie O’Driscoll, a member of the local community who also happens to be a water scientist working for Uisce Eireann. It hurled down with rain while we were in Books at One. Thanks to Books at One for allowing us to tramp in with our outdoor clothes, carrying trays of river water and insects.😊 What did we find? I’ll write soon about the “good guys” and the “bad guys” and what that tells us about water quality!

CALL had a small grant from LAWPRO (Local Authority Waters Programme) to buy the net in that photo, some sample trays and a kid’s life jacket. The net and sample trays are now available for anyone (local) to use if they want to see what’s in their river or stream. You can ask to borrow them if you contact me at callactionofficer@gmail.com.

Back in the Town Hall we had refreshments provided by TIA, who are just up the road and do a great line in sandwiches, huge sausage rolls popular with teenagers, and lovely home made cakes. Following the lunch we had an inspiring talk from Carlene Lyttle, our visiting speaker from Inishowen Rives Trust. Carlene is a project officer for Inishowen and talked to us about some of the “Nature Based Solutions” they have been trialling to help prevent flooding by slowing the flow. If you want to know more about Nature Based Solutions- I do too, and I’m going to write a blog about that soon.  Some of the farmers in the audience on our water day also want to know more and agreed to work with CALL to try some Nature Based Solutions on the rivers in our catchment (Bunowen and Carrowniskey). So that’s a watch this space….