Winter Visitors

Our countryside is inundated with thousands of visitors flying in from the northern regions of continental Europe. These ‘tourists’ spread themselves in loose flocks over the greener fields and bushier hedges. They are known as the ‘winter thrushes’. Older people called them ‘siocáns’, meaning ‘the frost birds’ as their arrival coincides with a drop in temperatures and the beginning of the winter frosts, so this is the perfect week to give them a few moments’ thought. The siocán is actually a fieldfare - a bird somewhat bigger than a blackbird. The first sign of its arrival may well be the quick cackle of its flight call – sounding like ‘cack-cack-cack-cack’. This is delivered as it flies high above the tallest trees. It is a striking bird with a grey head and rump, dark brown back and wings, spotted breast and black tail and wingtips.

Its cousin the redwing is often the more numerous, traveling in large flocks and staying in close contact with each other. This smaller bird is very like a songthrush, but can be distinguished from it by the noticeable cream-coloured stripe above the eye. There is also a reddish patch under the wing which is very conspicuous in flight and which gives it its name. Even at night it can be identified as it flies overhead by its high pitched ‘tzeep’ call. Its Irish name is appropriately ‘deargán sneachta’ –or ‘the red snow bird’.

Neither of these thrushes breed here, but for the winter months watch out for them loosely scattered over the greener fields, hopping along and pausing now and again to pick up a tasty worm or other invertebrate. Fieldfare and redwing are often to be seen helping themselves to the bright red berries of hawthorn, yew and rowan. If you have had your eye on a beautiful sprig of holly flush with red berries for the Christmas decorations, only to go out one day and found it stripped bare, there is a good chance that the redwing or fieldfare have beaten you to it! They seem to be a lot more numerous this year. Their coming south equates to us heading off to the Riviera for a winter break!

May we at Cabragh Wetlands wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas, and take this chance to thank the many people who have supported our work over the course of the year.

Adaptation

Fr. SeánMcDonagh SSC December 10, 2009.

Last year at the Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland, I wrote an article about the importance of prioritizing the Adaptation Fund in any overall climate agreement. I made the point that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is the primary goal of the whole process. According to Article 2 of the UNFamework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) the ultimate goal of the Convention is to achieve the “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”.

However, it is important to remember that we are not talking about what may, or may not happen, in the future. In the 20th century average global temperatures increased by 0.74 degree Celsius, while sea-level rise, resulting from both the thermal expansion of the ocean and melting of ice across the globe, amounted to 17 cms. Even with a relatively small increase the Maldive Islands, several Small Islands states in the South Pacific and low-lying coastal nations such as Bangladesh, with lands surfaces barely a metre or two above sea level, would find that every storm and tidal surge represents a serious danger to human life. In fact, these areas may soon have to be abandoned by humans because they can no longer sustain human life.

So, Adaptation is designed to deal with the current and future casualties of climate change. From an ethical perspective it is about applying the moral principle that “the polluter must pay for the consequence of the pollution they cause.” Unless economically rich countries in Europe, North America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand and current major polluters such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the next decade, then catastrophic climate change is almost inevitable and it will affect the poor more severely. Because Columbans are missionaries, much of our work on Climate Change is focused on the Adaptation measure because these will intimately affect people in many countries in which Columbans work, namely, Peru, Chile, Pakistan and the Philippines.

The Fourth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), was published in 2007, before the Bali Conference. One could summarize its finding with a few quotations from the document. It claimed that “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and oceans temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global sea levels.” It goes on to link these changes with human activity, mainly the burning of fossil fuel to power our industrial economies, since the beginning of the industrial revolution,. “Most of the observed increase in temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations”.

Adaptation Fund received a lot of attention at both the Nairobi meeting of the UNFCCC in November 2006 and the Bali meeting in 2007. Disagreement centred around where the Fund would be located and how it would be managed. Economically rich countries wanted to have the Fund located in the IMF/World Bank complex, which would make it easier for them to control. This was anathema to many people from the South who suffered massive economic shocks as a result of the Third World Debt crisis in the 1980s and 1990s. Instead of attacking the banks that loaned the money or the governments that raised interest rates, the IMF/World Banks forced destructive Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) that often crippled the education, health care and welfare systems of economically poor countries.

While the architecture of the Adaptation Fund was finally agreed at Bali, the main problem that Copenhagen has to tackle is simply that the needs are great and there is little money in the kitty. It is estimated that at least $100 billion annually will be needed by 2020.

A favourable outcome Copenhagen would involve: Firstly, a shared vision on Adaptation itself, which would take on board all aspects of the Bali Action Plan. This would mean a massive increase in designing Adaptation plans at the national and international levels. Secondly, rich countries must fulfill the promises they made 8 years ago to fully fund the actions which will address the immediate impact of climate change between now and 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol runs out. Thirdly, Adaptation funding must be new and additional to the Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitment of 0.7% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which the UN has called on all rich countries to make. The money must be delivered as grants and not as loans.

Setting the Stage for Copenhagen

Rev. Seán McDonagh, SSC December 8th 2009

This is my fourth time attending the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). My first one was COP 12, which took place in Nairobi in 2006. About 5,000 people were present at the event, including country delegates, people from civil society organisations and the media. We all gathered at the headquarters of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Nairobi. Security was tight and all events closed down before 6 p.m. I stayed at the Maryknoll house which is situated just outside Nairobi. As far as I can remember the only Head of State who attended, the president of Kenya.
The following year, COP 13 took place on the beautiful island of Bali in Indonesia. It was housed in a complex of luxury hotels close to the beach. Because of the nightclub bombings in Bali some years previously, security was very tight. About 8,000 people attended among them two heads of State, the President of Indonesia and the, then, newly elected Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd. The most memorable moment in Bali meeting happened on the last evening when the US delegation was attempting to derail what became known as the Bali Road Map. In exasperation a negotiator from the republic of Vanuatu called on the US delegation to, at least get out of the way, if they did not want to be party to the negotiation process. The Bush Administration was opposed to any globally binding climate change agreement. The Bali Road Map set out the programme of work which would have to be completed in order to deliver a follow-up treaty to the Kyoto Protocol at Copenhagen in 2009. The reason why a robust treaty is essential here at Copenhagen is that the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

COP 14 took place at Poznan in Poland, in December 2008. I stayed at Capuchin monastery in the centre of the old city. On the first night one of the friars brought me for a tour and of the Christmas markets. I was particularly drawn to the ice sculptures, especially the intricacies of many of the designs. The Friar explained that traditionally these sculptures were carved in December and usually lasted through out the winter. In Poznan in December 2008, most of the sculptures had melted by the first Sunday of the Conference, a sure sign that climate change is already a reality. One of the disappointments of the Poznan’s meeting was the fact that European Union drew back from the commitments it had given at Bali, which was that rich countries, Annex 1 countries in the language of the COP, would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 25% to 40% by 2020. The row-back was as a result of pressure from the coal industry on the Polish governmentj and the fact that Chancellor Angel Merkel of Germany was facing re-election in 2009. She did not want to alienate the car, steel and coal constituency.

It is estimated that there will be 15,000 people at the Copenhagen Conference, including 100 Heads of State. The opening ceremony took place on December 7th 2009. It was addressed by the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mr. Lars Lokke Rasmussen, He said that COP 15 was taking place at a time of unprecedented political good will. He urged the parties to reach an ambitious agreement in order to deliver “hope for a better future” for all.

He was followed by the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Mr. Yvo de Boer. He hoped that Copenhagen would result in an agreement on significant elements of the on-going negotiations. These include: Mitigation, which means cutting carbon emissions drastically in rich countries: Adaptation which involves making financial resources available to economically poor countries which are now and, in the future, will be badly effected by climate change; Initiatives to protect forests as carbon sinks and to make clean, non-fossil fuel technologies available to countries in Africa, South Asia and Latin America are also part of the negotiations. He emphasised that Copenhagen would be successful only if it delivered significant and immediate actions, beginning the day the conference ends
Madame Ritt Bjerregard, the Mayor of Copenhagen highlighted the Copenhagen Climate Summit for Mayors which will take place from December 14th to 17th 2009. She said that the city of Copenhagen aimed to be carbon neutral by 2025. She called on the negotiators to “go very far and very fast” and turn Copenhagen into “Hopenhagen.”

How Robust is the Science of Climate Change?

Fr. Seán McDonagh, SSC, December 9, 2009

In the run up to the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change, hackers broke into computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Centre and got access to many private emails exchanged between climate scientists who have worked with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This ignited a global controversy about the reliability of the IPCC’s data and methodology. It forced the chief scientist at the centre of the row, Professor Phil Jones, to step down temporarily as head of the university’s climate research centre, while an independent enquiry into the matter was being conducted,
Many of these emails were seized upon by climate sceptics who claimed that scientists associated with the IPCC had excluded data from scientists who questioned the IPCC’s consensus that human-induced activities, especially burning fossil fuel, are significant elements in the current planetary global warming. News outlets such a Fox News in the U.S. and conservative politicians such as Senator James M Inhofe, the Republican Senator from Oklahoma, and Tony Abbott, the new leader of the opposition in Australia and Nigel Lawson in Britain claimed that the content of the emails vindicated their scepticism.
So, everyone expected that the chair of the IPCC, Prof. R.K Pachauri would deal with the issue at the first possible opportunity at the Copenhagen conference. At a meeting on the “IPCC Findings and Activities and their Relevance for the UNFCCC Process” on December 9th 2009, Pachauri addressed the controversy head on. He said that “it is unfortunate that an illegal act of accessing private emails communication between scientists who have been involved as authors in the IPCC assessment in the past has led to several questions and concerns. It is important for me to clarify that the IPCC as a body follows impartial, open and objective assessment of every aspect of climate change carried out with complete transparency.” He pointed out that “the IPCC relies mainly on peer reviewed literature in carrying out its assessment and follows a process that renders it unlikely that any peer reviewed piece of literature, however contrary to the views of any individual author, would be left out. Furthermore, “the entire report writing process of the IPCC is subjected to extensive and repeated review by experts as well as governments. Consequently, there is, at every stage, full opportunity for experts in the field to draw attention to any piece of literature and its basic findings that would ensure inclusion of a range of views.” He went on to emphasise that “there is no possibility of exclusion of any contrarian views, if they have been published in established journals or other publications that are peer reviewed.“
He was at pains to point out that the IPCC reports while using the best available science, are not completely dependent on scientists. “I would like to highlight the fact that the summary for policymakers of all the reports of the IPCC are accepted and approved by all the governments of the world.”
As a consequence of this painstaking and thorough process “no individual or small group of scientists is in a position to exclude a peer-reviewed paper from the IPCC assessment. Likewise, individuals and small groups have no ability to emphasize a result that is not consistent with a range of studies, investigations, and approaches.” There are many layers in the IPCC process, beginning with the large number of authors, from a wide range of scientific disciplines, who are involved in the writing process. On top of that, there is an extensive monitoring and review process and, finally governments sign off on the findings. As a result Dr. Pachauri rejected any biased findings. On the contrary he claimed that “the IPCC assessment Reports are comprehensive, unbiased and based on the best scientific data available at the time. Its findings can be relied upon and can form the basis for relevant policy decisions by policy makers. The remit of the IPCC does not allow it to become policy prescriptive.”

At the end of his statement he returned to the illegal hacking of private emails at the University of East Anglia. According to Pachauri the private emails have been taken out of their proper context. If I say, in a private email, that I could kill a particular scientist for writing a non-peer- reviewed, contrarian article about climate change, it doesn’t mean I plan to buy a gun and go out and shoot him. It means that I am as mad as hell, because I believe promoting non-peer reviewed, contrarian positions muddies the waters and slows down the possibility for the decisive actions which will be needed to stabilize atmospheric gases immediately. It is essential that these decisions are taken here at Copenhagen in order to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, which will affect the poor disproportionately. According to Dr. Pachauri the “incident only highlights the importance of IPCC procedures and practices and the thoroughness by which the Panel carries out its assessments.” Whether these answers will satisfy the sceptics or those sitting on the fence remains to be seen.

Updates from Copenhagen

We are delighted to have updates from Sean McDonagh from the Climate Change conference in Copenhagen which we will be publishing on The Snipe over the next weeks

Copenhagen and Carlow

All eyes should be on Copenhagen, as leaders from 190 countries gather to try to thrash out a workable treaty to deal with the immense challenges presented by climate change. One of the earliest theories of global warming was put forward in 1824 by the French physicist Joseph Fourier, who explained that gases in the Earth’s atmosphere can trap heat like a glasshouse – the “greenhouse effect”. In 1861 John Tyndall, born in Leighlin Bridge County Carlow, published a work on heat radiation. He was an ordnance survey and railway engineer who studied physics in Britain and Germany (under Bunsen, of burner fame) and became a celebrated mountaineer, touring with Darwin’s right-hand man T.H.Huxley and making the first ascent of the Weisshorn in the Swiss Alps. He showed that water vapour and other gases combine to create the greenhouse effect: “This aqueous vapour is a blanket more necessary to the vegetable life of England than clothing is to a man”.

Tyndall was one of the pioneers of climate science, and is remembered today through the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester. His early work spawned a vast body of research involving chemists, physicists, geographers, oceanographers, geologists, botanists, naturalists and just about any branch of science that you can think of. The unanimity of these scientists is almost total. The Earth is warming, potentially very dangerously. Ten of the thirteen hottest years on record have been since 1995. The planet is at a temperature level not seen for 1300 years, and is overwhelmingly likely to get hotter over the next century. Yes, there is a cyclical element in the rise and fall of global temperature, but this rise is very largely caused by man through use of carbon-emitting fossil fuels to power our industrial revolution and economic growth since the mid-18th century.

There is a general consensus that a 2C rise is the largest that can be safely absorbed by life on Earth and human society. That is what Copenhagen is trying to guarantee, with countries pledging to reduce carbon emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2020 This is a worthy goal and achievable if we adopt sustainable sources of energy (wind, water, waves, geo-thermal) or even nuclear power. In itself the consensus is that 20% is not sufficient to contain warming to 2C. Cuts of up to 80% on 1990 levels will have to be implemented within a generation, not easy when there are ”developing countries” wanting to ape the lifestyle of the materially prosperous, energy-greedy west. American and Chinese (and others’) pledges to cut emissions are currently way short of the short-term minimum requirement of 20%.

If you are a climate-change sceptic, or even a denier, then ask yourself if you are being rational. The unanimity of scientific judgement is so great, that to reject it without pointing to creditable research is no longer a valid position to hold. Yes, there is a small chance that tens of thousands of scientists are wrong, that they have colluded to mislead the public, that almost every government is deluded into backing the “20 by 2020” call. If they are wrong, then we should still take the chance to make changes to our lifestyle that will make a decent standard of life and living possible around the globe once fossil fuels run out in a few decades. Changes for sustainability need to be made anyway.

If moderate climate change opinion is right, we will all have to make adjustments to our lifestyle and to our values. Can we any longer place individual and national freedom above other considerations? Global standards and rules will be needed to get emissions to sustainable levels. Personal freedom to pursue economic growth and wealth is perhaps a value that is increasingly out of place in the new global reality. That doyenne of free-market capitalism and personal freedom, Margaret Thatcher, was herself a chemist by training, and as long ago as 1989 told the UN that “we are seeing a vast increase in the amount of carbon dioxide reaching the atmosphere. The result is that change in future is likely to be more fundamental and more widespread than anything we have known hitherto”.

Climate change events are being held around Ireland this coming week. Try Kinnity Co, Offaly this Sunday (13th Dec) at 5.00pm. Show support for what more and more people are realising has to be done.

The Director of the Tyndall Research Centre, Prof. Kevin Anderson, has warned this week that 20% cuts are now simply token gestures. Global carbon dioxide emissions will peak much later than anticipated and will be reduced far too late for temperatures to be held at a mere 2C rise. He thinks we are almost inevitably on course for a 4-6C rise. This is a catastrophic scenario for human society and global life.

Volunteering and Community

It has been a memorable November for the Cabragh Wetlands Trust. The Star gave great coverage to our manager, Michael Long, who was awarded top prize in the environment category at the Ireland Involved Awards Night in Dublin, where prizes were presented by the President. Michael must take much of the credit for the expanding range of activities at the Wetlands Centre, and thoroughly deserved his moment of fame!

This week a group of us attended an Awards evening in Kilcommon Hall, where the North Tipperary Community and Voluntary Association (CAVA) Awards for 2009 were presented. The guest of honour, our MEP Alan Kelly, spoke about how CAVA was his favourite organization, because it is there to encourage, support and recognise the importance of work done by volunteers in local communities. Voluntary work is at the heart of do much that is good in our society today, and as we approach a very unsettled period in history, with climate change, economic downturn and many other problems threatening our futures, there is more and more recognition that the way forward has to be through local action and voluntary involvement.

Have we become too reliant on governments and local councils to tell us what to do? If more of us had the initiative to tackle problems in our communities by direct involvement and local leadership, the world would quickly be a much better place. One of the best ways of defining the difference between man and other species is that humans are working and creative animals, but we live in a period of history where we have been slowly transformed into consumers of the goods produced by others. Are we in danger of losing our creativity and independence as a result?

Think about your own community. Talk to friends and see what you can identify that could be improved by collective participation. The Cabragh Wetlands Trust came together to conserve an area of outstanding natural interest that was under threat. Do you have something similar in your area? Perhaps there is some old woodland that needs protection, or some waste ground that could be transformed with a bit of local effort. Non-environmental issues may be your concern – supporting local businesses, a farmers’ cooperative, preserving a village shop or local school, provision of cycle routes, help for the disabled or disadvantaged. Over the next twenty years, energy will be a massive issue for all of us. Is there something that could be done to provide renewable energy to your community? Could your local river be harnessed to produce power via a small water turbine? Can wind be used? Friends of mine bought a house in 1949, used a little windmill (about a metre across) on a ten foot pole to power a generator and spent the last 50 years of their lives using their own free and renewable electricity to run the house. Why not do this at a community level?

The possibilities are endless. Already we see farmers’ markets and allotments flourishing, as people recognize the need to take more control of their own lives and their own communities. If we all make sure our own piece of the planet is in good order, the threats we face in the coming century will be much reduced.

CAVA is there to help, developing networks of similar groups, providing training, helping with funding, empowering people, promoting equality and social inclusion, providing a forum where ideas can be shared and issues discussed, lobbying on behalf of member organizations to influence policy at all levels of government. You can contact CAVA at the Council Offices in Nenagh. Find a way to get involved and make use of this excellent organization

Floods

Flooding is a pretty serious issue at the moment, and our sympathy goes out to anyone suffering as a result of the terrible floods that have hit so much of the country. While the extent of the damage is catastrophic for some, it is not entirely unexpected. At this time of year very heavy rains have been the norm for some time now, and if the climate change predictions are right, things will get worse in the coming decades, with winter rainfall in this part of the country predicted to rise by about 20% by the middle of the century. More reasons to re-evaluate how we live and what we can do to reduce our carbon footprints.

Needless to say, flooding per se is not necessarily a bad thing. It has a positive role to play in shaping and managing the natural world. At present Cabragh Wetlands has put on her winter clothes. The swollen River Suir and the Killough stream, following lines of least resistance, are pouring water into Cabragh Wetlands. In a matter of days the landscape has been transformed from a place with a variety of foliage to a watery landscape with sparse clumps of protruding vegetation.

As is the way of nature, the availability of food generally coincides with the arrival of waders from the North to join our resident birds. Waders like greylag geese, whooper swans, wigeon, teal, and mallard duck, lapwing and curlew can be heard singing excitedly in their watery abodes. The source of their excitement is the emergence of food. A large variety of invertebrates, which happily reside in the ground during the summer, are flushed out by the autumn floods. Snails, beetles, earthworms and a huge range of insects now become a valuable food source for arriving waders, as well as the resident bird population.

Wetlands are part of the landscape and fulfil a variety of important functions. They act as a sponge to absorb huge quantities of water during heavy rains and then release it in a slow controlled way. They act as a filtration system for water, purifying and restoring to good health the water that passes through. A variety of fauna living in a wetland habitat actually pump oxygen into their roots to support the bacteria; this oxygenates the water. Reed bed systems are increasingly being used to purify waste water from houses and farms.

Wetlands act as a carbon sink by storing in the vegetation huge quantities of carbon, which otherwise would be stored in the atmosphere adding to the greenhouse effect. Wetlands actually contain up to fifty times more bio-diversity than ‘good land’. This in turn attracts a corresponding amount of insects, birds and wild creatures.

The floods carry with them welcome loads of sediment which settles in to fertilise the wetland for the new growth that will emerge next Spring. So as the wetland takes on its winter appearance, it is fulfilling its cycle of life and sustaining huge populations of flora and fauna. We can enjoy the life they sustain and appreciate the role they play in sustaining life on Earth.

Five Minutes to Midnight - Ireland and Climate Change

Cabragh Wetlands Trust is hosting a very special evening on the crucial topic of Climate Change at the Wetland Centre on Wednesday 25th November at 8.00pm. Our speaker is a very distinguished Tipperary man, Dr Kieran Hickey, Lecturer in Physical Geography at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Kieran has taught and studied widely in Ireland and the UK, writing many articles in academic journals, and recently published a very well reviewed book on Climate Change, entitled “Five Minutes to Midnight? Ireland and Climate Change”. He has made a special study of the impact of climate change on storm patterns, coastal vulnerability and sea-level rise in Ireland and elsewhere, and has spoken at conferences as far afield as New Zealand, Slovenia, Spain and the USA as well as Ireland and the UK.



This promises to be an exceptional evening, with a chance to hear a recognized expert talk on a complex subject that could not be of greater significance for each and every one of us. Here at Cabragh Wetlands we are striving to work within the local community to address the important questions raised by the changing climate. Do come. Listen, learn, think, and share your ideas. Let’s work as a community to move towards a better future. As Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. Students (especially budding Third Level Geographers) will be very welcome. Entrance is free, and copies of Kieran’s book will be available.



The UN Conference on Climate Change is meeting in Copenhagen in December to try to hammer out a treaty that will replace the Kyoto Protocols and set new binding targets on carbon emissions, though the latest news is not encouraging. Perhaps the best we can hope for is productive talks, better understanding and a move towards a binding treaty in the next year. One proposal is to reduce damaging emissions by 40% by 2020, with an 80% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2050. The changes to our lifestyles could be immense, and the prospect of failure suggests a very bleak future for mankind and the rest of life on Earth.



It is alarming to read this week that a poll of 1500 people in the UK found that two-thirds of them do not believe climate change is happening. Equally concerning are the number of ordinary, decent folk who turn their backs on the problem – “2050? I’ll be dead by then. It’s nothing to do with me.” It makes you doubt that oft repeated cliché, that man is rational. In the last few months we have been able to read reports about Australian states and cities that are debating the abandonment of their coastlines because of rising sea levels – steps to build sea defences are likely to be banned. Outlying islands in the Carteret group north of Australia are being evacuated by their inhabitants because sea level rises are already making them uninhabitable. The Maldives government is openly searching for a new piece of land that they can buy and move to, lock stock and barrel; it is the only way they can keep together as a national community, as their own islands steadily flood. According to the United Nations 300,000 people are already dying each year because of climate change, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.



Essentially this is the fault of the over-material western “developed” world, with their excessive demands for oil-based energy. Questions need to be raised about our morals and values, as well as our lifestyles. Can the planet cope with a population that has gone from 4.1 billion in 1975, to 6.7 billion today and a projected 10.8 billion by 2100, within the lifetime of children born today?



This is not a question that any of us can afford to turn away from. We can look at it on many levels. The massive populations of Asia must be persuaded away from the wasteful materialism that obsesses the West; that can only be done if we lead the way and give up much that we have come to regard as our right. You may prefer to see this as a local issue; every community and every family must take the responsibility for controlling their carbon emissions, preserving biodiversity and habitat, switching to sustainable sources of energy, limiting population growth and reshaping their values so that over the coming decades man becomes again a species that lives within the limits of the planet’s finite resources.



Come along to Cabragh on 25th November and join the debate. If you think those who are concerned about climate change are wrong, come and tell us why. If you have ideas on what we as a community can do, come and share them. Local councillors? Churches? Energy suppliers? Farmers? Scientists and engineers? You all have important contributions to make. Let’s hear from you.

Garden Birds

There will be a talk on "Garden Birds and How to Attract Them" on Wednesday 18th November at 8pm. Further details here

Our Ancestors in Cabragh 2

Last week we noted that there were more as many as ten historical sites mapped in the area enclosed by the Cabragh wetlands in the elbow of the River Suir. Most of these sites were ringforts, where families lived for centuries in relative safety, sheltering in the protection given by the marsh and river on their east, north and west sides.

These circular ring forts were used by pastoral Celtic people. Most of them are thought to have been built between 500AD and 1000AD, but it seems likely that some of the sites were occupied many centuries before. In places the ringforts are barely a hundred metres apart, suggesting that expanding families necessitated the building of new homesteads close by, which would have been another source of protection and tells us something about the cooperation between family groups.

For centuries then humans lived with the wetlands, adapting themselves to the natural rhythms and cycles of the local environment, growing crops, grazing cattle and moving livestock to seasonal pastures.

The rectangular enclosures or moated sites were built by the Anglo-Normans, probably dating from the late 13th century. They are mainly defensive sites with a wide fosse (ditch) or moat on the outside. This was often filled with water. Inside this was a substantial bank enclosing a flat area where wooden dwellings and outhouses would be erected. The total area of one of these enclosures at Fertiana is about 1500 sq. metres.

What changes these Anglo-Normans brought to Cabragh / Fertiana can only be imagined. Did they clear the forests and replace them with their rundale system of farming? Had they long fields of ploughed land and some fallow strips? Did they save hay in the area and introduce the mute swan and rabbit to the river and fields? We can only speculate, but they have left their marks on a place that adds variety and interest to a beautiful landscape. It is our duty to preserve them so that future generations can encounter them and unfold their secrets.

What we do know is that in 1326 Thomas Stapleton, Lord of Fertiana, living in his grand house on the high ground west of Fertiana, gave permission to the monks of Holycross Abbey to cross the wetlands. It is probably too speculative to suggest that the monks carved that beautiful barn owl into the wall of the old Abbey as an expression of appreciation for his gesture.

There has been a symbiosis between man and the wetlands sine time immemorial. It is this that the Cabragh Wetlands Trust is committed to preserving.

Autumn leaves

It’s autumn, and the oak tree is in the process of sending out countless invitations to a great feast. One by one the yellow leaves float and drift down to the ground where the feast will be held. Hundreds and thousands will be invited; so many, that the guests cannot all come at once. Instead they come in waves.

The first wave of guests don't have far to travel; in fact they already live on the leaf. They are the bacteria that have lain dormant on that leaf; only waiting for the dew from the grass to wash out the bitter tasting compounds. The bacteria are present in such great numbers. Colonies of them are so large, that dark blotches of them appear on the leaf. Take a look next time you are out and you will see them.

The next to arrive are the spores of fungi that arrive by wind. These fungi bring with them special enzymes, which enable them to break down the parts of the leaf that are quite difficult to break down. These decomposers are invaluable.

You might know some of the next guests. They include the millipedes, springtails, mites and worms. Among the worms is a very modest hard working member of the community that we all know; the earthworm. The leaf by now is shredded into small parts.

The earthworm leaves to attend to other important business, however the feasting continues with more invertebrates arriving. The leaf is reduced to microscopic particles and another wave of bacteria and fungi have second helpings and enjoy these remains until the leaf is fully decomposed.

The invitations continue throughout the autumn, until they gradually begin to subside. The oak tree still stands tall, but now begins to reveal its stark bare brown branches. It will rest for quite some time now, and deservedly so.

Plays, Talks and Ancestors!

There are a lot of events coming up in the next few weeks, and your support as always will be greatly valued. On Monday 9th November, Thurles Drama Group will be opening a run at the Source of its new show ‘Flying Feathers’ by Derek Benfield, which promises to be a great evening of comedy. Very generously the Drama Group and the Source have offered the opening night to Cabragh Wetlands as a Benefit Night and fundraising event (though with that title, a conservation charity does seem the right choice!). Please get your tickets and come along to a cheese and wine reception at the Source at 7.30pm, with the curtain due to rise at 8.15. We look forward to seeing you there. http://www.thesourceartscentre.ie/whats_on/view_event.php?Event_ID=331

The Friday before that (November 6th) An Taisce is hosting an evening on Climate Change at the Convent Hall in Nenagh, starting at 8.00pm. The speakers will be Eanna ni Lamnhna and Jon Sweeney. Eanna’s abilities as an inspirational speaker are second to none, while Jon Sweeney has a great reputation as a man who can get across the growing urgency of the climate crisis and also clarify the key scientific detail that can be so confusing to the average non-scientist. There is likely to be no more pressing issue than this over the next century, so don’t miss this opportunity to improve your understanding of what is inevitably a complex issue.

While one crisis forces us to look ahead, it is no bad thing to look back and see what was going on in previous centuries at Cabragh Wetlands. Many thanks to our local history correspondent for researching the following material. From the many archaeological sites close to Cabragh Wetlands it seems that the marsh itself had a lot to offer the people of former times. Between Cabragh Castle and Holycross Abbey the bend of the river Suir encloses the wetlands, with higher ground found on its western edges. There are at least ten prehistoric sites on the Record of Monuments and Places (RMP) Maps. If we travel a little further south to Graiguenoe the ring barrows there suggest that late Bronze Age people lived in the area some 3000 years ago. The most obvious sites on the western fringes of the wetlands are the ring forts and some moated sites.

A ring fort is a Celtic (500BC) farmstead. It is a circular area enclosed by an earthen bank. The material for this bank was thrown up from inside thus creating a fosse. Inside the flat area different types of buildings were constructed; these would probably have been thatched circular structures with wattle and daub or sod walls. On the bank outside a strong fence of stakes would give security from wild animals or enemies. Usually one family occupied the fort, and when the group grew too big another fort would be constructed close by.

How did the Celtic people use the wetlands? The most obvious use was the natural protection the marsh and the river afforded them. They also used the wetlands and river for food. They probably fished and killed wild animals that came to drink, including deer and wild boar. They more than likely enjoyed the meat of wild duck and geese. The presence of a fullacht fia close to the wetlands gives evidence of communal cooking. We can only speculate on the uses they made of the marsh. The archaeological sites show us that people lived here since the Bronze Age. The secrets of these beautiful landscapes features await excavations by future generations. It’s our duty in the meantime to value them as part of our rich heritage, and also to think about how our ancestors lived in balance with their local environment for many millenia. We have much to learn from them.

Apologies!

Due to unforseen circumstances the lecture on Tuesday 27th October on garden birds has been cancelled. However it will be rescheduled at a later date. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Winter Lecture Series and Chief Seattle

Cabragh Wetlands Trust is beginning its series of Winter Talks, with a popular event next Tuesday (27th October) when well-known local naturalist Tom Gallagher will talk at 8.00pm on “Garden Birds and how to attract them”. This is a wonderful event for the whole family to attend, and will give you plenty of ideas about how to get more of our feathered friends into your gardens. Entry is free, as is a restorative cup of tea.





In an inspiring testament written in the mid-1850s the Native American Chief Seattle described people as “but a strand in the web of life”. In our time we are returning to this realization and learning to appreciate the world about us in a whole new way.



So much of what Chief Seattle intuitively understood, we now know to be true. Science has since confirmed that all of life is indeed related and springs from from one unbroken source. In this year of Darwin’s anniversary, we are surely in a position to understand better than any previous generation where man came from and what is his true place in the spectrum of life. We are able to join the indigenous wisdom of our ancestors and “undeveloped” people like Seattle, to the hard science of the anthropologists who painstakingly piece together bone fragments to demonstrate ever more clearly the stages by which modern man emerged.



For 30 years we have read about Lucy, over 3 million years old and ancestor of just about everyone on the planet. Now the scientists have come up with Ardi, from east Africa as well, but 100,000 generations before Lucy; 4.8 million years old, but bi-pedal (walking on two legs) like us today. The bone record is getting ever closer to identifying that famous missing link, the common ancestor of both humans and the great apes like chimpanzees and gorillas.



As a species modern man emerged from Africa about 80,000 years ago. A small band of people searching for food, pushed out into the Middle East. Over the millennia our ancestors spread around the world and increased in number. As a species we have been extremely successful, with almost seven billion people now occupying every habitable corner of the globe.



Over time many cultures and languages emerged offering amazing diversity and color. Each landscape and environment evokes its own particular flowering of the human spirit in response. We may have developed cultural and physical differences, but we are one people, all sharing common ancestors.



We exist and flourish within the context of the web of life on which we depend. We wouldn't draw our next breath but for the trees taking in our carbon dioxide and giving us life sustaining oxygen. Our food would not grow but for the earth worms, the billions of micro-organisms in the soil creating the conditions for the seed to germinate and grow.



Seattle recognized that we are entirely dependent on the interconnection of all life, that we are but a strand in a web of life. Like links in a chain, the web works because it all works together. Each piece of the web has a role to play for life to flourish. As a species humans are as dependant on the web as every other species. Damage the web, and we endanger all life, including ultimately ourselves.



The web of life is made up of many different life forms, from micro-organisms in the soil to the Blue Whale in the oceans, yet it is one community of life, and we are part of this amazing, complex, yet intimate community. Everything is related to everything else, even if you have to go back a billion generations to find the connection. At last even the politicians are waking up to these self-evident truths, with dire warnings about the consequences of failure at the Copenhagen climate talks in December. The web is under real and immediate threat.



At Cabragh Wetlands we are working to protect the children, the children of all species, so this wonderful web of life can remain healthy and sustainable for the foreseeable future.

Rarities at Cabragh

Since Cabragh Wetlands Trust began managing their original 14 acres of the marsh in the early 1990’s, there have been many unusual feathered visitors to the area. Birds like the barn owl, lapwing and lark feed and breed in the vicinity. These are scarce but not as uncommon as a bird like the bittern, which is very rare on these islands. There was some excitement ten years or more ago when word went out that one had been sighted in the reed bed next to the hide. It has not bred in Ireland since the nineteenth century due to the drainage of its natural habitat, like marshes. It is a secretive bird that inhabits big reed beds. Its plumage is golden brown, streaked with dark brown and yellow and is known as An Bonnán Buí in Irish.

In former times it bred in all four provinces and was prized by the gentry for its meat. The simple country folk would have nothing to do with the bittern, because its weird booming call was a “portent of some sad event”. It inspired writers and poets. The famous Irish poem ‘An Bonnan Bui’ by Cathal Bui Mac Ghiolla Ghunna refers to ‘the yellow Bittern’ that had died of thirst in frosty weather. The poet himself feared the same fate for want of a drop!

A more frequent visitor to the wetlands has been the Marsh Harrier. Individuals, usually females, have visited the reed beds three or four times in the last decade. The beautiful bird has a 4 foot wingspan. Its golden head and front wing edges contrast with its dark brown plumage. It has been seen gliding slowly over the tops of the reeds, then hovering slightly before it pounced on its prey - usually aquatic birds or small mammals. This bird, like the bittern, has specific habitat requirements. With the drainage of Wetlands in the 19th century, the bird’s fate was sealed. They no longer breed here.

Other rare or scarce duck species, geese and swans have been sighted at Cabragh. These include a skua, american teal, a white footed goose (eastern race) and a Bewick’s swan. The latter had a numbered neck collar, which allowed it to be traced across Europe as it returned to its breeding grounds in Siberia. Even rare and endangered species seem to view Cabragh Wetlands as a place with potential! “An rud is annamh is iontach.”

Grow your own food!

In this week’s Sunday Times, Mark Keenan in his Plot 34 column makes telling arguments about the decline of the Irish food-producing industry, with ever-increasing reliance on imported food, the security of which can hardly be taken for granted in the troubled world of today. Climate change, oil crises, financial collapse, supermarket domination and the vicissitudes of world markets all contribute to a very uncertain supply chain for our food, and thus for our very survival. Keenan argues that for the first time in 500 generations, the knowledge of how to grow our own food is not being systematically passed down by adults to children, and that most children are not growing up watching and learning as their dad or granddad works the soil, plants seeds and produces food for the family table.



We all bemoan the rain and lack of real heat in our weather, but we have the most wonderful climate for growing and it is surely a nonsense that farmers, whose industry is more important than any, are being forced out of business, in part because of the low prices they receive. The connection to nature is not being adequately made in our children’s daily lives, and schools will struggle to fill the gap if there is such a strong cultural negation of the importance of the natural world, of our agricultural heritage and of horticultural knowledge and skills. These are things of such overwhelming importance that they should be part of our folk-memory, of our indigenous wisdom, transmitted from generation to generation as part of our daily lives. Without them, we become dependent on others, dependent on chance, helpless in adversity and unable to provide sustenance for our families.



A recent report said that to continue in our current lifestyles, the planet will have to produce as much food in the next fifty years as it has in the last 10,000. Can we even begin to manage such a task unless we all take more responsibility for growing our own? And that means understanding the soil and maintaining its health and productivity.



Cabragh Wetlands Trust is of course doing its bit to get children (and adult visitors) to think more deeply about such issues and to foster better understanding of both our local habitats and global environmental issues. As a new development we are working with our friends at Pallas Hill Open Farm at the Ragg, a family farm with a variety of animals for visitors to see, plus information on wildlife, and a museum and display of horse-drawn machinery, which helps us to understand our farming heritage and the central role of agriculture and food production in the lives of all our ancestors until perhaps the last two generations. We are hoping that some schools might like to spend a full day in the area, perhaps spending the morning at Cabragh and the afternoon at Pallas Hill. This would make a great day out of the classroom, and we hope some schools from further away might make the journey for a field study outing in the beautiful countryside of North Tipp. Contact either Ella at Pallas Hill (0504-54294) or Michael at Cabragh (0504-43879).

Tidy Towns!

It was very pleasing to read in last week’s Star about the success of Holycross in the Tidy Towns Competition. Sited on the fringes of Holycross Parish, Cabragh Wetlands Trust was delighted to hear of the well-earned success of our friends on the local Tidy Towns committee. Not surprisingly there is some overlap in the membership of the two organizations, and like any small community, the hard voluntary effort of busy men and women is absolutely priceless.

Readers of this column will remember our concerns about too much emphasis on tidiness, which can so often be destructive of habitat and biodiversity, so it was very good to see that the adjudicators placed great emphasis on wildlife and natural amenities, with plenty of practical suggestions about landscaping and preservation of natural habitats along the river frontage, and a strong comment about planting native species that will enhance the food chain. These are tips that we can all apply in our own gardens.

Think carefully though before you act on one piece of advice from the adjudicators: “Do remove the two dead trees”. In the case of Holycross’s river frontage, this is no doubt very sound advice, and if dead trees are unsafe then they will have to come down, but cutting them down and “removing” them are very different. So pause for a moment before you swing the axe or start up the chainsaw. Dead trees are a vital part of many ecosystems, and a key player in the development of our natural heritage. A dead tree left to decay naturally on the ground can be a wonderful source of wildlife, providing shelter for small mammals, a home for countless insects, and a superb environment for new plants to grow. As the tree breaks down over the years, so it will enrich the soil into which it is decaying, becoming a wonderfully rich medium in which new life can flourish.

Out of death new life springs. It has always been thus. The death of trees and other plants has largely created the life in our landscape, determining a specific local chemical balance which influences which species will flourish in the area. Soil is dead plants; death creates life. Dead trees created our heritage.

So perhaps those two trees have to come down, but may be they could be left in a quiet corner as a log pile in which hedgehogs can shelter, beetles and a myriad of other insects flourish, fungi grow, birds feed, small mammals hunt. Worms will turn the logs into good soil, badgers will root and life will go on. And children will come and turn over the logs, see new sights and learn about the non-human creatures with whom we share this extraordinary planet. And perhaps, if we are lucky, they will grow up to mange it better than we have done.

Spiders and thank you!

At this time of year the early morning dew soaks the grass, and water droplets gather beneath leaves, flowers and stems. Everywhere in the hedges and garden, and across the landscape here at Cabragh Wetlands, can be seen the lacy, fairy-like gossamer threads of spiders’ webs standing out clearly in the morning sun, dew-laden. It is a spectacular sight, and the work of countless tiny spiders which swarm in the fields in the autumn. The young spiders are too small to eat solid food, and depend on the dew drops in the webs and on leaves for survival. They will cling together for warmth, forming pill-sized ‘spider-balls’ which are dotted around the fields in early autumn. They soon separate and look for a likely spot to spin their own tiny webs and catch insects, and before you know it, the air is full of invisible threads.

In early autumn spiders’ webs of all shapes and sizes appear on every hedgerow, drift across long stalks of grass, and sway gently in the breeze from furze bushes, brambles, flower stems, reed beds and every other suitable attachment they can find. You will not have to wander far to find examples of these dangerous little death-traps. There are hundreds of different species of spider, and no two make their web exactly alike. Just as on the Aran Islands each family developed its own unique knitting stitch as a kind of personal identification, so every spider family has its own special pattern for weaving its insect trap, and every young spider spins its little web in exactly the same way as its mother, without receiving a single lesson.

Some weave a mass of tangled threads, others weave their webs very closely. Some construct cobwebby funnels, while others (orb weavers) spin beautiful, regular, open webs (like wheels), with numerous spokes radiating from the centre. The garden spider attaches non-sticky tension lines to nearby sturdy plants and then spirals to form the net of her web. She replaces the outer spirals with gummed silk and oil on her own feet prevents her becoming stuck.

Once caught in the web, an insect seldom escapes, and the more it struggles the more it gets entangled in the silken threads, which are coated with a kind of sticky glue. The spider spends most of her time in her den, waiting for the right moment to pounce. Trapped insects are injected with enzymes to liquidize their tissue, and the spider swallows the liquid. As you look at the early morning webs covered in dew drops and sparkling like jewels in the sun, remember that it is not a good time for the spiders; their snares can too easily be seen because of the dewy fringe, so some spiders will try to shake off the drops to render the web invisible again, and allow them to become efficient killing fields again.

Here at Cabragh we also have the scarily named wolf spider, who does not spin a web, but hunts his victims down. The female builds a nursery web, in which her egg sac is placed.

Arachnophobes beware! Winter will be a hard time for spiders; their favourite victims, flies, have long since gone, and those spiders which survive will seek out a nice warm corner where they can tuck themselves away and pass the time safely to see another spring.

A reminder that the Wetlands Trust is inviting all those who helped organise our recent Open Day (prize-donors too) to a thank-you evening at the Centre on Tuesday next – September 29th at 8.00pm.

Tea and thank you to all!

Cabragh Wetlands Trust is quite justifiably unknown for its economic predictions, but we anticipate bad news in the coming months for the Irish tea drinker.
There have been severe droughts in the Kenyan highlands, and a consequent collapse of around 50% in tea production. Perhaps our money-driven world takes too much account of the laws of supply and demand, but it seems inevitable that this will be reflected in a price rise for the tea that we buy in our local shops. Ireland leads the world in per capita tea consumption, drinking more cups per day per person than any other country. While we support purchase of locally sourced food, tea is not something we can grow here, so we are at the mercy of international trade, and international weather.


Everything is linked. In Kenya a hundred years ago the realization of the wealth to be created by growing tea and coffee led to a rush to clear ground to plant tea bushes. As demand and profits grew, so did the ambitions of the planters. Hundreds of thousands of hectares were cleared and plantations spread into the hills, where ancient trees had multiplied into vast forests acting as giant sponges, soaking up excess water in the rainy season, and slowly drip-feeding it back out in the drier times, creating a self-sustaining balance of trees, plants, insects and animals perfectly adapted to their local habitat.


Deforestation has undermined that balance, perhaps with far greater damage in other parts of the world like the Amazon basin and Indonesia. Now in Kenya when there is heavy rain there are not enough trees to soak up the excess; water runs off the hills too quickly, destroying precious topsoil and in some years causing devastating floods. In periods of drought there is insufficient water trapped in the depleted forests to sustain the volume demanded by users, both farmers and wildlife. The natural balance has once again been lost. It is hardly a new lesson; the dust-bowls in the American mid-West were a major element in turning the 1929 Wall Street Crash into a global economic depression. There is scope for young historians to build a career writing eco-history, reassessing man's impact on the environment rather than the narrow focus of man's interaction with man.


Talking of conserving local habitat, many thanks to those who helped with the Cabragh Wetlands Open Day at the end of August. An invaluable contribution has been made to our bank balance, thanks to the generosity and goodwill of those who helped by donating prizes, setting up shelters, giving of their time on the day, displaying their skills and crafts, and so much more. There was a wonderful sense of community and cooperation. As a small recompense, the Wetlands Trust is inviting all contributors to a thankyou evening on Tuesday 22nd September. More details will be circulated next week.

Insects

My recently purchased insect book tells me that so far scientists have identified 360,000 species of beetle, 180,000 of moths and butterflies, 120,000 distinct species of flies, 82,000 ‘true bugs’, 20,000 grasshoppers, 5,000 dragonflies, and so on. At Cabragh we are very proud of two species of exceptionally rare caddisflies that have survived the ravages of time and human encroachment in the pure waters of the Wetlands, but even that pride is tempered by reading that no less than 11,000 species of caddisflies have been identified worldwide. The range and beauty of life is utterly extraordinary, and perhaps most extraordinary of all is the arrogance of humans who assume that our one species is above everything else and is somehow entitled to do whatever it likes with the other beings that share our planet.A quick bit of maths confirms upwards of 750,000 distinct varieties of those common insects listed above, with some naturalists suggesting that the true figure is double that. Another book tells me that there is more life below the surface of the earth, living in the ground, than there is above, including plants birds and animals, as well as insects. Heaven knows where aquatic creatures fit into all of this. Apart from wonder and awe, it is surely humility that should fill us, as we slowly edge towards a clearer understanding of our true place in the natural world. Reason a little further, and surely the conclusion has to be that we have a moral obligation to protect biodiversity and control the growth of human society, both in terms of the numbers of people and their material impact on the resources of the earth. This means a very thorough and basic reconsideration of the core concepts that have underpinned the ‘development’ of human history over the very short period of a few thousand years since our ancestors were hunter-gatherers just two hundred or so generations ago.At Cabragh we are trying to conserve a very special piece of wetland, and the goodwill and generosity of the volunteers and sponsors of our recent Open Day was very heart-warming. It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that thinking people really do care about the natural world. We welcomed ten new members into our group, and hope that many more will stop by to sign up or renew their membership in support of our core values of conservation, education and recreation. Look out for those little creatures in your garden; most of them will do you no harm. If you have a healthy range of different species sharing your land with you, it is pretty clear evidence that you are doing a good job in protecting nature on your doorstep, and ultimately that’s perhaps the best thing most of us can hope to do in our lifetime.

Heritage

The deaths in July of two very old men can hardly be a surprise, and scarcely a cause for mourning outside their immediate families. We all have out span of years, which will eventually run out, and ultimately face the same fate as every other human and non-human that has ever lived. Death is as normal and inevitable as breathing and sleeping. But the two old men in question are worth a few moments of our time, because they were the very last of the many millions who fought in the trenches of the First World War, a war that shaped the course of the twentieth century and touches the lives of all of us today. Most families have their memories of men who went to the war, many never to return.

Henry Allingham died first. At 113 he was the oldest man in the world, the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland, the last founder member of the RAF and the last-but-one to have fought in the trenches of the Western Front. Harry Patch, a stripling of 111, died a week later, and with him went the final direct connection to the abattoir of trench warfare – the only man alive of the ten million or more who were sent to the trenches. His best friends were killed next to him in the muddy bloodbath of Passchendaele near Ypres in 1917. In the stoical way of that generation neither of them said much about the war until the last years of their lives, when they became public figures, speaking out against the madness of warfare, visiting schools and giving direct witness to children about the terrible things they had experienced so many years ago.

But is it really so long ago? This modern world dominated by fashion, youth and the constant demand for renewal of material goods, tends to dismiss anything more than a few years old as out of date, out of touch and ‘unsophisticated’. An old person’s youth and memories are patronisingly cast aside as belonging to another age. The experience of ordinary people is condescendingly dismissed as our celebrity culture focuses its history teaching on the famous, powerful and heroic. Myths of nation building squeeze out the ordinary, mundane lives of ordinary, mundane people like the overwhelming majority of our ancestors.

Our heritage is far more likely to be found in the memories of old men and women than in the sassy razzmatazz of the slick media that infiltrates into so many corners of our lives today. Talk to the old folk around you, get the children to do school projects that will keep alive the experience, knowledge and insight of the elderly. Nearly all of us will be very old one day, and we will want to be treated as valued resources, reservoirs of knowledge and respected for what we have achieved. It is so easy to lose touch with our family’s past; the oral tradition that passes on community history has disappeared from the so-called developed world.

The past is much closer to us than we realise. Henry Allingham 1896-2009 (his father died in 1897!): as a young man he will certainly have known people who lived through the horrors of the famines of the 1840’s. As a baby he will have met old people who were alive during the Napoleonic Wars, perhaps even met someone who witnessed the 1798 rising. Follow the same argument back another two generations and we are into the era of Cromwell. Four generations from direct memories of Cromwell. Our heritage is closer and more real than we think. By and large we are what we are because of the interplay between our environment and our ancestors. Just as we at Cabragh Wetlands are trying to conserve our natural heritage, so we should all do our bit to remember and preserve our human heritage.

Moon Landing

The media are understandably full of the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing this week. In a normal lifespan, there are always likely to be one or two pivotal, unforgettable moments that seem to transcend our sense of time and place, uniting people across the globe in a single common purpose and making differences of nationality, religion, politics and culture seem utterly trivial and insignificant. To a young mind especially, such events can be enthralling, compelling to live through. They create dreams and spark the imagination. They challenge our assumptions and change the way we think. They move us forward with altered priorities, generating change and progress in human society, moving mankind forward. For this aging writer, the impact of space exploration in the 1960’s on a teenage mind was huge. The sheer drama of the space missions and the human courage of the astronauts, Russian as well as American, was completely absorbing. That was an extraordinary night to live through, when so many of us sat up watching our grainy black-and-white televisions to see the lunar module land on the moon’s surface, and a few hours later held our breaths as Armstrong and Aldrin came down the steps and became the first humans to walk on a surface that was not of the Earth. Unforgettable. Yet it was never the technology that intrigued me. It was always the human drama, and the opening of the imagination. It was being made to think of things that had never crossed my mind before, being forced to see things from entirely new perspectives. As extraordinary as the feats of Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins in Apollo 11 were, perhaps with hindsight it was the journey of Apollo 8 a year or so earlier that has had the greater impact on human history. The astronauts were Borman, Lovell and Anders (if my memory is intact), and their mission was to be the first to fly into a lunar orbit, swinging round the dark side before firing themselves away from the moon and back to Earth – a vital test flight before they could proceed with actually landing on the moon. In the process they became the first human beings ever to be literally out of contact with Earth. As they emerged from behind the moon, they saw a vastly reassuring but totally unique sight – Earthrise. From here we see the sun and moon rise, from the moon you see the Earth rise. One of them took that iconic photograph which you have all seen, of a beautiful blue planet partially draped in cloud, hanging in space. It is a picture that has forced us to rethink our place in the universe, to recognize that man is not at the centre of everything, to see that we are totally dependent on this extraordinary planet. It is a picture that did much to inspire James Lovelock in the development of his deeply influential Gaia hypothesis, emphasising the linkage between all life forms on the planet, their mutual interdependence, and the capacity of the Earth to continue without man should we be so stupid as to so despoil the natural resources of the planet that our own survival is threatened. So enjoy the memories of the moon landing, but learn from it too. The media over the decades have always focused on the material benefits from space exploration, from non-stick surfaces to computing (apparently there is more computer power in your mobile phone than there was in the lunar landing module!), once again seeing progress in terms of things, not values and ideas. They had an unlikely opponent. On his return Neil Armstrong was asked what space technology and exploration had done for the standard of life on Earth. His reply was unequivocal: “Nothing. The only thing that can improve the standard of life is wisdom.”

Heritage Day 2009

Our annual open day at the wetlands is on Sunday 30th August from 1p.m. to 6p.m.

A wide variety of activities for all the family, young and old is promised

We hope to have two marquees, one with local Arts and Crafts and the other will display renewable energy technologies from local people.

Eanna ni Lamhna, of RTE and An Taisce, will give a talk here and lead a walk in the wetland.

There will also be a children's art competition. Children are encouraged to bring an art piece based on nature in any medium. Eanna will be judging on the day.

We have raffle tickets on sale @€2 each or €10 for a book of six with some great prizes

1st Prize Digital Camera

2nd Prize Two nights B/B in Lake Hotel, Killarney

3rd Prize €100 Shopping voucher

Summer morning

It’s so good to hear from people in the area who watch and appreciate nature. One correspondent was recently enjoying a beautiful sunny June morning, two days after the summer solstice, sitting by the open front door and enjoying the heat over a leisurely breakfast – the perfect start to a summer’s day! Nearby the swallows were working at a hectic rate to rear their young. Their chatter at all hour has a distinctive air of high summer about it. A tiny wren was busily encouraging her young to leave the nest. Hatched into thick ivy by the wall, the five chicks now had the task of leaving the relative safety of their nest and emerging into this brave new world. Courageously each in turn launched itself out and took its first fluttering voyage. There youngsters were faced with journeys that created many new perils for them. They looked so vulnerable as they took that first leap of faith, trusting their mother who was clearly torn between excitement and frantic worry. She disappeared for a few minutes, before returning with some food for the brave youngsters, all calling out for attention. From the security of the nest to the turbulence, chaos and danger of the wider world – and yet the urge is there and cannot be ignored …..move out and move on. It is a dangerous world for the young ones, even at 8am on a lovely sunny day. They have so much to learn if they are to survive, and they need to learn fast. For certain some of the five will not survive, but some surely will. It was not long before a few magpies appeared, with their distinctive menacing shrieks. Those little wrens just have to work it out for themselves. Good luck to them. Life goes on. The web that links all living creatures and plants, and the endlessly turning cycle of life, are truly remarkable. We are very privileged to be part of such a fortunate planet and to have been invited to join the dance of life.

A Handful of Habitats

To co-incide with Heritage Week a fascinating course for teachers entitled "A Handful of Habitats" will take place in the Thurles Area. The first day will be spent in Cabragh Wetlands.

Mon Aug 24th Wet meadow, Reedbed, Pond, Hedgerow at Cabragh Wetlands
Tues Aug 25th Peat Bogs and Derrynaflan
Wed Aug 26th Ash and Hazel Woodland at Killough Hill
Thurs Aug 27th Geology and Mountains - Devils Bit Habitats
Frid Aug 28th Summary of the Irish Habitats and their interpretation through photography

The Sun

Cabragh Wetlands Trust is holding its annual Flag Day in Thurles this Saturday (18th), and there will be number of collection points around the town. Of course fund raising is the day’s main objective, and we hope that the good citizens of Tipperary will respond with the generosity they always show when charities and other worthy causes hold out their voracious collecting buckets, but it is also a good chance to talk to people, spread the word about what we are trying to do, spark interest and perhaps even gain some new members. So stop by at one of our collection tables; take the opportunity to find out a bit more about what we are up to.

Despite the frequent deluges of rain, there have been some lovely sunny mornings recently. It’s so easy to take the sun for granted – without its light and warmth we would be in a very sorry state. The sun is the source of so much on our planet, and with the fortieth anniversary looming of Neil Armstrong’s first moon landing, it is worth reflecting on the fragility and interdependence the units of our solar system. The sun supplies our energy needs and the needs of all life. We have come to regard the use of fossil fuels like coal and oil as normal. Our creativity in inventing technology which allows us to exploit and utilize these energy sources has been astonishing, but they are finite sources of energy and will not last much longer – not to mention the consequences for the environment and climate of massive carbon emissions. Our traditional energy sources are going to run low within the lifetime of most people reading this. It is not a theoretical problem for the distant future, it is an immediate problem for you, your children and your grandchildren. We are living off our deposit account and most of us are not acknowledging that it will run out. All of earth’s processes depend on the sun; they work well enough. There are just three of these processes. First the producers supply the food. Many millions of years ago plants learned to trap sunlight and turn it into food, a process known as photosynthesis – a major step in Earth’s evolution. Secondly came the consumer animals which eat the plants and turn them into food, like cattle eating grass. We fall into this category. The last group are the decomposers, like earthworms, which have the important task of breaking down material and making it available for the plants to take up. And so the cycle begins again. For almost four billion years this process has continued. It is well tried and tested. Mankind lives within this process, which looks after our needs so well. We too are part of this interconnected and interdependent community of life. At a time when there is such heightened environmental concern, our challenge is to allow the sun and Earth to provide for all of life, just as they have done so very well for so long.

Summers Evenings

The old people celebrated St John’s Eve with gusto, and the longest day of the year is always a milestone both in one’s personal life and in the world of nature. At this time of the year Cabragh Wetlands is at its pristine best. A few evenings ago, in a blood-red sunset as close as it ever gets to the Devil’s Bit, a Committee member came across a small group of ladies tucked silently beneath the trees watching the water lilies beginning to close at the end of another beautiful day. In answer to a nosey question they replied that they were waiting for an otter. Of course no otter arrived on demand – nature is a force beyond human control, and efforts to do so have resulted in a cataclysmic outlook for mankind. But here at Cabragh such concerns can seem far away, and time and patience bring their reward. Some come to capture a moment on camera, others on multi-pixel film, and yet nothing can recreate that fusion of sound, colour, smell and a hint of a breeze on the evening air. What is certain is that an evening stroll or quiet sojourn by the lakeside lifts the spirits and gives a feeling that, despite everything, all’s well with the world in this quiet green corner of Fertiana, Cabragh and Galbertstown. Hurrying back to the busy world, one begins to think that on the longest day of the year time is once again gaining on us. How many beautiful May evenings have we lost, just as we missed the churning lake waters of March and the arrival of migrant birds arrived from foreign shores? The children, of course, have another wonderful opportunity this summer. As the marsh at last begins to dry out, the butterflies and damselflies flit and hover, the orchids colour the grassland, reed buntings and stonechats grate the ear, and our youthful Detectives in the Wild are there to observe, record, measure but above all experience at first hand the joy that immersion in the natural world brings to the young mind. Detective in the Wild Summer Camp begins at Cabragh Wetlands on July 13th, and a similar week for adults during Heritage Week at the end of August. All details from the Wetlands Centre (0504-43879) or 0504-23831.

NATURE AND NUTURE

At one time the agricultural advisory service followed the mantra ‘One more cow and one more sow and one more acre under the plough’ when advising farmers. This advice was very appropriate at the time as it fitted very well into a mixed farming model.
Farms in general were small and had a variety of enterprises. So people had experience with and knowledge of a range of enterprises. A small farm might have a Donkey/Pony, Cows, Calves, Hens, Geese, Pig etc. A kitchen garden with a variety of vegetables. Children growing up on such farms were exposed to a range of experiences. These were not cash economies, to a large extent people were self sufficient. Even if you were not from such a farm you had regular contact with such places, as you friends or cousins lived on one.
It turns out now that the wisdom and insights gained with such a lifestyle are very valuable and much needed at this time.

Our lifestyles have changed a lot especially in the past decade and many insights which we took for granted are now far less common.
Though children to-day have many opportunities they would benefit from more awareness of the world about them. Our experience at Cabragh Wetlands is that nature heals, and it brings out the best in children.

Our generation while we might have had less than children today, yet we inherited so much.
Our parents and communities shared much wisdom and knowledge with us, skills which we need for life. In the same way our children need those same insights. We cannot recreate the experiences we had but we can share our memories and wisdom. We can share some of the magic of the world about us with them, we owe it to the next generation.

MEETING WITH MICHAEL LOWRY TD

Monday May 11th
Meeting with Michael Lowry TD at Cabragh Wetlands
Demonstrating his ongoing interest in developments at Cabragh Wetlands Michael Lowry T D met with members of the Trust at the Cabragh Wetland Centre .
It was welcome news that following our meetings with Minister Eamon O Cuiv TD and Minister John Gormley TD ( which were arranged though Michael Lowry) that Leader had come on board with a promise of a grant to update the building and facilities at Cabragh Wetland Centre. We also discussed the potential of the Wetlands as a visitor attraction and the possibility of assistance from Shannon Development in the designing an appropriate building and upgrading of facilities.
This is exciting news for us, for the volunteers who have worked so hard over the years to develop the Wetlands.
We are sincerely grateful to Michael Lowry for his genuine interest and support.

MEETING WITH MINISTERS

Meeting with Ministers
The unceasing search for funding and assistance to help the Cabragh Wetlands Trust took a new twist recently. Following contacts with Michael Lowry T.D., meetings were arranged with Ministers Eamon O Cuiv and John Gormley. Thanks to the Tipperary Enterprise Board, we were able to source advice on the content of a PowerPoint presentation from Lorraine Grainger, Consultant. Armed with the best material we could muster, four members of the Trust Committee travelled to Dail Eirann, and gave their presentation, which involved a brief history of the Trust and a summary of the work done so far, before moving on to our vision for the future of the wetlands and of the Centre.
For obvious reasons both Ministers were extremely busy, but even so we were given generous time to make our case. Both Ministers were very impressed with the project, and especially the work done over the years by a small group of volunteers. Minister O Cuiv was very positive and is looking into how we can best source support for the next phase of development. Minister Gormley noted that the Cabragh Wetlands are a designated SAC (Special Area of Conservation) and NHA (National Heritage Area). He was very impressed by the rich biodiversity of the wetlands and promised to look into how he can best support our forward development. We are greatly encouraged by Minister O Cuiv’s remark that “this is the kind of project we want to support”.
Special thanks must go to Michael Lowry T.D. for his time and interest, and also his enthusiasm for what the Cabragh Wetlands Trust is about. His availability to meet us, and his attendance at both ministerial appointments is much appreciated. Though this is a difficult time to be seeking funds for anything, we remain positive.

NEW MALAWI UPDATE FROM JOE GALLAGHER

As you walk around the villages along the lake shore large trees canbe seen in the middle of the street around which people and the few vehicles have to maneuvre! One might wonder why these trees remainhere in the way of things and two reasons emerge - firstly they are thousands of years old and were here before any humans arrived and secondly their wood is poor for burning and therefore cutting themdown is of little use and a lot of work for local people! These trees are known as Baobab trees and this is the common name of a genus(Adansonia) containing eight species of trees, of which one typeoccurs on mainland Africa. In Malawi Baobabs are found principally on the lake shore. Storieshave passed down through the generations of how God angry with the baobab picked up the tree and flung it back into the ground upsidedown. In Namibia it is said that God gave each animal a seed of a tree to plant. The hyena was left until last and angry at this planted the seed of the baobab tree upside down. Research has shown that the tree grows fast for the first 270 years and then slows down.Baobab trees do not produce annual growth rings and so radiocarbondating is used to estimate their age.

They produce big white flowersin October with each bloom lasting only 24 hours. These flowers are then pollinated by the fruit bat. It is a deciduous tree and shedsits leaves during the dry season from April until October. Baobabs store water inside the swollen trunk (up to 120,000 litres) to endurethe harsh drought conditions which occur during the dry season and hence their poor burning potential.The species reach heights of 5 to 30 metres (16 to 98 ft) and trunkdiameters of 7 to 11 metres (23 to 36 ft). An African Baobab specimenin Limpopo Province, South Africa, often considered the largest example alive, has a circumference of 47 metres (150 ft) and anaverage diameter of 15 metres (49 ft) and has been radiocarbon datedto be 6,000 years old.

The baobab has many uses here in Africa. The leaves are commonly used as a leaf vegetable throughout the area of mainland African distribution. They are eaten both fresh and as a dry powder. The fruit is nutritious possibly having more vitamin C than oranges and exceeding the calcium content of cow's milk Also known as "sour gourd"or "monkey's bread", the dry fruit pulp separated from seeds and fibers is eaten directly or mixed into porridge or milk. In Malawi,the fruit pulp is used to make a nutrient-rich juice.

Having a distinctive foul smell, tree parts may have been used by primitive tribes to ward off evil spirits, making the tree known inAfrican folklore as "God's Thumb."A Major Trollip while stationed in Namibia during World War One installed a flush toilet in his local hollow baobab where it remainsto this day (see picture)!

So these ancient trees have many uses here on this continent and are likely to remain an obstruction in thestreets of Africa for some time! Tionana