The Burren

How nice to receive a letter from a Cabragh member who recently went on an outing to the Burren organised by Bird Watch Ireland. It was one of those lovely sunny Sundays in May and not only did they hear that rare visitor, the cuckoo, but they also saw it. A personal thrill was to come across a group of newts in a small pool. At first movement in the pond weed seemed to be caused by tadpoles, but slowly the newts ventured into clear water to feed on surface insects. What a delight it was to see a group of these beautiful creatures in a pristine habitat, simply getting on with their lives.

The number of habitats in the Burren is amazing, and they support an equally impressive variety of life. Our visitor became very aware that if we can but maintain the range of existing habitats, then the cycle of life will continue to flow quite naturally. Be it a flower, insect or bird, if there are suitable places to live, then they will find them and take occupation.

In conversation on the bus, a fellow traveller pointed out that while he has installed a solid fuel stove in his house, he tries to avoid burning turf. You would think that he laudably wanted to reduce his CO2 emissions, but he went on to explain that when the bog is stripped for turf cutting we destroy valuable habitat. There it is again. We don’t need to teach survival skills to the birds and the bees, but we should leave them a place to live.

This beautiful Earth of ours has worked out many difficulties over eons of time. It has created numerous communities of life which inter-connect and inter-depend in extraordinary ways. We too exist within this precious web, and are invited to play our part.

Come out to Cabragh Wetlands, where the walkways are drying out, the ducklings and young swans are enjoying their first dabblings in the ponds, the shimmering blue of the dragonflies can be seen darting over the water and in the reeds, and the summer snowflake will still be looking magnificent for a few more days in this wonderful spell of weather. We won’t claim to match the Burren, but there are many wonderful things to see right on the edge of Thurles