Environment « Thurles Information

Haliaeetus albicilla Return To The Skies Over North Tipperary

The greyish-brown, White Tailed Eagle, ( Haliaeetus albicilla ) also known as the Sea Eagle can be now observed in North Tipperary skies, hunting for fish swimming just below the surface water of Lough Derg’s shore line.

In the last few days a pair of these magnificent birds have been confirmed as having hatched two chicks in a nest close to the eastern shore of the lake on the Mountshannon side, in Co Clare and directly across the lake from the western village of Portroe, Nenagh, Co Tipperary.

These are the first chicks born from the high profile reintroduction programme which began way back in 2007, with the release of young Norwegian eagles, as part of the white-tailed eagle reintroduction programme.

This Lough Derg breeding pair, a five year old male with his four year old female, were transported originally from the island of Frøya off the west coast of Norway. Nesting here began in late March and these now successfully hatched chicks are the first to be born in Ireland in almost a century.

White-tailed eagles can live for around 25 to 30 years and generally mate for life, with adult pairs choosing to remain within their home chosen territory throughout the year. During the period 1800-1970, White-tailed Eagles, in most of Europe, underwent dramatic declines and were extinct here in Ireland and England by1916, due to intensive persecution from shepherds and gamekeepers who wrongly considered them to be a threat to livestock and game-birds. A more modern threat to these beautiful birds however comes in the form of wind turbines on our ever increasing manufactured wind farms, latter causing significant mortality.

These chicks will be a huge boost to bird watchers and the White Tailed Eagle Reintroduction Programme, following serious initial setbacks, which included the unnecessary deaths of some 27 of the 100 eagles released into the wild since 2007.

Balance Between Human Demand & Environmental Collapse

Proinsias Barrett reflects on our recent article relating to the introduction of new Bye-Laws on the River Suir.

Proinsias states, “I wonder is this in response to declining catch numbers in recent years? I wouldn’t know a lot about angling in Ireland today except what I see and hear about it out west. Fishing on the Corrib is big business in Galway city during the season and the anglers braving the fast flowing Corrib in waist high water are an added attraction to the curious gawking visitors.

I landed a beautiful rainbow trout at Lady’s Well in Thurles, as a lad of 11 or 12, with a ‘Spinner,‘ I bought up at John Freeman’s shop in Bothairnanaomh. Then expert for a day, the camera came out and the trout was then cleaned, stuffed and baked, delicious!

Up in Mayo on the Moy River at Ballina, the fishing is also big tourism business with people paying a substantial fee to fly fish for salmon. In the centre of
the town is a part of the river known as the Ridge Pool, where the river bed dramatically declines into a deep pool and the salmon tend to congregate there, possibly a temporary reprieve on their struggle up river to spawn. Here, as in Galway centre, you will see the big-guns casting fly.
An old work colleague from Ballina by the name of Ford mentioned the fact that ‘word in the town‘ had been that the catch rate is down considerably over the last number of years, and that the angling tourists weren’t getting value for money. This story was repeated in Galway five or six years ago, I don’t know if it has improved.

Anyone who has been remotely interested in Irish fisheries lately (I know our politicians are,) will know about the west of Ireland’s battle over the last 25 years to halt the rapid decline in wild fish stocks, particularly Salmon, Trout and Eel’s, fish which migrate, spending their lives moving between fresh and salt water environments. The reasons for the decline cannot be pinpointed exactly and though, as I said earlier, I am no authority on the matter, nor have I been consciously reading up on the latest information, it will suffice to say that the problem seems to stem from a combination of adverse affects, all with negative consequences, for everyone. We neglected the water quality of our rivers and tributaries for too long, many angling associations and voluntary groups across the country did their best for years and lobbied hard for protection. This latter, combined with pressure from Brussels relating to water quality and habitat directives, finally got a concerted effort going in Ireland and many of our rivers and lakes have improved considerably, many others however have changed irrevocably.

Continue reading Balance Between Human Demand & Environmental Collapse

Tipperary’s SPA Resist Water Abstraction From Lough Derg

Part of Tipperary’s Lough Derg shore line.

Dublin City Council’s plans, to remove over 500 million litres of water on a daily basis from Lough Derg here in North Tipperary could leave Ireland open to an EU legal challenge. This follows a recent European Court of Justice ruling against Greece, Mayo Fine Gael MEP Mr Jim Higgins has warned.

To remind Tipperary readers, this proposed plan is to extract water from Lough Derg, the largest of 3 lakes on the River Shannon, at the rate of 350 – 500 million litres per day, via a reservoir and treatment plant, to be possibly situated near Portarlington.

The River Shannon Protection Alliance (SPA) claim that Dublin City Council’s highly controversial plan to pipe this water from Lough Derg, to address leaking Victorian pipes in Dublin by 2020, is in breach of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD).

Mr Higgins revealed earlier this month that the European Court of Justice has already ruled that Greece was in breach of European Union law when it failed to protect the waters of Lake Koroneia, latter’s water which were illegally abstracted for irrigation purposes.

The SPA & Mr Higgins are opposed to the Dublin City Council’s proposal on the grounds of a possible negative environmental impact that any such abstraction might have on the lake. The SPA are now seriously considering lodging an objection against this plan, to the European Union Petitions’ Committee, which could pose further difficulties with regard to Dublin City Council’s future plans.

Photo courtesy G.Willoughby.

Thurles Getting Closer To Mother Nature

“ Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.” (St. Matthew, Chapter 6)

Planet earth is the only planet, known to date, that presently supports life of many varieties. The word ‘nature,’ comes from the Latin word, ‘natura,‘ meaning ‘birth,’ and we use this word almost exclusively to refer to earth’s geology and wildlife.

In everyday conversations we often personify nature and its meaning, rightly therefore, as being female, as in Mother Nature renewing life. Our often descriptive reference to nature as ‘Mother Nature,’ therefore must also be considered as the very source and guiding force of our belief that our small planet earth and the life contained thereon, originate from a divine creator.

Regrettably because of Ireland’s current financial situation, many of us, today, are forced to go about our daily lives with thoughts clearly focused on basic day to day survival and Mother Nature is being placed much further down the line, on our daily list of priorities.

However, it takes just one skilled photographer, linked to an area of wetland habitat, latter supported by a group of forward thinking benefactors, who working together remind us of the true beauty that Mother Nature has to offer each and every one of us. The wetland habitat is Cabragh Wetlands, Thurles and the skilled photographer is Eamon Brennan, himself a native of Thurles, Co Tipperary.

Eamon Brennan

Eamon, by occupation, is a photographic printer and photographic technician. As a long standing member of Thurles Camera Club, Eamon holds a Licentiate from the Irish Photographic Federation (IPF) and is recognised as being in the top three of Irish wildlife portraiture photographers, winning numerous medals, trophies and certificates in both open and closed, local and national competitions. Eamon came in 2nd place, in 2012; in the IPF all Ireland Nature Competition and some of his photographic work this year will represent Ireland in Europe.

Continue reading Thurles Getting Closer To Mother Nature

EPA New iPhone App Keeping Tipperary Beautiful

Rural dwellers & the farming community in particular, here in Co Tipperary, will welcome the launch today, by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), of their new iPhone Application Software (APP), “See it? Say it!”

This App is designed to assist in reporting existing environmental pollution in and around our towns and villages & to make it easy for people to report a pollution incident the first moment it is observed.

Using the App observers can now take a photograph of the pollution incident, input the Global Positioning System (GPS) location coordinates, add a summary description of what you personally wish to convey, your contact details and this will now be automatically sent to your relevant local authority, to be dealt up.

This APP compliments the 24 hour nationwide environmental complaints phone line – Tel: 1850 365 121 – which is already in place. Persons can now report issues such as the backyard burning of rubbish, fly-tipping (Latter the dumping of waste illegally instead of in an authorised rubbish dump,), water pollution, odours and unnecessary littering,(e.g. such as dog fouling on pedestrian walkways, Minister Phil Hogan’s golf buddies & Thurles Town Council make note on agendas of upcoming meetings.) simply by using this new iPhone APP or by phoning the complaints phone line, above stated.

To Download: You can download the APP now from the iTunes APP Store (Search iTunes for: ‘See it Say it’) or visit http://goo.gl/gOJMa. Then, if you spot any environmental pollution or dumping, simply: