Winners of the Samhain ar an Leamhain photo competition gathered in the library in Killorglin on Saturday 22nd November at 11am to receive their medals. After a brief presentation, the group moved over to Bunkers where KTT hosted a small celebration in honour of our young photographers. Well done to everyone who took part in the competition. 

The winning photos show many faces of our lovely Laune – from the wonderful bridges, to the birdlife and the watery moods of the river. It is a great reminder of what a fabulous natural amenity the river is to our town. It is always fascinating to stop and take a moment out to observe the ebb and flow, the ripples and the reflections. It is truly alive – both in the sense of perpetual motion and of all the wildlife it is home to. Long live our lovely Laune!

Photo above - outside library, display stand with photos by our 9 young winners

Dr Crushell visited Killorglin on Tuesday 21st October at 7.30pm, St Michael's Hall, Iveragh Road, to explain a little about this report (left). It is designed to help us plan how to conserve and enhance our local biodiversity. The report was compiled by Dr Patrick Crushell and his team (http://www.wetlandsurveysireland.com/) earlier this year and was made possible with funding from LEADER and Kerry County Council.
It was an interesting presentation. We can be proud that here in Killorglin we have three very special habitats: the river, the wet woodlands and the reed beds. We all know and love the river Laune, but do we ever take the time out to appreciate it and walk by the banks? If you do, you will come across the wet woodlands, a magical place, especially in springtime, where the trees (willow-alder-ash) can grow even when their root systems get flooded out. You can see the wet woodland along the banks near the Mill Car Park and also on the Tralee side of the Metal Bridge, near the wind turbine. Finally we have the large sedge and reed swamp along the Laune to the east of the town dominated by Common Reed and a habitat that is suitable for Reed Bunting, Sedge Warbler and Moorhen amongst other bird species.

                                      By the way, a copy of the plan can be found in the library in Killorglin.

KTT was involved in the organisation and promotion of 3 events which were part of a county-wide Kerry County Council schedule celebrating our local biodiversity, 17 – 25 May. Here in Killorglin we had -  
      
Bat Talk and Walk,  sponsored by and held at Astellas, with Conor Kelleher, Bat Conservation Ireland. By the end of the evening, I think we all grew to love bats and appreciate all they do to make our lives better – from gobbling up vast amounts  of midges to pollinating banana flowers. Later in the evening we saw 3 different species of bat down by the riverside.   
  
A Walk on the Bog in the company of  peatland ecologist, Dr Patrick Crushell, who  introduced s to the strange and wonderful ecology of the bog. Some of the wonders we saw were the sundew, an insect eating plant and the properly scary looking water scorpion.
        
Birdwatching for Beginners was a gentle stroll by Caragh Lake with Frank King, BirdWatch Ireland, who entertained us with a selection of interesting bird facts recounted in a delightful style that was easy to understand and engage with. Basic informational birdwatching material was handed out to encourage us all to go further with observing our avian friends. One the day we spotted Sand Martins, a heron … and about a million midges (where are the bats when you need
them?!!)

The work of Killorglin Tidy Town is made so much more pleasant and easy due to the help and cooperation we get from so many of our local groups and organisations. Just one such venture is the setting up of our 2 new Slí na Sláinte routes in the town, financed by SKDP and our own Killorglin WOMAN 2000 group. The signage was then all put in place for us byTony O’Malley, Patrick O’Shea, John Linehan and Terrance Houlihan from the CE Scheme. What wonderful things we can achieve by working together! Thanks Guys.

As part of the Killorglin Greening Communities programme and KTT’s waste management initiatives, Declan Crowley from Grow-It-Yourself  Killorglin, visited the Woman 2000 group today at the KCYMS and gave a
delightful and highly entertaining talk about his long experience of growing
vegetables. But first he set the stage with a wonderful array of gardening
implements, herbs, seedlings, a hessian sack full of oats grown by his son, a prepared window box and assorted small plastic containers of little plants. It looked gorgeous. The talk itself was wide ranging and covered not only the specific topic of growing your own food but other green topics such as saving air miles (reducing CO2 emissions) and conserving our local biodiversity. Woman 2000 thoroughly enjoyed the enthralling session – an easy going and pleasant way to become more aware of green matters. Thanks Declan.

On Saturday morning a group of young folk along with their parents and friends from this estate got together to plant 3 Rowan Trees (lovely red berries in Autumn, yummy food for the birds) and a selection of wild-type flowers along an existing hedgerow. Along with the planting, the children built a small LOGGERY (see picture). Why? Doesn't this just look like a garden mess someone neglected to tidy away? Well maybe yes...but the reasons for this loggery becomes clear when one reads this exerpt from an article by gardener Alan Titchmarsh: A pile of logs is the perfect way to entice a range of mini beasts to inhabit your patch. All sorts of bugs, beetles and beasties will use them at various times of the year to breed, eat or sleep.
They are valuable for hosting colonies of over-wintering ladybirds and spiders and often become temporary homes for frogs.
At times they will also generate clouds of tiny flies that provide food for birds such as wrens.
A wildlife-friendly log feature is easy to make. First assemble your ingredients. If you’ve had a tree taken down use the stump and big chunks of trunk but you are more likely already to have a mixture of branches, fruit-tree prunings and woody clippings too tough for the compost.Even sawdust and bark chippings can be used. Ready‑sawn logs for an open fire or wood-burning stove are handy too because what you really want for a working
To assemble, start with the biggest logs at the base and fill in gaps with various ingredients for a range of mini-habitats.
Pack your sawdust and bark chippings between some, put soil, gravel and small stones between others and loosely fill a few with dead leaves and dry, slender plant stems.
Leave gaps for larger creatures to stock up as they wish. Place smaller logs and branches on top plus bundles of sticks or prunings, again leaving a mixture of vacant and partly filled gaps between them.
The stack does not have to be straight and tidy, you can arrange it so it’s higher in the centre or lean it against the wall of an outbuilding but it must be stable - you don’t want the whole lot collapsing.
If it needs additional fixing hammer stout poles or fencing posts in at the corners with perhaps a long birch log across the front as a “retaining wall”.
To finish, add a few clumps of rather wild-style garden plants such as foxgloves, Rodgersia, or shrub roses. On the pile, go for sprawling varieties of hardy cranesbills and ferns or sprinkle wildflower seeds all over it and they may germinate in the spring.
The result is charming, wildlife friendly and sorts a huge garden rubbish disposal problem all in one go.

Big thanks you to the students of Killorglin Community College and teacher, Anthony Griffin, for joining forces with KTT and contributing 25 more excellent Nesting Boxes for the Killorglin area. The KTT wildlife team visited the college and made a pesentation to the wood work class on why make a bird box in the first place and 10 top tips for siting the box so as to entice a wild bird to use it. We had l lovely time with you guys - thanks for the warm welcome.