This weekend we will be taking part in the 2023 Waterblitz. Results and pictures to follow
Event was a Hugh success with the local kids great way to promote awareness amongst the local kids
On Sunday the 20th of August Freshwater Ballycumber are holding a river event to promote citizen science. We will be hosting kick sampling in the river with a catchment scientist from LAWPRO with children from the local village, a nature talk on insect lifecycles and a river themed scavenger hunt from 4pm to 6pm to raise awareness in the community about the current state of the river.
On Saturday the 24th of June the group organised a clean up of the river Brosna and the area (River walk). Volunteers did a great job cleaning the river of dead fallen trees in the river while another group cleaned up the river bank and the river amenities.
The funding helped us organise this day and provide refreshments for the group.
After the refreshments Cathal Flood the local area waters protection officer arrived and we did nitrogen, phosphorus and turbidity testing with a group of local children/teenagers in 3 spots along the river. The testing was completed by the group under the supervision of /Cathal. Cathal also brought along an ammonia testing kit and we were able to test one particularly bad spot for ammonia levels. These were quiet high.
I intend to upload the results to Earthwatch Europe through the ArcGIS Survey123 App. The group has also been added to the Dublin City University Ireland network so they can analyse our data.
The impact to the community from this clean up has been immense. We have had more people join the group and loads of interest from the community after the clean up. The river looks so much better and we intend to keep up the good work to increase the water quality.
We are planning another day where we will be hosting a community event where we will be doing a citizen science day doing kick sampling in the river. LAWPRO will be hosting the event and I will be completing some virtual training with Earthwatch Europe this week.
We will also be looking at purchasing nest boxes for ducks and aquatic birds to encourage them back to the area. We are in the process of getting the local men's shed to build owl and bat boxes for the trees along the river.
I have attached a PDF of the woks completed during our first river clean up.
Love this Emer. Looking forward to seeing the results
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