2016 walks programme annouced

The outings for 2016 are as follows
January 17th             Carrigavantry/ Ballyscanlan Lake. 

February 14th.          Dungarvan Bay.   

March 13th.              Belview Port.         

April  10th               South Kilkenny.

May  8th                  Dunmore East

December walk on the Deise Greenway

The Red bridge at Bilberry across the river Suir

The December walk along the Deise Greenway between Carriganore and Bilberry was led by Denis Cullen. 
Check out the Deise Greenway webpage here

December 2015 walk along the Greenway

The Deise Greenway at Carriganore

3 Sisters Suir walk

All systems go for walk along the river Suir from Carriganore  (WIT sports campus) to Gracedieu along the recently surfaced walkway following the line of the old railway on Sunday 6th December. Please meet at 1.30 at the grid reference S 555 116 in the parking close to the National Biodiversity centre.
Check here on street view from Google maps

Barrow shade and light

Thanks to Denis Cullen for leading the recent walk along the river Barrow and for providing some atmospheric pictures.

Three Sisters Barrow

The next outing of the Waterford branch of the IWT takes place on Sunday 8th November.
The walk begins at Graiguenamanagh at 1.30 p.m. and heads upriver to Clashganny weir. Park by the boat club.
There will be car pooling from Millers marsh carpark in Waterford at 12.45.

Invasives along the Nore

Indication of former flour mill

                    






The October walk took place along the banks of the river Nore in County Kilkenny from Bennetsbridge to Maddockstown

remnants of marble cutting mill at Maddockstown

Himalyan balsam at it's invasive worst

Check here for more information on invasive species

 

less than healthy tree

o, look, swans!

Three Sisters Nore walk

The second walk with the Three Sisters theme will take place on Sunday 4th October from Bennetsbridge to Maddockstown in County Kilkenny. Those who would like to car pool should meet at Millers Marsh carpark in Waterford at 12.45. Those who wish to go direct should meet in Bennetsbridge at 1.30. The walk will take 2 hours, to Maddockstown and back along the river Nore. The trail is part of the Kilkenny trails network but is not suitable for buggies.

Drowned forest to bats.

The August evening walk took place between Woodstown and Fornaght bay. Denis Cullen led a motley crew from Woodstown over to Fornaght Bay. The bay provides a range of low sand dune, sand beach and mudflats. The remains of an ancient forest can be easily identified at low tide.
On return to the carpark at Woodstown, Denis took out his bat detector and we were able to hear and see bats in the twilight as they moved up and down the tree line.

On the boreen down to Fornaght Bay

Remnants of ancient forest at Fornaght Bay

Heron in the twilight

Identifying dune flora

Denis after the fungi

3 Sisters walks theme

The Waterford branch of the Irish Wildlife Trust plan to organise their Sunday walks before for the autumn of 2015 around the theme of the Three Sisters.
11th August 3 sisters estuary walk from Woodstown carpark at 7.30 p.m. to Fornaght and Creaden head.
13th September on the river Nore from Bennetsbridge to Maddockstown (changed to 4th October)
11th October on the river Barrow from Graiguenamanagh to St Mullins.
14th November on the river Suir from Bilberry to Carriganore.

Summer walks

The Summer has started and so have the Tuesday walks. However, there has been little uptake so far.
July and August remain.

July 7th: Newtown woods and the Doneraile. The meeting place is Newtown Cove at 7.30 p.m.





August 11th: Woodstown and Fornaght. The meeting place is Woodstown carpark.
Here is a link to some old pictures I took of Fornaght...here

Forthcoming events

The Waterford Branch holds its AGM at May 11th at the Edmund Rice Heritage Centre, Barrack St Waterford. The  meeting starts at 7.30 pm sharp.

We have invited the environmental reps. who sit on various Local Agenda 21 bodies to attend and identify local environmental issues that need to be addressed.  Please come along. 

We will also have present a representative of the Avon Wildlife Trust who is based in Bristol.  

On Sunday May 24th , Waterford IWT offers a two -hour  sailing trip in Waterford Estuary.   

Grace O'Sullivan operates the  Brian Boru, a 65' ketch rigged, fully licenced sailing vessel, with Tony McLoughlin. She will be our guide for the trip.  The Brian Borus has a spacious deck-house which accommodates all passengers. Grace will tell us about the ecology of this rich and historic body of water.  Maximum number of participants  for this unique experience is twelve.  The trip is being offered at a special IWT rate of €20 for members and €25 for non-members on a first-come basis.   

Please reserve at woodhouseduo@gmail.com asap.  The trip starts at 2 pm. 

River Suir walk

This months Sunday walk will take place on 10th May along the river Suir towpath. Meet at the carpark in Kilsheelan at 2.30 p.m.
There are two lengths of walk: 5km and 11.5km
The longer walk will end in Carrick and takes 3 hours. A bus will drop us back to Kilsheelan. The shorter option ends close to the Merck factory and exits by way of the fishermans path where a bus will be waiting to pick up. This option lasts 90 minutes.

Removing linear wildlife features

one height for all... the Council policy

whats left of the trees...

...once a beautiful glen....the Glen road in Tramore

....making room for access to the Ballygunnar graveyard

any chance for the remaining hedgerows along Mass path?

Dunhill walk (Change of date to 15th March)

The Dunhill Wetlands are the venue for the next IWT walk on Sunday March 15th.  Please note the change of date.

The walk starts at 2 pm from the Car Park in the village of Dunhill.  The terrain is firm and dry and even all the way to Dunhill Castle.  The walk combines nature and history and will take about 2½ hours.   Walk leader for the day is Alan Walshe of the Belle Lake Trust. Local wetland and walk enthusiasts will assist.  Promises to be a most interesting outing.  Child friendly and dog friendly.  All welcome

Spring activity

The walks Calendar for spring and summer is now posted.
Regular Sunday walks:
March 15th (was 8th) : Dunhill
April 12th: Licketstown/Carrigeen
May 10th: East Munster way: Carrick to Kilsheelan

Evening walks
May 19th: Kilbarry walkway/St John's river
June 9th: Dunmore woods
July 7th: Doneraile/Newtown woods
August 11th: Fornaght/Creaden

The Annual General Meeting will take place on  Monday, April 13th (was 20th). More details to follow.

Tramore in the New Year 2015

Marching it out

Over 60 wildlife enthusiasts braved the biting cold winter winds to take a stroll in the salt marshes and sand dunes at Tramore, County Waterford. 

Birds of a feather, huddle together

The walk was led by the intrepid master of ceremonies, Ray McGrath with insightful commentary from locals, Alan Walsh and Grace O'Sullivan.

Our own bird man

Ray reading a poem from the Book on the Backstrand by Ollie Breslin and Paddy Dwan

Ray explaining the work of the local branch of IWT, cap in hand!

Grace explaining her aero bar theory of the soft sand in the Backstrand