Biodiversity Report for Headford
On 10th December, the third and final talk of the Autumn 2013 series, will be a report from a recent biodiversity study carried out in the town of Headford.
An exciting learning opportunity arose for 11 postgraduate students at NUIG to carry out surveys of the biodiversity found along the Sandybanks lane for Headford Environmental Group and the local community. The students carried out habitat mapping, and recorded plants and animals along stretches of the lane. The students are undertaking a taught MSc in Sustainable Resource Management Policy and Practice which is a multidisciplinary course jointly run by NUIG and UL.
Thanks to the students, who have kindly agreed to share their findings, we are delighted to welcome you to join us to hear the results of their work. Who knows, there may even be a mince pie or two….
10th December at 8pm in Anglers Rest Hotel, Headford.
All Welcome!
Here’s a taster of what they found….
One or two of our Headford residents.
‘The story of a Community Garden in Co. Galway’ by Lynn O’Keeffe-Lascar,
A Galway woman, Lynn studied commercial organic vegetable production at Otley College of Agriculture in Suffolk in 1996.
Having worked on commercial organic farms in Ireland and Italy for several years, she now lives in Kinvara on the Clare /Galway border, where she is married with 3 children.
In Kinvara Lynn helped to set up a local community garden in 2005 with a group of volunteers and support from the Heritage Council – namely Doorus Orchard Project. This community orchard, where she works as garden manager in a voluntary capacity, is in a walled in garden, and planted up with 70 heritage fruit trees & a wide range of soft fruits, and contains vegetable gardens, poly tunnels, a picnic area, an outdoor oven, biodiversity garden and ornamental plantings.
Lynn has a great interest in the benefits of community gardening, and has helped other groups get started, particularly Kilkishin in County Clare with funding from Clare Rural Development. She also writes a regular article on wildlife gardening for WINGS , the Birdwatch Ireland quarterly magazine.
Since 2009, in partnership with Anna Jeffrey Gibson, Lynn worked with Kinvara Sustainable Living, as an outreach horticulturist. They teach courses in fruit and vegetable growing, polytunnel culture and poultry keeping. Kinvara Sustainable Living runs day courses, evening classes, transition year programmes for secondary school, and VEC funded courses. The talk will take place in The Angler’s Rest Hotel, Headford Co. Galway, on 17th Oct @ 8 pm. Admission free. Donations welcome. Open to all. Further talks are to follow in November and December.
Headford Environment Group 