Early summer is magic by the river. The hawthorn trees are heavy with more blossom than I've ever seen, the bright yellow mayflies are emerging from the water in swarms and the birds are feasting on them, the purple vetch and ladies smock flowers are in full bloom and tasting delicious, the owls are nesting, the willow is going to seed and there's white fluff floating through the air, the water's low and clear... and it's WARM. I'm so going swimming tomorrow.
Hawthorn blossom and low, clear water
Willow going to seed - white fluff in the air, everywhere!
The River Field is even more aptly named today! We've never seen the water this high.
Last night, Storm Frank battered the country with high winds and lots of rain. This fell on top of an already sodden Nore valley here in Co. Kilkenny. I took a video to show just how bad it is at Han's Cross, near Lismaine Bridge - have a look, you can see (and hear!) the water gushing over and under the road as it flows from one field to the next.
Just for comparison...
On Boxing Day
Today - it's half way up mum's wellies
In the picture below, you can see just how strong the current is as it flows under the road.
The picture below is a bit closer to home - the water line is approx 20 metres from our gate. The road used to flood regularly until it was raised by 1.5 metres in the mid '90s. This is the first time the new raised road has been under water, though. There's a good chance we might be flooded in this evening: the stretch of road in the photo is impassable, as is the alternative route down by the Finger Post. The last resort is past the graveyard and up the hill by Walshe's on the back roads to Freshford. We went that way at about 12pm, and the water was streaming down the road from the hills and collecting in the dip. We just about got through it at the time... I'm going out in an hour. Will I get through it??
This field - directly opposite our house - has never flooded before. You can just about make out the owl box in the middle. I wonder what they make of it all...
It is quite beautiful, though! I'm hoping the winds will die down over the next few days and I can get some nice Turner-esque photographs of the clouds reflected in the flood waters. Judging by the latest Met Eireann forecast though, there's not much hope of it.
Earlier this year, the Inchbeg Fishing School was generously awarded a grant by the Veolia Environment Community Fund to develop the field as a resource for environmental education in the local community. The company's water management division, Veolia Water, is headquartered in Kilkenny.
The beautiful bird hide! Any suggestions for a name?!
While the end of May was pure bliss, June saw double-the-average rainfall and record low temperatures. On the night of June 6th, torrential rain saw the river rise about six feet and burst its banks. The water table rose too, drowning the willow maze in over 3ft of water. It kept rising for the next few days until it was higher than any of us have ever seen it.
Late spring was incredible down here and hot days, low water and airborn pussy willow fluff made for magical times by the river.
My friend Riona and I had our first dip of the year, followed by bbq'd salmon (that I must admit I did not catch myself) over the bonfire. These pictures were taken on the last weekend in May, and offer a sharp contrast to the ones I'll shortly be posting in the next blog...
Having mourned the loss of our beautiful log seats to an anti-social element, we finally got around to making some new ones!
Mum, Rita, Anne, Martina + assorted kids testing out the new benches and
Anne's amazing profiteroles after an easter egg hunt
I say we, but I actually mean my friends and fellow students Patrick Guerin (see photos below) and John Fitzgerald, who arrived early one misty morning armed with chainsaws and muscle. I made the tea :) They trimmed up a few willow trees for coppicing (which I'll be blogging about later in the season), then hoisted trunks and branches of deadwood up to the fire pit and made the seats: good, strong, sturdy ones dug about 6" into the ground. Very comfy they are, too, as we found out at 2012's first riverside community party.
This afternoon, mum and I spent some quality time together in celebration of Mothers Day - by counting macro invertebrates! (Not quite champagne in a jacuzzi, but anyhow...)
Traditional, ancient river boats and the biggest water-worthy vessel you can make with one ox hide, coracles have been found in river and lakeside communities the world over, from Vietnam to India to Tibet to America to the British Isles. I'd been wanting to make one for ages, especially since I realised I'd be able to go round the maze in one during the winter floods.
A thriving community of Kingfishers living along the Nore have secured the river's status as a Special Protected Area. According to a 2010 survey, there are now 22 pairs along the main channel between Borris-in-Ossory in Co. Laois and Coolnamuck, near Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny, making it an ornithological site of "national importance".
(Kingfisher photo taken from Birdwatch Ireland website - credit: Michael Finn.)
Peak populations of Mute Swans, Cormorants, Moorhens, Snipes, Sand Martins, Grey Herons and Mallards were also recorded.
SPA status is awarded under the EU Birds Directive, a piece of legislation that regulates the management of habitats in order to protect endangered bird species. The SPA is separate to the Nore's existing SAC status - or Special Area of Conservation - which designates the river as one of 16 priority habitats in Ireland. Both are regulated by National Parks and Wildlife.
On April 2nd, I uploaded a video showing a natural dam forming in the middle of the river. A month later on May 7th, a crew from the Nore River Trust came armed with chainsaws, waders and cameras to help clear it. We pulled out a lot of dead wood and opened up the main channel again. Big thanks to Bob, John and the lads!
We like to renew, reuse and recycle where possible here at the River Field.
These little log seats were cut with a chainsaw from an old sally tree we pulled out of the river.
The armchairs, meanwhile, were saved from a slow, dusty death of woodworm and barn mould. They are now enjoying their twilight years on the riverbank, while fishermen and people out for a stroll enjoy them.
I planted willow saplings to wind through the frames, and tomorrow I'm going to shove in some buddlia too to attract the butterflies.
Here are some pictures of one of our volunteers, Jake, enjoying the first swim of summer. It was boiling hot on Friday - 24 degrees! - so after we'd finished mudding the roundhouse, we jumped into the river to clean up and cool off. I found a tree with an overhanging branch at just the right height to catch on to and float in the current... heaven.
This stuff is a bit strange. I'd never noticed it before, but then again I'd never torn up the entire bottom end of the field with a JCB before. Allow me to explain... there used to be a pond at the bottom end of the field, but it was pretty useless from an ecological point of view because every year it flooded completely (the water table rises and the river bursts its banks and half the field is under up to a meter of water), meaning that no species gets a full lifecycle and any habitats are decimated annually. So last summer, I decided to fill in the pond and dig one somewhere more useful, i.e. in a place where it doesn't flood. I haven't dug it yet - that's 2012's job. Anyway after the pond was filled in, the whole area was cleared by Tom in his JCB - there are some pics on facebook somewhere - and bare earth was left. After the floods went down last month (finally! The first time since October!) we were left with this odd, slimy pond weedy stuff that promptly bleached white in the sun. It looks like some kind of creepy ancient parchment...
I really don't get how people can do this. I rang the EPA dumping hotline in September 2010 to let them know about three binsacks full of rubbish sitting in the ditch. They said it would take three weeks to get it cleared. Well lo and behold, five months later, it's still here, only now it's floating in flood water. I called again and, apparently, 'The matter has been referred to the appropriate section for their attention and following this a more detailed reply will issue to you'. Right then.
I've just started doing a bit of work with a fantastic local organisation, the Nore Suir River Trust. They conserve the river and try to undo some of the damage done to the water through pollution and poor planning by supporting educational initiatives, research and conservation . Check out their website: http://www.noresuirrivertrust.org/
