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Irish Independent
05-08-2025
- General
- Irish Independent
No date for Dowth Hall national park opening as second anniversary of €11m purchase approaches
A new manager for the estate has been appointed and the team are working on a masterplan to develop the 500 acre site along with the adjoining world heritage Newgrange Monument which will be part of the new national park. Dowth House and the lands were bought by the State for over €10 million over two years ago. It is only a couple of miles away from Oldbridge House and the Battle of the Boyne site The Minister responsible, James Browne, in reply to a parliamentary question from local Labour TD Ged Nash has confirmed that a new manager has been appointed for the Dowth property by the National Park and Wildlife Service. A masterplan for the whole new park including its opening is being worked on by the National Park and Wildlife Service ( NPWS), in partnership with the National Monuments Service (NMS) and the Office of Public Works (OPW). The Masterplan will comprise a suite of important archaeological monuments, Dowth House, Netterville Manor and other heritage buildings, an important designed landscape and a range of habitats including mixed woodland, scrub, riparian wetland and grassland with an extensive complement of flora and fauna. Minister Browne said: "The NPWS is currently advancing preparations for opening the Bru na Boinne National Park to the public. "The Masterplan for the National Park involved background research/ analysis, ongoing stakeholder engagement including with the recently established Bru na Boinne Community World Heritage Forum, development of options, and a final Masterplan Report. "A new Park Manager was appointed last year to oversee the operations of the Bru Na Boinne National Park, as well as the development of the Masterplan. "This Masterplan will seek to provide a conceptual overview and strategic thinking on how to develop the National Park within the World Heritage Property. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more "It will also look to promote an understanding of the Park's significance as one of Ireland's foremost important cultural and natural heritage sites. The draft once prepared will be issued for public consultation following stakeholder engagement through the rest of 2025. "One of the requirements is to ensure community involvement in the development of the Masterplan including community consultation throughout the process. "The Masterplan will guide decision-making for the sensitive conservation, development and management of Bru na Boinne National Park into the future." He also confirmed the management of the new Park have been interacting and holding workshops and excursions with Teagasc, Inland Fisheries ireland, Failte Ireland and the reimagined Boyne Valley Drive, Met Eireann, BASE Ireland, UCD, Atlantic Technical University, RTE Radio, National Biodiversity Data Centre, Irish Rare Breeds Society, Solstice Arts Centre and Irish Ramsar Wetland Committee. The Park will host an arts/biodiversity event in collaboration with Solstice Arts Centre, Navan on August 24 next The Minister said the National Park team and its partners intend to maintain and develop new collaborations and are always open to request by group visits and are looking forward to providing a public resource of this unique area centred on sensitive conservation of our natural and cultural heritage. No exact date has been set for the opening yet. The Dowth estate was purchased by the State in Nash is pushing for the park to be opened to the public as soon as possible.
Irish Times
24-05-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Ireland has 33 species of mayfly. Even under immense pressure from humans, they adapt
Shucks and spinners, imagos and duns, clingers and burrowers ... You would need a dictionary to decode the language of the mayfly and the many terms describing its life stages. These insects spend years as juveniles on the beds of streams, rivers and lakes – some pressed flat beneath rocks – before transforming into winged adults, swarming above the water with a single, urgent goal: to mate. One evening last week, after attending the launch of Take Me to the River at the Solstice Arts Centre in Meath – a collaboration of artists, scientists and local communities working to restore the river Boyne and her many tributaries, now rapidly dying – I took to the banks of the river as she meanders through Navan and walked the banks. The evening sun bathed the fields and water with a golden light, revealing the insects darting through the air. They looked like specks of dust flitting back and forth, occasionally scattered apart by swallows which darted through them at speed. As I walked along the mown path beside the river, the adult mayfly stood out, pulsing through the air. Known as 'spinners' and technically named 'imagos', this final stage of the mayfly's life is fleeting, sometimes lasting only a few hours. In times of abundance, adult mayflies emerge in synchronised hatches in May in such huge numbers that they rise in dense clouds above the water. Years ago, over the Corrib, I watched so many lift off at once it looked as though smoke was drifting across the water from an unseen fire. On my recent walk along the Boyne, only a few hundred were dancing in the air, their wings like transparent sheets of rice paper, carrying their slender bodies upwards. Mayflies are easy to spot by the long, hair-thin tails trailing from the base of their abdomen, which appear to weigh the mayfly down, as if dragging it back into the water. READ MORE [ Irish hares are unique but the law of the land is against them Opens in new window ] For the likes of trout and salmon, mayflies are protein-rich power snacks, devoured at every stage of their life cycle. As underwater nymphs (think of it as mayflies' childhood phase) this insect clings to stones or burrows into the riverbed, living unseen for years. In their teenage stage as sub-imagos, known by anglers as 'duns', they rise to the water's surface, shed their outer skins, or 'shucks', to emerge as hairy-winged adults. Finally, as fully mature imagos, they take to the air. Adult mayflies don't have mouths and so cannot feed. So they must use all their stored energy to complete their final job: to reproduce. During this burst of aerial activity, males and females rise for their first and only nuptial flight, seeking one another to mate. The females lay eggs in the water before joining the males and falling lifeless on to the surface. As developing eggs, mayflies are vulnerable to water pollution. Sediment can smother and block the flow of oxygen to the eggs, which is vital for survival. Excessive phosphate levels in the water will fatally disrupt their development due to excessive algal growth. Yet even under immense pressure from human activities, mayflies can adapt. In 2023, fisheries scientist Dr Ken Whelan led a study of mayfly populations in the western lakes – Carra, Conn, Corrib and Mask. They discovered profound changes in the ecology of these lakes. Where once there were two distinct peaks of mayfly emergence (in May and August), mayflies now appear continuously throughout the summer. The deeper parts of the lake beds of Corrib, Mask and Carra are becoming increasingly unsuitable for nymphs to survive. However, in Lough Sheelin in Cavan, where mayfly numbers have grown recently, Dr Whelan discovered nymphs burrowing in the empty shells of invasive zebra mussels on the lake bed – a striking example of adaptation. 'No matter what Nature or Man throws at them,' he writes in this month's Trout & Salmon magazine, 'warming water, storms affecting egg-laying adults, the appearance of invasive species, new predators – apparently, our beloved mayfly can adapt, survive, and thrive.' The olive mayfly The pressures are many. Pollution and record-high water temperatures in rivers are already taking a toll. Two weeks ago fisheries authorities closed multiple fisheries including the iconic Erriff and Moy fisheries after water temperatures exceeded 20 degrees Celsius twice within 24 hours - an alarming situation. For some mayfly species, the warmer waters lead to stunted growth and leave them more susceptible to early death. Unlike many other European countries, Ireland still relies heavily on rivers and lakes as a source of drinking water – a practice that can worsen rising water temperatures. On top of this are other threats: invasive species such as non-native shrimps and snails that feast on juvenile mayflies; lethal pesticide use; and physical disturbances such as dredging, which can devastate the delicate habitats these insects depend on. So, how are Ireland's 33 mayfly species faring overall? By the end of this year, we will have a much clearer picture when Dr Jan-Robert Baars, an insect scientist at University College Dublin, publishes his nationwide assessment. With a bit of help from citizen scientists, from anglers to schoolchildren, Dr Baars is gathering data to track mayfly populations across the country. There are small signs of hope: last summer, a pupil from Scoil Bhríde in Kilcullen discovered a mayfly species in the Liffey that hadn't been recorded there in nearly a century.
