I’m 7 weeks into my time at Coleraine, and my goodness how the time has flown already! I can already see myself at the end of my year thinking, ‘Did I not just start last month?’ They say time flies when you’re having fun and that certainly is the case for me.
I started off the month helping to run a hedge planting session in Ballycraigy Primary School. This is an urban school in one of the more deprived areas of Antrim, which is part of the Eco-Schools programme (more on that later!). We are helping to improve their garden and part of their playing field. Part of that involved planting a hedge leading down the side of the playing field and that’s where the kids came in! We had various groups of children from big to small came out during the day. We spoke to them about the types of trees we were planting, and why they were good for animals and insects. Everyone had a go at planting a few whips and they all did really well!
I’ve been spending a fair bit of time in the office this month, doing paperwork. I’ve been doing a few more quotations for private landowners wanting some work done, and the principal of the school I mentioned visiting in my last blog has contacted me wanting to get provisional dates booked to do work etc., so that’s very exciting!
I have also been handed the project of co-ordinating work on removing invasive non-native species from 2 adjacent sites in Antrim; Rea’s Wood, owned by the Forestry Service and an adjacent section of land owned by Antrim Borough Council near the north shores of Lough Neagh. They are also covered by a raft of designations – A Site of Scientific Interest (ASSI), Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and are very close to a RAMSAR site, a wetland of international importance. Friday fact for you – unlike most designated sites, ‘RAMSAR’ is actually the name of the Iranian city in which the convention was signed to protect wetland sites internationally, not an acronym for what the site is! Because of all these designations, what you can and can’t do on the sites are strictly controlled – for example, if you are spraying herbicide you need to ensure whoever’s doing the spraying is certified to spray near water. Permits also need to be obtained/seen in order for sites to be worked on. I’ve been busy with all of these kinds of issues, plus emailing the biodiversity officer for the area, and representatives from the Department of Environment and Forestry Service. It’s been an introduction into the nuts and bolts of how work is carried out on these very important sites for wildlife, and the legislation governing it. A lot of office work, but it’ll all be worth it once we get down to actually doing the work! I’m really interested in organising a ‘Balsam bashing’ day in the summer time and getting lots of volunteers down to pull the Himalayan Balsam!
Looking out onto Lough Neagh, an important wetland area for NI
Stand of Salmonberry in Lough Shore Park
I also had the opportunity to go along with the CAT leader Kenny to the Eco-Schools 20th Anniversary Celebration Event in Magherafelt. The Eco-Schools programme is a holistic environmental education awareness project that aims to increase environmental awareness through action. It runs internationally – 59 countries are signed up to the project, and Northern Ireland just became the first country in the world to have 100% of its schools signed up to the programme! Eco-Schools has been running for 20 years now and we were invited along to the celebration event in Northern Ireland as an exhibitor. Coleraine does a lot of work with Schools signed up to the Eco-School programme, helping to improve their outdoor spaces with items such as planter boxes, willow domes etc., and we brought a selection of those along. I created a slideshow for the exhibition and a reference book of example work that we had done in schools in the previous years. The event was really, really good – 170 schools attended, there must have been over 2,000 people through the doors! Kenny and I had a great time talking to kids and teachers from all kinds of schools around the country, promoting the work of TCV – and I got to talk to people about the Natural Networks scheme too, which was lovely! A real variety of exhibitors attended the event; Henry group brought an electric car, an ex-battery hen rescue charity, to groups such as Ulster Wildlife and RSPB, and lots of others.
On top of this, I’ve been out and about with the Conservation Action Team doing practical activities. I’ve asked to sit in on meetings with the Causeway Rural Urban Network (CRUN), which is a network of people working to encourage regeneration and sustainability within the Coleraine region. I’m hopeful that this will help me to meet community groups and interested individuals that TCV might be able to work with in the future. I’ve attended a lecture at the Ulster Museum delivered by the National Trust’s Countryside Advisor for Northern Ireland, as part of CEDaR’s 20th Anniversary Programme. It was really interesting to hear about her early career and the important areas the National Trust are managing in Northern Ireland, and have a chance to network afterwards. CEDaR is the Centre for Environmental Data and Recording in Northern Ireland, in partnership with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA). Later on this month I’ve arranged to attend a training workshop on wildflower seed collection in the TCV Clandeboye Nursery, which I’m really looking forward to. And, if you aren’t heartily bored of listening to me nattering on by now (sorry), I’m also on twitter – https://twitter.com/RuthLinton90. I’m a bit of a novice at it, but I’ll be twittering away throughout the rest of the year!
Phew, that was a bit of an essay – au revoir for now, see you next month!
For more about eco-schools in Northern Ireland, go to http://www.eco-schoolsni.org/default.aspx
For more information on CEDaR, go to http://www.nmni.com/cedar