
(Tues 28th May 2024) New Information Board to be…
Today at 2 pm we will officially open the new information board 🙂

Today at 2 pm we will officially open the new information board 🙂
“Thank you to Shannon Wetlands and Michaél for hosting a very interesting and exciting workshop with our 2nd year Science class for National
Biodiversity Week. They found frogs (or rather it found them) tadpoles, dragonfly larvae, cuckoo spit and many other invertebrates living in the ponds” – from their Facebook page 🙂
Wonderful turn out by SES (https://ses.aero/) to help in cleaning up the wetlands. Thank-you again! 🙂
Had three wonderful speakers last night at a great venue, the Bunratty Room at The Treacys Oakwoods Hotel.
Olive first introduced those present to a brief history of the Shannon Town Community Wetlands and the work done by it’s volunteers to restore and maintain the wetlands here in the heart of Shannon Town.
She then explained we would next have three speakers: John O’Brien (STCW), Ruairà Ó Conchúir (LAWPRO) and Dr Pamela Bartley (from Hydro-G, Galway)
The talks were very engaging with the experts sharing the knowledge of past, present and future of our wetlands, bogs and water courses.
A great evening was had by all.
Finally, Tony Walsh (STCW) reminded people that we are always after content (stories, pictures, videos, etc.) concerning the Shannon Town Community Wetlands and reminded those present to engage with us on this website ShannonTownWetlands.ie and on our open Facebook Group
Here’s a few photos of the night. Enjoy 🙂
More on this later, but did you know Faro, Portugal has a massive coastal wetlands?
But back to Shannon Town and I just had a lovely muddy New Year’s walk in the Shannon Wetlands in glorious sunshine!
Last week I was in Faro Portugal. And while we may have 7km2 of wetlands they have 700km2!
In fact, when the 1755 tsunami hit Lisbon, Faro was saved by its wetlands!
“The tsunami destroyed some coastal fortresses in the Algarve and, in the lower levels, it razed several houses. Almost all the coastal towns and villages of the Algarve were heavily damaged, except Faro, which was protected by sandy banks. In Lagos, the waves reached the top of the city walls. For the coastal regions, the destructive effects of the tsunami were more disastrous than those of the earthquake.”
https://www.sms-tsunami-warning.com/pages/tsunami-portugal-1755
Here’s a short video showing these wetlands from the aircraft when leaving Faro for Shannon. (Fun fact the end of the video shows the most southernly point in Europe!)
It was good to see the ponds much fuller with water than recent months and the areas of land that have been cleared should have fresh growth in the Spring.
Community Wetlands Forum made a very informative fact sheet about the Shannon Town Community Wetlands
Wonderful write-up early last month at https://communitywetlandsforum.ie/388222-2/
We had an excellent turn out on the from young (Little Bubbles play school Shannon) and old alike.
The weather was kind to us and we all enjoyed the knowledgeable talks from Ruairà (LAWPRO) and others on the day.
Here’s a few more photos from the day.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/HWKANizGLynMW2bQ9