Join us for the exciting '7 Galway Castles Heritage Cycle' on May 18th

Slí na gCaisleán’ (‘The Way of the Castles’) represents a guided ‘Off the Beaten Track’ heritage cycle tour along a 40km looped trail that encompasses seven castles on the north and eastern side of Galway city and into Galway county. 

Slí na gCaisleán’ (‘The Way of the Castles’) represents a guided ‘Off the Beaten Track’ heritage cycle tour along a 40km looped trail that encompasses seven castles on the north and eastern side of Galway city and into Galway county. The tour will start at the 'Plots' on the Dyke Road and continue to the vicinity of castles at Terryland, Menlo, Cloonacauneen, Killeen, Ballybrit, Castlegar and Ballindooley.

The tour will start at 10am on Sunday May 18th at the 'Plots' on the Dyke Road and continue to the vicinity of castles at Terryland, Menlo, Cloonacauneen, Killeen, Ballybrit, Castlegar and Ballindooley.

 

This leisurely cycle will journey over hills, along botharins, past farms, castles, karst outcrops, bogs, lakes, dykes, turloughs, pasture and wildflower meadows.

The tour will introduce participants to the wonderful natural and built heritage that exists not far from the hustle and bustle of a major modern built-up city. There will be opportunities to tour local historical sites and beautiful rural landscapes, to enjoy a group picnic and to have a light lunch on route.

Please note that participants should wear suitable clothing, and bring water and a puncture repair kit.

Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

This leisurely cycle will journey over hills, along botharins, past abandoned farms, ruined castles, karst outcrops, bogs, lakes, dykes, turloughs and meadows.

The tour will introduce participants to the wonderful natural and built heritage that exists not far from the hustle and bustle of a major modern built-up city. There will be opportunities to tour local historical sites and beautiful rural landscapes, to enjoy a group picnic and to have a light lunch on route.

Please note that participants should wear suitable clothing, and bring water/food and a puncture repair kit.

Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

To take part, register at:

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1353200923389?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

Tuatha Terryland Forest Park. Looking back and moving forward. 25th Anniversary (2000 – 2025)

Thanks to funding from Creative Ireland and support from Galway City Council, the Tuatha of Terryland Forest Park will be hosting a series of artistic events to celebrate 25 years of Terryland Forest Park.

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Art Workshops by Artist-in-Residence, Helen Caird, with Three City-based Schools

Artist Helen Caird has arranged with each school to undertake an art workshop whereby the
children involved will create either a painting, a drawing or a collage piece envisioning
the next 25 years of Terryland Forest Park as the same was done with children who
attended these schools at the time of the park’s launch 25 years ago.
The workshops will take place as follows:
Scoil San Phroinsias, Tirellan Heights:  Helen will be doing a workshop with 4th Class pupils on
Friday 2nd of May.
Castlegar National School: - Helen will be doing a workshop with 6th Class pupils on
Wednesday 7th of May.;
St. Nicholas’ Parochial School, Woodquay - Helen will be doing a workshop with 6th Class pupils on
Wednesday 14th of May.

Once all the workshops are completed, Helen will select a number of artworks to be
displayed on the day of the official ceremony which will take place on Thursday, 5th of
June and will be attended by the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins. All the artworks from all three schools, however, will be archived.

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Creative Movement Workshops with Roberta Ceg. 

The workshops will take place in the park and be filled with exercises, games of mobility, agility and endurance. The aim is to become more confident and playful in how we move and with our environment as well as with each other. 

Dates of workshops to follow

'Nature without Borders'- North & South Ireland unite to Restore Native Ecosystems

In a fine example of cross-border cooperation to tackle the Biodiversity Crisis, the 'Friends of Little Woods' in Fermanagh and the Tuatha of Terryland Forest Park have partnered together to create native wildlife habitats.

We gave this all-island initiative the title of 'Nature without Borders' as an encouragement to others to follow suit and to recognise that only humans put in the artificial barriers that disconnects humans and the rest of nature from each other.

The initial contact between both volunteer groups and the subsequent monies received as a result of our application under the Community Climate Action Fund were only made possible thanks to the involvement, advice and encouragement of Tiarnan Mc Cusker, the hardworking and visionary Community Climate Officer at Galway City Council.

Chris Hillcox of the Friends of Little Woods last weekend generously hosted a delegation from the Tuatha to take part in conservation activities (making bird boxes & setting up a Wildlife Observation Post) as part of the programme to develop a wet woodland in the Clogher Valley area of county Fermanagh.

It is hoped that this long-term rewilding project will provide a suitable habitat to facilitate a gradual migration of flora and fauna across the locality that are traditionally native to the area including endangered species such as pine marten and red squirrel.

Photo shows (L-R) Tobias, Mike and Ruth from the Tuatha with Chris of the Friends of Little Woods at the bog site in Clabby county Fermanagh.

Families in action at the Terryland Forest Park 'Plantathon 2025'.

A mother (Caitriona) and daughter, a father (Kevin) and son- two families united by a common cause of rewilding Galway city.

A great crowd of volunteers on a beautiful Saturday undertook important and wonderful conservation work in Terryland Forest Park as they planted a heritage orchard, a hedgerow and a woods adjacent to our developing wetlands.

So a big thank you to the 80 volunteers of all ages that continued a 25 year tradition of planting trees in Terryland Forest Parks.

Superstars everyone!

 

Many thanks to the volunteers that participated in our range of activities at Terryland Forest Park on Saturday.

As well a clean-up of the woods, meadows and pathways as part of An Taisce's National Spring Clean, volunteers also removed refuse from Terryland River, mulched the park's new fruit bush pocket orchards, and undertook the first mapping of a new 6km blue-green walking/running trail within the park and along the River Corrib/Dyke Road.

On next Saturday (March 29th) , we will be hosting our annual Community Tree Plantathon.
So please join us to celebrate 25 years since the first planting in Terryland Forest Park by creating a hedgerow, a pocket woods and a willow field.

Register at https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1284820375329?aff=oddtdtcreator

On March 12th 2000, some of the 3,000+ volunteers, working under the auspices of Galway Corporation (now council) Parks department and its superintendent the recently appointed Stephen Walsh with a multi-sectoral committee, created a wonderful oak grove on the first day that Terryland Forest Park opened. Twenty oak saplings were planted in a circle surrounding a single oak sapling, giving recognition to the Celtic pagan druids and early Christians, especially Saint Brigid of Kildare (Cill Dara, Irish for 'church of oak') fame, who worshiped amongst nature and gave due respect to the largest of our native tree species. The ancient ones often knew more than modern society gives them credit for. For they understood the significance of trees and plants in maintaining life on the planet which science is helping us to rediscover in the last century or so.

Over the decades, we have held community family picnics, school classes and festivals in this wonderful circle of life.

Yesterday a small team of Tuatha volunteers working in the park laid the foundations for a circle of giant toadstools that will form a Fairy Ring to serve as an enchanting forest-themed Outdoor Classroom for the benefit of visiting schools and other groups.

A circle of fungi is a beautiful natural phenomena in nature that is the surface representation of a network of small threads, called mycelium, that form part of what we now refer to as the Wood Wide Web, a mutually beneficial underground communications and resource-sharing system connecting the trees of a forest.

In mythology these mushroom circles were known as Fairy Rings where the 'little people' merrily danced in the woods under the moonlight. WB Yeats mentions this in his poem The Stolen Child:

"...We foot it all the night, Weaving olden dances Mingling hands and mingling glances Till the moon has taken flight..."

The concrete toadstools were made by our good friend, the highly talented Michael McDonnell of Cumann na bhFear. Their installation and painting will be done over the next few weeks by the Tuatha volunteers supported by the Just 3 programme of the University of Galway as part of the Galway National Park City initiative.

The first phase of this exciting new creation will be readied later this month in time for the Galway Science and Technology Festival.

Finally, new volunteers are always welcome every Saturday to help us continue to develop the park as an Outdoor Classroom, a heritage hub and as a biodiversity sanctuary.

Rendezvous on Saturday is 10am at An Nead (Irish = The Nest) at the Sandy Road entrance to the Terryland Forest Park. Google map coordinates are: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Gc334KY6JoBt6Fw96

 

 

Please Join us this Saturday for our ongoing Wetland restoration project

 

Once again dear friends we are asking you to join us for our wetland restoration project in Terryland Forest Park.

Sign up at Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/help-create-a-major-wetland-in-galway-city-tickets-1043526003367?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

As you can see from the photo, the conservation work is coming along nicely. Two islands have been created in the middle of what will be a future 1000 sq metre pond.

We have also installed wan attractive new name stone plate at the entrance to this section of the park. Positioned on a large rock, it includes the name of this habitat in both Irish (Bogaigh) and English (Wetland) as well as a carving of a frog and a bullrush.