Our Waterways

We were delighted to have Catherine Seale and Mick Kane, Galway and Mayo Community Water Officers, and Philip White, a local angler, visit our school today. We had a great presentation about our local water catchement area, local rivers and lakes, and even local holy wells! We also talked about some of the wildlife - aquatic, ground-dwelling, insect and bird - that we might see in our area. We had a discussion about the problems humans can generate, like having farm animals in local streams, pollution, and plastic and litter issues. We saw samples of some plastics that were washed up on nearby beaches, as well as examples of shells and fly fishing lures.

While the junior classes were having a talk with Catherine, the senior classes took a walk down to the old bog road - Sandybanks Lane - and Mick and Phil showed us how they do kick samples to look at the quality of local water. We saw real shrimp, snails, fish, bugs and even a leech! We also looked at some lichens, algae and plants and trees that grow near the stream, and that can tell us about the health of our environment.

We loved our visit, and can't wait to do more research and trips around local waterways!