The Great Outdoors 2may2024

This program is sponsored by Galway Rural Development Social Inclusion Community Activation Program. Brendan O'Skell discusses various topics including what's happening in the sky, the Galway Classic Motorcycle Rally, water safety tips, biodiversity week, a solo exhibition called Echoes of Joy, and the Fale of Joy event. David Moore from Astronomy Ireland talks about Saturn and its rings, as well as the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. This program is sponsored by Galway Rural Development Social Inclusion Community Activation Program. Contact 091-574-858. Welcome to the great outdoors here on Connemara Community Radio 87.8 and 106.1 FM. Fáilte ról, go léir, go díon, cláir, you're all very welcome to the great outdoors here tonight with me Brendan O'Skell, we're into May, I imagined that already, and I hope yesterday for May Day you all did something special, I went out to wash my face in the mid-morning dew, not that I think there was much dew without a rain, but anyway, thanks to Mitch for a great program there as always, but just to say that in a few moments I'll be speaking with David Moore from the Ireland and we'll be looking at what's happening in the sky at the moment. We'll also have Kevin Barry, spokesperson for the Galway District Classical Motorcycle Club and the 44th Galway Classic Motorcycle Rally takes place in Clifton. Pádraig Judge, marketing executive with Water Safety Ireland will be telling us about tips and advice around water activity this Bank Holiday weekend, and then Siobhan Gagan, head guide and information officer with Calamari National Park, and Eamon Loughlin, park ranger with Calamari National Park will talk about Biodiversity Week. We'll also have Alicia Nathalie, who is going to talk to us about a solo exhibition called Echoes of Joy, and then towards the end of the program, Michal O'Cuig, who's the organising committee with the Fale of Joy in there, will be talking to us about what that's happening up this weekend, but we are going to go now to our Eco Sloth. The Eco Sloth on Calamari Community Radio, a weekly program focusing on environmental and climate sustainability. This program is co-funded by Commissioning the Man through the Sound and Vision Scheme. Hello, on our Eco Sloth this evening, I'm delighted to welcome David Moore, founder and chairperson of Astronomy Ireland to the program once again. David, you're welcome to us once more. Thank you very much. David, as I say, we're always fascinated to find out what's happening in the sky at any time of the year, and coming up now, I suppose, what the nice thing, I suppose, is the evenings are, or the weather is generally getting a bit better, and people have a chance maybe to get out. But what do we expect to see in the stars at the moment, or up in the heavens? Well, tonight is a good night to stay up late, or get up at dawn, because the planet Saturn, which hasn't been visible for a while, is going to sneak back into morning skies. Now, we couldn't normally have promoted this, but it just so happens that the crescent moon is going to line up with Saturn. Tonight, it'll be a little bit higher than tomorrow night, but it'll be much further away from Saturn, so if you get up at around dawn, or about in the morning, and you look over in the east, you'll hopefully be able to see the moon with the naked eye easy enough, and then well to the left will be a reasonably bright star, in quotes, and that's actually the planet Saturn. And if you manage to get up early on Saturday morning to do the same thing, around about 9.00-4.00am, you'll see the crescent moon a bit lower down than the good horizon, but Saturn will be much closer. In fact, if you have a pair of binoculars, you'll easily fit Saturn and the moon into the same field of view. There's a nice diagram in Astronomy Island magazine, go and get it, which will show you exactly what the view looks like. And that's going to happen again, by the way. On May 31st, the last day of the year, the moon's going to go round the sky, and come back and line up with Saturn yet again. Saturn will be higher, the moon will be a lovely crescent again, and the Earth is even slightly closer on May 31st, so there aren't many bright planets visible in the Irish sky this coming month. Saturn is the best, and the moon signposts us on two occasions this month. That's one of the highlights of the month. OK. And so I shall tell you a little bit about the planets, because it's one that a lot of people will be fascinated by, but what's the story behind Saturn? Yeah, Saturn is probably the most appealing planet in a telescope, because it's got those lovely rings. Some of the other planets have very minor rings you can't see in a telescope, but Saturn is visible in a small telescope, but the cheapest telescope you can get will show the rings of Saturn. We run a big event for the general public, for families and for friends, every summer. It's on August 31st, the last day of August this year, and there's a nice bus to the stars, and Saturn will have moved around to the evening sky then, and the view of Saturn in a big telescope. It looks like a spacecraft that you see online or in magazines and books, with the ring. Some of the moons are visible in these telescopes. It's the deathliest sight you have to see at least once in your life, so check out our website, astronomy.ie, get your ticket for that, and the other wonders of the universe. Saturn is not like the Earth. We have a solid surface with a bit of a thin atmosphere on top. You and I are breathing, fortunately for us, but on Saturn it's atmosphere all the way down, and the air, in quotes, so we could breathe, just gets thicker and thicker the deeper down you go, and a few hundred miles down, the gas atmosphere of Saturn turns into liquid, and then the rest of the planet, most of it, and there's a very thin layer of gas at the top, from there on down to the core, is liquid, mostly hydrogen gas, and it gets squashed so much it stops behaving like a gas, it starts behaving like a metal. So the conditions are, on a planet nine times, sorry, eight times wider than the Earth, are nothing like what they are here on our own planet, so it's beyond our everyday experience. If you have Saturn, a big magnetic field, it's very far from the Sun, ten times further than we are, so it's extremely cold, it's got over a hundred moons going around it, most of them are very small, there's a big one, the biggest one has got its own nitrogen atmosphere, it's thicker than the one you and I are breathing now, so it's a crazy exotic world that looks incredible in a telescope with those rings. Yeah, and of course, as you say, the moons there are incredible as well, but the rings themselves, how did they form, or why are they there? Well, we think what happened was that Saturn, being so much bigger than the Earth, a moon that was icy got too close to Saturn, and the near side of the moon was being pulled by Saturn's strong gravity, more than the remote side of the moon, and that stretched the moon so much, it actually shredded the entire moon into billions, trillions of boulders that are all orbiting Saturn now in a big sheet, and the sheet is very thin, if it was made of newspaper, the sheet would be about as big as would fit on a football field. That's to get the size of the sheet compared to the thickness, to the correct scale, so it's an extremely thin sheet, wafer-thin, and we're going to see that next year, yet the rings of Saturn will turn edge-on in the spring of next year, and they'll disappear in all but the biggest telescopes in the world when you look at them edge-on just for a few days and weeks, that only happens every 15 years, and it shows how thin that sheet of boulders is, and they look solid in photographs and in the telescope, but in fact, there's huge gaps between the boulders, they're not touching each other, so again, a really crazy exotic thing, it isn't actually anything like what it actually looks like, it looks like a gramophone record, but in fact, it's actually a big swarm of boulders orbiting Saturn from a moon that was shredded a long time ago. And are they kind of set out into different bands, or, you know, like if you had, we'd say, something on the shore, you're going to get bigger rocks kept in one place and smaller ones along the way, is there a kind of a gradual gradient or graduation between the rocks, or are they all the same the whole way across? There sort of is, when you look in the telescopes, even with amateur telescopes, they cost thousands of Euros, but you can see the individual sections of the ring, there's three sections you can fairly easily see with a telescope. When you send spacecraft there, you look at them really close, you can see there are gaps between the rings, and when you look very, very close, you can see the rings are actually made up of rings within rings, and we think all this structure and detail is put there by the gravity of the other moons going around Saturn, but they're pulling on these boulders as well, and they can shepherd the boulders into particular paths. So it still defies scientists today to quite predict exactly what's going on, but we do know some of the big divisions in the rings are caused by some of the big satellites, and there are probably other little moons, in other words, some that are bigger than the boulders, maybe the equivalent mass of thousands or millions of boulders embedded in the rings that are going around and stirring everything up and keeping all this rings-within-rings structure. So it's a phenomenally dynamic place, from the Earth it looks great, just one big flat ring, but up close in spacecraft, when people simply go there and fly in amongst the rings, it's going to be a crazy place to visit. And we won't be going there any day soon to visit anyway, but by the sound of things. So what else then, David, at the moment should people be looking out for? I do have things to say. Well, there's a bit of a meteor shower coming this weekend, it's called the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. It would be one of the best three of the year, only it's really best seen in the southern hemisphere. Little bits of space debris that hit the Earth are actually bits that fell off Halley's Comet. And down south they'll see perhaps 80 per hour, which is quite a rate. But up here we have two problems. One is it's very low down, and secondly, it doesn't rise until after 3am and it gets bright soon after 4am. So you've only got this one hour window between 3 and 4 when you'll see reduced numbers. So you might read about it online for people in Australia, South America, South Africa, places like that, where they get a glorious view. But we'll have to wait until August for the Perseid meteor shower, and December for the Geminid meteor shower, which is the best of the year. So if you hear anything about it, you will see some from Ireland, but really we've got better meteor showers later in the year. And then the other big thing that's coming is the International Space Station, that you'll have no problem seeing. Follow us on social media. Earlier this afternoon we posted our daily report. It's in the morning sky at the moment. You're going to watch it around the 5 o'clock a.m. mark. But that will change next week. From the 10th of May to the 25th of May, about two weeks, every night you'll see the space station fly over in evening skies. Again, for free, we'll have the predictions of exactly when to watch on our social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Go to our website, astronomy.ie. Down the bottom you'll see the links to social media. Do follow us there. And we also predict the Northern Lights. We can only really predict those a day or two in advance, and we've just predicted one at the moment. The Northern Lights exploded. We have spacecraft monitoring them every day. They exploded earlier today. And if that activity continues, when it gets dark in Ireland in a few hours' time, we could have a spectacular display of the Northern Lights. Now, they tend to come and go on hour-long schedules. They don't tend to last for days. So whether it'll last until it gets dark in Ireland, we'll just have to wait and see. I'm just looking at the satellite images at the moment to see how it's faring. But even if it has died away, then it could just surge in activity again after a few hours. Right now it's extremely intense. The ideal place to be would be Scandinavia, although it's a bit bright there. So over Siberia and Russia was the best place to see it. But if that activity keeps going for several hours, we're going to get a great display of the Northern Lights. And again, our social media will predict these 24 to 48 hours in advance, free of charge. Make sure you're on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and follow the links on astronomy.ie. Absolutely. Now, did I read somewhere recently about a possible comet coming around this summer? Was there something there that I was reading about? There are two of them. One has just gone, as far as Ireland's concerned. It was called Pons Brux, or it has a number 12P, which is to say. And it was quite prominent in binoculars and small telescopes in the evening sky, and some fantastic photographs. In fact, people would get Astronomy Hour magazine, probably today, I hope, the magazine dropped through the letterbox, and they'll see all the photographs taken from Ireland of it. We got some stunning pictures. There were incredible ones taken around the world. We held up our own. We've got the Irish pictures in the latest May issue of Astronomy Hour magazine. And that's sort of a teaser for what's coming in October, because there's a really big comet coming called, it's a Chinese acronym name, Siu Chin Chan Atlas. That's the name of the comet, or people are going to call it, I think, A3 for short, because that's its designation. And A3 could be brighter than the brightest stars in the sky in October for a few weeks. So, you know, this first comet, 12P, was just, it comes around every 71 years, and we're just teasing it as getting us ready for the big one that's coming in October. In fact, any of the older listeners might remember 1997, when we had comet Hale-Bopp, a brilliant comet just sat in the sky. You could see it from the city centre. And we expect a comet like that. If we're in luck. We think we can predict this comet fairly well in advance. Some comets often let us down, but this one is not relying on going extremely close to the Sun for its brightness. And that's usually a good sign. But again, all Astronomy Hour magazine pages will keep you posted over the coming months, but I would be expecting to see a good comet in October. Well, that will be talking to you no doubt before that. Well, David, listen, it's great talking to you. As I say, I know that if anybody is interested, they can get on to astronomy.ie, get all the information there, join up and take part and get information, and of course the magazines, etc. But wonderful talking to you again, and thank you so much for being with us this evening. My pleasure. Thanks, David. Bye. Bye-bye. You've just been listening to The Eco Sloth on Connemara Community Radio, a weekly programme focusing on environmental and climate sustainability. This programme is co-funded by Commissioner Naimon through the Sound and Vision Scheme. Well, that was David Moore there, of course, from Astronomy Ireland, with some information there. So keep an eye out for Saturn ISS, Northern Lights, and keep an eye for those comets coming up. I was talking yesterday or the day before, I was talking to Mike Joyce from England, over visiting, and it was great meeting up with Mike. And Mike, just a message for you, if you can phone me this evening when I get home after 9 o'clock, if you don't mind, if it's not too late for you, I just need to talk to you, but that's fine. Nothing urgent, so just if you're listening in, Mike, you might just phone me this evening. Now we're going to go into our ad break, and after that we'll be speaking with Kevin Barry, spokesperson for the Galway District Classic Motorcycle Club. Walsh's Bakery Clifton are looking for someone to work in the bakery wholesale part of the business. It is a full-time position, five days a week, either 6.30am to 1pm. The role involves preparing our goods for delivery around Connemara, bread and cake packaging, completing small local deliveries along with some other tasks. Applicants must have a full, clean driver's licence. If you are interested in the job, please call us on 095 21283 or email us at info at walshsbakery.com. Super Value Clifton have part-time positions available in their meat counter, for checkout assistance, and on the shop floor. Candidates need to be flexible, enthusiastic and customer-focused. For more information or to apply, please ask in store or email cauchin.hair at cavanaghgroup.ie and that's cauchin, C-A-I-T-I-N cauchin.hair, H-E-H-I-R at cavanaghgroup.ie Here's your entertainment guide for this week. There's music in Johnny O'Loughlin's bar at the Zetland Hotel in Cashel on Saturday the 4th of May with John Bjug. Make life easy on yourself and call into Broderick's Electrical Castlebar in Westport for the best advice and the best price. We have offers on TVs, washing machines, dryers, fridge freezers, dishwashers. You'd be a fool not to come in and grab yourself a bargain. And remember, if you can't get to us, just call or buy online at broderickselectrical.ie and we will deliver direct to you. So call us on 09828130 or 0949044735. 1,000 acres of history, beauty and serenity in the heart of Connemara await you this spring at Kylemore Abbey. Fall back in love with the history. Enjoy a quiet stroll on the woodland path or stop for a moment of quiet reflection in the neogothic church. Trot along to feeding time with the Connemara ponies and try delicious homemade produce in the Kylemore kitchen. Or shop for some of the best of local and Irish designs in the Kylemore Abbey craft and design shops. Book your visit at Kylemoreabbey.com. Kylemore Abbey, a story so timeless it's still being written. We all know the importance of getting fresh fish into our diet. Check out what's on offer at John Joe's Fish Van situated at the entrance to Connemara West Letter Frack every Thursday and Friday from 9.30am to 2.30pm. Selling locally caught fish, much of it caught with our own boats. Salmon, hake, cod, sea trout, mackerel, haddock and much more. For more information, orders or requests, please call 0870 555 222 or email joejohn1923 at gmail.com. Choices Bar and Grocery recess. Services include grocery, post office, petrol and diesel, grocery agent, bar and live music at the weekends. Bar food daily until 6pm. Sunday lunch specials served from 12.30 until 6pm. Call Joices on 095 246 58 for more information. When I got up this morning the house was really freezing. I checked the oil tank, it was empty. That must be the reason. So I called up Sweeney Oil, a truly local company, and took my order for some oil and delivered straight to me. Sweeney Oil are at your service, friendly, helpful and they care. There are many easy ways to pay, now that's what I call fair. They deliver oil to homes all over Galway and Surround. And Sweeney Oil's prices are the very best around. For the best value home heating oil in Galway, call Sweeney Oil today on 1800 555 999 or visit sweeneyoil.ie. Sweeney Oil's the warmer way to heat your home. Right, we got a press release in which said that the 44th Galway Classic Motorcycle Rally will be coming on the 4th or 5th of May. And to find out about this, I'm delighted to welcome Kevin Barry from the Galway and District Classic Motorcycle Club. Kevin, you're welcome to us here on Can-Am Music Radio. Thank you very much. Good to talk to you. First of all, I suppose, tell me a little bit about the Galway and District Classic Motorcycle Club. OK, well, as you correctly said there, it's the 44th Galway Classic Motorcycle Rally. It's used to run from Galway and various venues. Actually, this is our 4th year in Clifton. Headquarters are based at the Station House Hotel. John and Rory have looked after us very well for the past 3-4 years, you know. Yeah. So, I mean, the group of yourselves, have you been going for 44 years? Have you been there beforehand as such? There was a particular gentleman in Galway called Eddie Carpenter that originally set the rally up and it's been ongoing every year since then, apart from COVID about 4 years ago or 3 years ago. But it's a well-attended event and last year we had about 70-plus entries all on 30-plus-year-old bikes. A lot of them are a lot older than that, from the 1940s and 30s and everything, you know. And the people, they love coming to the West of Ireland and quite a collection of various people that come, a lot from the Munster area, Leinster, the North. We had Spanish people and so, you know, there's a lot of people attending and it's a great event. And, of course, it's lovely to see these classic bikes and the classic cars, all of that. When you see all of those, you just look back and you kind of remember from the movies and things like that, these kind of bikes and stuff. There's something very special about them. I mean, that's, I presume, what draws you into it in the beginning. You'd be amazed at the amount of them that are around this country. You know, a lot of people here are very good at restoring bikes, you know, having been used to working on tractors and farms and things like that. But there's a lot of them in the country and it's amazing to see newer ones, not newer ones, but people coming out with different bikes over the years, you know. And where they get them, I don't know, but they're there, a lot of them, you know. The route is about 130 miles or so and it's kind of hard going for some of them because they're on, you know, 50, 60-year-old bikes, some of them, you know. So there you are. We're going to Linan and up the Sheffield Pass into Turmekeedy and back by Loch Ida and stuff. And our start will be at 10 o'clock on the Square on Saturday. And it'll be a great place for people to come and view all the bikes in the one place. And we've been set off by Valerie Joyce, the local artist. No better woman to set anybody off. So it'll be good. That'll be good. So the bikes then, you'll be around so people will be able to have a look at them because, I mean, again, people are all fascinated to see them and to remember them. Friday evening, you know, sort of 7 o'clock on is a good time to come down to the station house because they'll all be parked up there, you know. The vast majority of people will be staying in the station house, Brother Barry, you know. Yeah. It's a nice place to see them because they're all lined up where the museum is. So it's very interesting to see them all in the one place, you know. Yeah, that's really great. I know that a lot of people love the old-fashioned ones with the sidecars and things like that. Do you have people with sidecars or are those yours? Yes, last year, from my memory, there was one person there with a sidecar, another AA sidecar, the old AA sidecars that they used to use, you know. Wow. It's an amazing thing. So your trip then around, I mean, I presume that you enjoy, you know, the camaraderie of everybody getting together but also, hopefully, good weather as you travel around because, like the cars, you're out in the open with your bikes as well so you need a bit of good weather. Well, you know what they say about most, I think, the most thing is bad weather. You're just wearing bad gear that you have on. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So Kevin, did you... Yes, we have a tea shop in Linnean and then a lunch shop in Tromachedie and then coming back towards Clifton we stop in Lough Einas so they're good places to see the bikes as well if anybody wants to follow the rally. Yeah, OK. So it sounds really interesting. So you said Friday evening, half past seven from then onwards and then 10 o'clock on Saturday at the Square. Yes, yeah, that's it. We have a dinner then on Saturday night with prize-giving and stuff at the station house. OK. Well, look, it's good. Hopefully, it'll be a really lovely weekend for everybody involved and I'm sure lots of people around town will be coming out to have a look. As I say, it's always interesting. But thank you so much, Kevin for being with us this evening to talk about it, OK? Love so. Bye, bye, bye. That's Kevin Barry there who's spokesperson for the Galway District Classic Motorcycle Club and their rally taking place this weekend the 4th and 5th of May and you'll be able to see them down around the station house on Friday night or Saturday the 4th at 10 a.m. on the Square in Clifton and I'm not sure how many hundreds of bikes or dozens of bikes will be taken off but I'm sure it'll be very noisy and very interesting. Now, there was quite a number of other bikes around over the last while. In fact, I think even yesterday or the day before there were quite a few of them around in the area as well but it's always nice to see that and, as I say, it's good clean fun for everybody going off and doing that and enjoying themselves and good luck to them, weather-wise and safe travelling to everybody as well. Now, earlier today we recorded a piece with Pádraig George who's Marketing Executive with Water Safety Ireland. Coming up to the Bank Holiday weekend they're always kind of interested that people be aware of the dangers around water so here's the piece we did earlier with Pádraig George. Well, of course, with the May Bank Holiday coming up water safety is always an issue or any bank holidays, I suppose but to find out about exactly what the issues are I'm delighted to welcome Pádraig George who's Marketing Executive with Water Safety Ireland Pádraig, you're welcome to us again here on Calamari Community Radio. Thanks for having me on the show. No problem at all. Now, as I mentioned, the Bank Holiday seemed to be always an issue but the May Bank Holiday, I suppose, was supposed to be in the summer so people might get a little bit excited. Tell me what you see as the main problems for people this particular Bank Holiday. Yeah, so at this weekend we're urging people I suppose, to take extra precautions around water and we're asking people to if they're going out on the boat, for example to wear a life jacket and carry a reliable means of communication so that might be the VHF radio it might be an emergency position indicating your radio beacon and people might wish to bring a mobile phone as well in a watertight case and just to ensure that people tell somebody where they're going and when they plan to be back before their trip. For other such activities I suppose it's always important to bring a means of communicating distress so again, that might be the likes of a mobile phone and to also use sources to check what the weather and the tides would be like in advance of your trip. If people are out swimming again, take some, I suppose, simple precautions. It's important to realise that the water temperatures are still cold at this time of year so they might choose to wear a wetsuit to stay warm and they might choose to wear a swim hat and again, always important to acclimatise slowly into the water at your own pace and maybe to throw some cold water down the back of your neck just to help you acclimatise. Somebody might also choose to bring a tall float to increase their visibility around other water users and never swim alone. That's the most important thing. Always make sure that you're with somebody else or that's being monitored by a colleague and as well as that people should always swim within their depth and stay within their depth. Don't push yourself beyond the limits and tailor your swim to how you're feeling. So those are some of the top tips that we would give this weekend. We'd also say as well to plan and prepare before your activity the Be Summer Ready website gov.ie forward slash summer ready is available online. It has some great water safety advice and we'd urge everybody to read that before venturing out on the water. I suppose the only thing that's interesting even if people aren't necessarily going into the water immediately but if there's kids and things playing that they can fall in or they can slip or a big wave might get a cover and wash them you really need to watch everybody that's there if you're in charge of people at the beach to make sure that everybody is safe. Absolutely and particularly for children we would urge all parents and guardians to supervise children at all times. It's important that children are supervised very closely their knowledge and water safety awareness might not be that same of an adult so absolutely crucial and we'd encourage people as well on that note not to bring inflatable toys to open water locations such as rivers and beaches and lakes because it's very easy for those type of items to be swept away from shore due to strong currents or strong winds and our message on those would be do not buy them they are a serious risk and certainly don't bring them to open water locations. We also have some education programs that we run in schools particularly for children of a younger age we have our PAWS program Primary Aquatics Water Safety and there's more information on that program on teachpaws.ie and it is particularly useful information that can be taught in primary schools by teachers it's information that can be taught by anyone you don't have to have a water safety background per se there's also certification available with that program so lots of great resources out there and we would urge all parents and guardians to supervise children closely and to make it a safe and enjoyable experience when they're visiting any water location. Absolutely. Just before we finish up and also people going on holidays to places they may not be that familiar with obviously here in Ireland but maybe even abroad but wherever it might be I presume people really need to check locally how the water conditions are how can people find out or what should people be asking about Yeah, absolutely again, much like here in Ireland when you go to a new location it's always important to ask for local advice and get the lay of the land and see what hazards might be in a location so that's always very important to do again, people should be making sure that they have a safe place to enter the water and exit the water also they again need to be very careful of maybe young children entering the water and also to make sure that people never swim after consuming alcohol roughly 3 out of 10 drowning deaths related to drowning have alcohol as a factor and alcohol can impair impair your ability in the water again, it's very important to swim in lifeguard controlled areas and where possible to swim with family or friends again, never swim alone and make sure that somebody is aware of where you're going and again finally, swim within your depth swim parallel to shore and where there are rip currents people might just be aware of what they might look like so always look out for an area of churning, choppy water maybe a difference in the colour of the water or a break in the incoming wave pattern so some important things to do there and if you do get into trouble try not to swim against the rip current it's important that you swim out of the current in the direction following the shoreline and when out of the current then swim towards the shore OK, just finally, I suppose the big thing then is if you see somebody in trouble what do you do? Yeah, absolutely so it's important I suppose not to panic, firstly I would say it's I suppose important to call the Coast Guard so you might decide to ring 999 or 112 and ask the Coast Guard you also might look to reach out to the person with an object if it is safe to do so and again, it's it's important just to raise the alarm in time and try to reassure the person from shore as well so if you shout towards a person that might just help to reorientate them and to guide them back to shore OK, well Borek, thank you very much for being with us as I say, it's very important tips there for people coming up to the Bank Holiday but thank you for being with us this evening here on the programme Thanks for having me OK, bye bye That's Borek Judge there, Marketing Executive for Water Safety Ireland with some very interesting tips there do keep an eye on all of those and if you are out swimming or anything make sure that you know what you're doing and where you are swimming because it can be quite dangerous for people Right, thank you to Borek as I say for that, it's important that people are thinking of that one shortly we will speak with Siobhan Gagan Head of Information Office for Canberra National Park and with Auckland Park Ranger Canberra National Park about the biodiversity and biodiversity week and also this bio blitz so we'll be getting some information on those but to take us up to that we are going to go to the cars and we're listening to a track here called So Young Taking it easy We invite and we see it We are living it up Justifying and dancing And it really doesn't matter That we don't even And it really doesn't matter If we never sleep No, it really doesn't matter It really doesn't matter at all Cause we are so young now We are so young, so young now And when tomorrow comes We can do it all again We are chasing the jet Running wild and free We are following through Every dream and every need And it really doesn't matter That we don't even And it really doesn't matter If we never sleep No, it really doesn't matter It really doesn't matter at all Cause we are so young now We are so young, so young now And when tomorrow comes We can do it all again Yeah, we are so young now We are so young, so young now And when tomorrow comes We can do it all again All again All again Yeah, all again All again Yeah, yeah, yeah So young now We are so, so young now And when tomorrow comes We can do it all again Yeah, we are so young now We are so young, so young now And when tomorrow comes We can do it all again We are so young We are so young We are so young We are so young I can, Brendan, yeah Yeah, so I won't go through everything Cause Eamonn has a lot to get through as well So what I'll kind of do is give you The most kind of important ones In the line of booking ones, Brendan And then just run through the other ones with you So we have some focus on drop-in talks And they're going to happen throughout the week From the 17th to the 26th And they'll be running in the morning From 10.30 till 12.30 And in the afternoon from 2.30 to 4.30pm So they're kind of, you know, just people can come along One of the guys will be in the education room Or the audiovisual room And they'll do the little presentation As people come in and out So it's quite an informal kind of chat About the different topics And topics will probably range between Things about Killary Harbour And then you'll also have something on the mammals of the park as well So that's those We'll also have some guided walks We'll have a guided walk on the 17th Which is the Friday That's at 3pm We'll have a dawn chorus walk in the morning At 6am on Sunday the 19th Now this is the ones that will need bookings For Brendan So people will have to book for these And I can give you the details at the end We'll also have a guided walk on the 20th at 11am A guided walk on the 21st at 11am And then we'll have Wednesday the 22nd A biodiversity talk and walk That'll actually be by Eamon there Who's with us this evening And we'll also have a biodiversity talk and walk With Eamon again on Saturday the 25th at 2pm So basically the other one that we'll need people to book for Is the abstract art workshops Now we're going to have two lots of those So our first one will be on the first part of the week Which is Saturday the 18th From 12 noon until 2pm So what we're hoping that people will do Is create abstract art pieces Inspired by the landscape of Connemara And the landscape around us So all materials will be supplied for this You don't have to be an artist You can be somebody who just wants to learn to do this kind of thing Who has an interest in it Or an artist as well That's absolutely fine But just for them to remember They don't need to bring anything as such We will supply all the materials and that for them And as I did say there We will have to have booking systems for those So if they could book with us On or before the 15th of May And the booking numbers would be 09541054 Or 0872919721 Or they can email me directly on Siobhan.Gagan At npws.gov.ie So they'll be the most kind of important ones for bookings Okay So there's a lot of I presume people can find information on websites Or something like that as well, can they? Absolutely I'll be putting these up from Monday And they'll all be on our website And they'll be on our Facebook page as well So they will be able to get all those numbers And everything again And they'll also get some information On each of the day's activities as well I'll put them up as that as well Wow, that's fantastic So that's good Siobhan So Eamon, I know that you Siobhan has mentioned there That you're doing these talks, walks Biodiversity, a couple of those But you're also doing a BioBlitz But just tell us a little bit I suppose About the walks that you'll be doing What are you going to be looking at With those particular ones? No, absolutely Brendan, yeah One of the big things As part of biodiversity We want to kind of promote The biodiversity that we're doing inside the park And as part of that We'll just look at a kind of range of species That maybe people aren't aware of That's inside the park Look at the different kind of mosaic of habitat But as well, I kind of really want to Promote the invasive species Work we're doing inside the park Particularly the rhododendron removal And kind of maybe promote and celebrate And inform people of the huge effort Being done locally inside the park By local people to remove that And control that invasive species Yeah, because invasive species Obviously affects very much the biodiversity Of the natural creatures of the park So it's something that we really need to tackle I suppose Absolutely While there are issues within the park Our main problem would be The kind of habitat changing rhododendron You know, it's smothering It's smothering the ground It's poisoning the ground So it's a real It's a real habit changing kind of plant And we're making a huge effort to remove it That I think is maybe a little bit hidden from people And that's something I'd like to kind of promote more Okay, so you have two of those biodiversity talks and walks Wednesday the 22nd and Saturday the 25th But you also have BioBlitz Tell me a little bit about this Yeah, so the BioBlitz is Basically a BioBlitz is a timed event And would be running over 12 hours on Saturday the 25th of May And in it you basically kind of You know, you run multiple surveys of flora and fauna Within a certain area And the main thing is to document as much of that flora and fauna Within a certain time period And we were kind of doing it in conjunction with Natura 2000 Kind of celebration day Which is the Tuesday beforehand And then there's European Day of the Parks on Friday So as part of those we're going to run our BioBlitz inside the park Yeah, now I know that it's happened before the BioBlitz And I suppose it's something that's no harm to do Absolutely It came to an idea that we were hoping to run it With our other sister parks up in Ballycroy And down in Killarney But we're going to run it anyway For two reasons, like you mentioned It had been run about 15 years ago And we were quite successful It was a competition to who could record the most amount of species And Connemara National Park won it that year But it's a great way In one way of getting citizen scientists in We will be bringing expert ecologists And specialists and generalists into the park To do these surveys, to run the actual surveys As well as they will be giving demonstrations On how they survey But it's also a way of getting the public involved And helping people kind of Educate them how to survey How they can give this information to Biodiversity Ireland For our park ourselves Which is a huge value In getting this snapshot of surveys Or how our flora and fauna situation is in the park As a snapshot within 12 hours So it's hugely valuable Well I think when it's all over You might be able to come back to us And tell us how you got on with it That would be interesting to find out Absolutely So just once again Just to say before we finish up Just give us the kind of places That people can find all the information On Biodiversity Week Yeah, so basically they'll find it all On our Facebook page And they'll find it on our website as well And as I said For Facebook it will go up on Monday On Tuesday it will go on our website So if they keep their eyes on both of those Different platforms They'll find all the information there And of course anybody can give us a call Or drop up to us And we'll be able to help them With whatever's on in each of those days And then we'll also probably put some posters Around the village Again just kind of a reminder That it is on And that there are things on the different days Because I suppose not everybody Has access to maybe a website facility Or even a phone There are some people who still don't use them I'm sure So we will have them broadcasted As much as we can around the area as well And just to say as well That the 22nd of May Is actual Biodiversity Day So even if there's people at home Listening this evening Or children especially You know, in your back garden Even on that day Just to do a little count for yourself You know, it would be a nice thing to do And a very valuable thing to do as well Okay, well listen Thanks Siobhan and Eamon For being with us there From Canterbury National Park Telling us about Biodiversity Week We will talk to you again shortly But thank you so much For being with us this evening Thank you Okay, bye Bye bye So Siobhan Gagan there Head Guide and Information Officer For Canterbury National Park And Eamon with Auckland Park Ranger For Canterbury National Park And plenty of things going on up there So just get on to the park if you need to 09541054 You'll get information as well Now we'll take a little piece of music A short piece This goes back to the 1970s Maybe the 80s Early 80s I think It would be Cat Stevens with Matthew and Son You can't be late For Matthew and Son He won't wait Watch them run down a platform Once they hit the big spring For Matthew and Son Matthew and Son The way they were done There's always something new So far in your head You're taking steps That you never ever do They've been working all day All day All day All day There's a five minute break And that's all you take For a cup of cold coffee And a piece of cake Matthew and Son The way they were done There's always something new So far in your head You're taking steps That you never ever do They've been working all day All day All day You've got people who've been working For fifty years No one asks for more money Cause nobody cares Even though they're pretty low And don't rest in the rear Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son Matthew and Son They've been working all day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day All day