Biodiversity Day at Ballisodare fishery

16th May 2025 -

Ballisodare Fishing Club hosted a Biodiversity day at the Falls on Friday 16th May 2025 as part of National Biodiversity Week. Locals schools, St. John’s N.S. Ballisodare, Scoil Mhuire Agus Iosaf Collooney and Summerhill College, Sligo attended sessions during the day. The late afternoon session was open to the public.

Workshops were carried out by Mark O’Connor of Field Studies Ireland, Lisa Cronin of Sligo ATU and Ruth Hanniffy, Biodiversity Office of Sligo Co. Co.  They were ably assisted by Ballisodare Fishery ATU placement students, Aaron Seldon and Conall Bonner and Beth Brown, PH student ATU.

Witnessing the engagement of the children from the various schools was hugely encouraging. Their inquisitive minds and their interest in the environment were truly inspirational.

The following extract from St. John’s N.S. in Ballisodare website summarises the experience.

“Today we were so lucky to invited down to the Ballisodare Falls by Ballisodare Fishing Club, to explore the biodiversity of the area. We had some very interesting leaders in Mark from Field Studies Ireland & from the ATU Ben, Beth, Connall and Aaron.

The children collected and examined species from the land and from the water. We were in two groups and explored these areas separately. The children collected all kinds of life from the ground, snails, woodlice, worms & centipedes. They learned that if you hold centipedes for too long, they will wee on you!!! They also learned that woodlice originally came from the sea and are a crustacean. They are the same family as crabs, lobsters and prawns. If you cooked a woodlouse it would turn pink!

When exploring creatures from the water the children examined minnows, salmon, shrimp & cray fish. They compiled a tally of the amount of creatures they saw. It was all very interesting. We very much look forward to visiting the Falls again soon.”