Kilkenny Hedgerow Week Celebrated in Style

Kilkenny County Council’s Heritage Office supported National Hedgerow Week which ran from the 1st - 8th of September.  Organized by Teagasc and the Heritage Council it highlighted the importance of hedgerows. While providing shelter and food for a myriad of species, hedgerows act as wildlife corridors permitting the movement of wildlife, they also capture and store carbon dioxide making them invaluable allies in the fight against climate change. From a farming perspective, they act as windbreaks, protects crops and livestock, and prevent soil erosion.

Kilkenny had a wide range of events to highlight the week.  Nore Vision championed the week by hosting a series of event. They held a walk and talk with master hedge layer Eoin Donnelly aimed towards farmers and landowners with an interest in hedge maintenance and their lunchtime walk along the linear walk of the Bishops Meadows in Kilkenny City attracted a large attendance with experts like Coilin O'Driscoll present to highlight the original hedge boundaries of the city, Lorcan Scott, Wildlife Officer with the Heritage Council and Sarah Rubalcava from Nore Vision assisted in the identification of plant species throughout the walk.

Maura Brennan of Sli na Coille as part of her series of autumn ecology walks hosted a walk “Valuing Our Native Hedgerows” with ecologist Fiona MacGowan, at Ballylarkin and it was the first of a series of autumn events supported by the NPWS Community Recording Project.  Details of future events which focus on different habitats across the autumn can be found on www.slinacoille.ie.

Teagasc hosted a farm walk and machinery demonstration walk to look at best practice in hedgerow planting and management with Catherine Keena, Teagasc Countryside Management Specialist, machinery demonstration with Francis Quigley, Machinery Specialist, and hedgerow biodiversity with Lorcan Scott, Wildlife Officer with the Heritage Council.  Kilkenny County Council ran two foraging walks led by Monica Fleming along the mass path of Dunmore financially supported by the NPWS Local Biodiversity Action Fund.  Over the course of one evening, Monica highlighted different features of the hedgerows, identifying typical species found in a hedge and plants that are nestled underneath and spoke of the importance of how hedgerows interconnect different habitats.

Bernadette Moloney, Biodiversity Officer with Kilkenny County Council was delighted at the number of events hosted by different stakeholders across the county. “It is a credit to everyone who hosted an event to highlight the importance of hedgerows.  I look forward to working with stakeholders with common interests to safeguard biodiversity in Kilkenny through the establishment of the Biodiversity Forum, preparations of its formation is currently underway.”  Kilkenny County Council has just announced a partnership with “Biodiversity in Schools” who is co-ordinating a school programme to highlight the importance of hedgerows called “Coille na nOg”, offering 35 schools across the county to plant a short length of hedgerow in their school.  Schools interested in this opportunity need to register via https://www.biodiversityinschools.com/coill-na-nog.html.