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Biodiversity in Kilteevan

We are delighted to note that interest in this section of our website is growing.

Our magnificant pheasants are being admired these days and a deer has been spotted in the woodlands near Grove.

So have the camera ready and send us the photos to [email protected]

Keep those reports coming in. 

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Spindle

Our plant this month is Spindle, Euonymus europaeus, Feoras.

Flowering May- June. Fruiting September- November.

Spindle is a decidious native shrub or small tree, a species of flowering plant in the family Celastraceae. A plain shrub that comes alive with unbelievable colours in Autumn.

It appears in roadside hedges occasionally usually in relatively old and botanically diverse hedges. We are lucky in Kilteevan. to have old diverse hedges. There is lots of Spindle to be found.

The flowers are small greenish yellow, hardly visible, but the fruit from the tiny flowers are very noticeable. The fruit is green through summer gradually developing to dull, four cornered, pink-red fruits.

The fruits are carried in clusters dangling from flowers stems. Over a period of a few weeks the red fruits spilt, creating their own fireworks, revealing bright orange seeds .   The orange and crimson contrast is very eye-catching but beware Spindle is toxic if ingested.

Spindle is one of the few trees to get its name from one of its traditional uses.

The name harks back to a time when the plants dense white wood was used for making wool spinning spindles as well as knitting needles. It was also used for the bars in bird cages in times when wire was not available or affordable.  

In more recent times Spindle wood is used in the production of skewers and toothpicks as it can be cut to a sharp point without breaking.

Be alert for Spindle and admire its beauty as you ramble The Groves of Kilteevan.  Our photo taken by an amateur photographer in Kilteevan.

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Rosebay Willowherb

Rosebay Willowherb or as Gaeilge Lus na Tine

Chamerion angustifolium (Epilobium angustifolium)

Family: Onagraceae

Sometimes called Fireweed, this beautiful, tall, vigorous, showy perennial graces the margins of woodland, bogs and roadsides from June to September in Kilteevan and can reach a height of almost 2 metres. As you can see from our local images it is an interesting plant to observe over four months.

The flowers have four-petals and growing up a long spike. They are magenta or deep pinkish-purple in colour. It is a hairy plant, with long coarsely toothed leaves.

It looks firey red as it goes to seed-hence possibly the use of the name Fireweed in some places

This plant is native to part of the country and has been introduced to other areas.

In autumn the downy seed pods split into four and releasing numerous long plumes of cottony hairs with tiny light seeds. This plant has become quite widespread across Ireland, possibly because it seems to thrive on disturbed land.

Rosebay Willow-herb has been used in a few areas of medicine.

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Plants ....the cornerstone of our biodiversity

                                                                                                      Brambles Kilteevan

Kilteevan is home to a wide variety of beautiful wild flowers. Plants are the cornerstone of our biodiversity the foundation on which all wildlife depends.

Green plants remove carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the atmosphere, which helps keep the environment healthy and fit for human life. Different species of plants, animals, fungi and micro-organisms provide us with food, medicines, fuel, building materials, fibre for clothing and industrial products.

A number of people in the community have expressed an interest in getting to know our wild flowers better so from time to time we will include information in this section of our website.

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Red Squirrels spotted in Kilteevan

 

Red Squirrel ,  Sciurus vulgaris,     Iora Rua

It has been bought to our attention that two Red Squirrels were spotted in birch scrub in Kilteevan on September 29th 2015.  This is good news about these small native mammals.

Distribution

Red squirrels have a widespread but patchy distribution throughout Ireland, which is limited to forested areas. Red squirrels continue to disappear from forests where the grey squirrels have been present for a long time, in particular large parts of Counties Leitrim, Cavan, Louth, Westmeath, Meath and Dublin In the midlands they have been largely out competed for habitats by the grey squirrel, especially in mixed and broadleaf woodlands.

Grey squirrels are non-native and were introduced into Ireland at the beginning of the 20th century. Greys continue to spread to the northwest and southwest, but moves to the west of Ireland have been halted by unsuitable terrain, with the River Shannon delineating the western extreme of their distribution.

Nests

Squirrels nest in dreys. These are round structures built of sticks and foliage against the trunks of trees. Dreys can also be built in hollows in trees, or within heavy ivy.

Diet

Red squirrels are largely vegetarian feeding on a wide selection of fruits, seeds and berries .  They will consume large daily quantities of pine and spruce seeds, acorns, berries, fungi, tree sap and bark depending on their seasonal availability. in order to fuel their high metabolic rates they must consume up to 5% of their body weight each day in food.They forage all night in summer while restricting feeding periods until the early morning in late autumn and in winter.

Red squirrels will bury collected nuts and seeds when they are plentiful in the autumn in numerous hoards which are shallow pits dug in soft ground in case the forthcoming winter is excessively cold. Red squirrels do not hibernate but can remain in their nests for several days if the weather conditions are bad, making only quick trips to a nearby hoard can sustain a red squirrel for up to three months. They spend most of their active periods in tree canopies.

Life Cycle

Following a gestation period of five to six weeks, the female gives birth to a litter of one to six kittens, with three being the usual litter size. The young are born blind and naked, and are not fully weaned until approximately seven to ten weeks after birth.Though they are born blind they deveop excellent eyesight with a wide angle of vision and a sharp focus which allows for rapid movement within the tree canopy while foraging.

 On average Irish red squirrels live up to 3 years in the wild but females generally out live males and can reach up to 6 years of age.

 Disease

The recently discovered presence of squirrel pox virus, a disease posibly carried by grey squirrels and fatal to reds, further threatens their future in Ireland.

 Conservation

Red squirrel's habit of hoarding stores of nuts and seeds are important to the ecosystem of forests as this activity spreads tree seeds over large areas at the vital time of Autumn. 

Protection

The importance of this native squirrel species is reflected in its protection under Irish legislation and international conventions. The red squirrel is protected under the Wildlife Act (1976) and Wildlife (Amendment) Acts (2000 & 2010)and the Bern Convention (Appendix III)

Reporting sightings of both red and grey squirrel is important so that researching groups can become of aware approximately how may species of squirrel there are in the area.

 

 

 

 

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The Common Hawker, (Aeshna Juncea) Dragonfly

The Hawker Dragonfly rarely settles and can be difficult to approach but this female Hawker Dragonfly posed for us on 22nd September 2015 in Cloonmore Kilteevan.

Information

The Common Hawker, (Aeshna Juncea) is one of the larger species of hawker dragonflies.

It is native to Palearctic (from Ireland to Japan) and northern North America. The flight period is from June to early October.

Length: 74mm (2.9 in) long with a brown body

Hawkers are the largest and fastest flying dragonflies; they catch their insect-prey mid-air and can hover or fly backwards.

The male has a black abdomen with paired blue and yellow spots on each abdominal segment, and narrow stripes along the dorsal surface of the thorax.

In the female, the abdomen is brown with yellow or sometimes green or blue spots.

The wings of both sexes display a yellow costa (the major vein running along the leading edge of the wings.

 Habitat

In moorland habitats with acidic pools, bogs. Sometimes seen hunting woodland at dusk.Males and females often fly high into the tree canopies to hunt.

Status & Distribution

Common.  Ireland, Western England, Wales, Scotland .

Thank you to David Fallon Roscommon for helping us with identification. 

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Kilteevan is home to the rarely seen Goat Moth

 

On the 24th and 28th of August 2014, while walking in Cloonlarge, Kilteevan, Eileen Fahey spotted something she had never seen before.  The stranger was photographed both days.

Eileen showed the photographs to a few people whom she thought might be able to assist with identification but to no avail. Nine months later, Eileen was still bugged by the nameless creature in a computer file, so she contacted Eye on Nature in the Irish Times seeking support.  A very prompt reply came from Ethna Viney identifying the unknown, as a Goat Moth Caterpillar.

Since the identification was made last weekend Eileen has been researching the Goat Moth and has learned the following.

Eggs are laid usually in small batches in the crevices or on the bark of living trees. Young larvae enter the tree, at first remaining under the bark, later boring deep into the wood on which they feed. The larvae spend 2-4 years inside the trunks and branches of various deciduous trees including; birch, alder, ash, oak and willow. Birch appears to be a favourite host tree. Trees that already host larvae are frequently utilised again by egg-laying females.

The larvae are a deep purple-red along the back with a more orange colour along the sides and below. The head is black and there are a few fine white hairs along the whole body. Larvae can reach up to 10cm in length. Goat Moths get their name from the strong goat-like smell they emit during this larval stage.

In the final year of development they leave the tree to find a suitable pupation site on the ground.  The large larvae spotted moving across the road in Cloonlarge, last August was most likely, in search of a suitable pupation site and will hopefully emerge as a Goat Moth in Kilteevan in June 2015.

The Goat Moth (Cossus cossus) is a moth of the family Cossidae and is a large heavy moth with a wing span of 68–96 mm.  The wings are greyish brown and marked with fine dark cross lines.  This pattern supports camouflage on tree trunks. Females are slightly larger than males.

The distribution map on Moths Ireland website indicates that Goat moths are scarce and distributed sporadically mainly over the southern half of the country.

Eileen extends sincere thanks to Ethna Viney and Eye on Nature in The Irish Times for her help in identifying the caterpillar.

Eileen has now been registered the find with Moths Ireland and the National Biodiversity Data Centre.

We welcome additional information , amendments or corrections to this information at [email protected]

12th May 2015

 

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Lady’s Smock / Cuckoo Flower in bloom in Kilteevan.

Lady's Smock /Cuckoo-flower /or in Irish Biolar gréagáin (Cardamine pratensis)

These beautiful large white to pinkish flowers are plentiful in Kilteevan's damp meadows this week

( 27th. April 2015).

It’s amazing how the Lady’s Smock and the cuckoo bird arrive together annually.

It is a native plant and belongs to the large family Brassicaceae.

It is a larval foodplant of the Orange-tip butterfly below photographed in Kilteevan in June 2014.

We look forward to his return in a few weeks time.

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Guess who is calling in Clooncraff this morning?

 

The Cuckoo!

Yes, heard loud and clear on the Ciorcal Cluain Creamha (Clooncraff Circle Walk).

Hearing the cuckoo is a cause of celebration as it is becoming an increasingly rare sound. Cuckoo numbers in Ireland have dropped 50% in the past 30 years.

The cuckoo comes to Kilteevan from central and southern Africa from mid April onwards and leaves again at the end of summer.

Adult cuckoos head south from late July onwards while the young birds follow in August and September. It’s one of nature’s mysteries how the young birds know where to go when they head off on their long journey.

The cuckoo’s diet is mainly caterpillars and insects

Only the male makes the distinctive “cuc koo cuc.koo” call.

The female call is a distinctive “pupupupu” call.

The Burren and Connemara hold the highest density of breeding pairs.

So open your windows in Kilteevan,  be still, listen and celebrate our natural heritage and the wonderful biodiversity we enjoy by living here.

19th April  2015

 

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Contact Us

KILTEEVAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT GROUP LIMITED
Kilteevan, Roscommon, Co. Roscommon
[email protected]

 

KILTEEVAN TIDY TOWNS
[email protected] 

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/index_en.htm
http://www.environ.ie/en/Community/RuralDevelopment/EURuralDevelopment/

This project received grant aid from Roscommon LEADER Partnership Rural Development Programme which is financed by the Irish Government under the Rural Development Programme Ireland 2007-2013 and by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in Rural Areas.sponsors