Students from Scoil Mocheallóg, Kilmallock were treated to a lesson on river wildlife with biodiversity expert, Geoff Hunt on April 20th . John Tierney of Kilmallock Tidy Towns Committee invited Geoff to give a lesson to 5th and 6th class pupils to encourage an awareness of the local river, the Loobagh, and the flora and fauna that inhabit the area.
Both classes firstly visited the river bank and were introduced to an ‘alien’ plant, the Giant Hogweed. This plant releases its seeds into the river so that they float downstream and invade different parts of the river bank, thus making it difficult for native plants to grow alongside. Furthermore, insects won’t eat the leaves of this plant or inhabit it. If you touch this plant, you would be severely blistered. Pond-skaters were seen walking on the surface of the water. Many birds were also spotted, among them a collared dove, a wren and a hooded crow.
After looking at the river bank, the classes put on their wellingtons and trooped into the river in groups. Geoff provided each group with a net to catch insects and fish in the river. He suggested that the students topple the rocks in the river onto their sides, and hold the net to the side of the rock so that the insects and fish would swim into the net. The students caught salmon parr, minnows, mayfly nymph, stone fly and even a mini crayfish!
Seeing the wildlife at first hand was very inspiring. However, Geoff also spoke to the students about river pollution. Along with the drink cans and chocolate wrappers visible along the river bank, the students learned about other direct and indirect contaminants invading our rivers such as petrol, nitrogen run-off from fertilizer, slurry, sewage, white bread (which ducks can’t digest very well because of the yeast in it), plastic and household rubbish.
Back in the classroom, Geoff showed the students three samples of the mayfly’s life cycle. Under the microscope, they saw the mayfly as a nymph (it lives as such for a year), as a sub-adult (for 3 hours) and as an adult (for 3 weeks).
These students have had a very inspiring lesson in the biodiversity of their local river and hope to continue this awareness of nature all around them.
Written by Cathal Clery, 6th class student, Scoil Mocheallóg
