Kilkenny Hedgerow Week was celebrated in style!

A wide range of events were held as Kilkenny celebrated Hedgerow Week in style.
Supported by Kilkenny Co Council the Week, which was organised by Teagasc and the Heritage Council, 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, who championed the week, held a walk and talk with master hedge layer Eoin Donnelly aimed towards farmers and landowners with an interest in hedge maintenance. 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.
Autumn Ecology
As part of her series of autumn ecology walks Maura Brennan of Sli na Coille hosted a walk ‘Valuing Our Native Hedgerows’ with ecologist Fiona MacGowan, at Ballylarkin. 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 Co Council ran two foraging walks led by Monica Fleming along the mass path of Dunmore. These were 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,” she said. “I look forward to working with stakeholders with common interests to safeguard biodiversity in Kilkenny and through the establishment of the Biodiversity Forum, preparations in its formation is currently underway.”
Kilkenny Co Council has just announced a partnership with Biodiversity in Schools, who is co-ordinating a school programme.
The programme, which will highlight the importance of hedgerows, is called Coille na nÓg, and offers 35 schools across the county to plant a short length of hedgerow in their school.
Schools interested in this opportunity can register at www.biodiversityinschools.com/coill-na-nog