Funding sought for new Dun Ailinne 'dig'

Anthropologist Susan Johnston is applying for funding to carry out two summers of excavation at Dun Ailinne, writes Brian Byrne.

This is the next step after a number of years of electronic geophysical exploration of the ancient site, which was previously excavated between 1968-1974 by the late Professor Bernard Wailes.

Dr Johnston, Professor of Anthropology at George Washington University, became interested in the site when she decided to work with Professor Wailes to publish the definitive report on the excavations he carried out on the hill.

That report was completed and was given a special Irish launch at the dedication of the Dun Ailinne Intepretive Park in July of 2008, over a weekend of events at which Dr Wailes was guest of honour. He's pictured below on Dun Ailinne during that weekend, recalling his work there. He died in April of this year.



"The site dates to about 2,000 years ago, and tells us important things about life in Ireland during the Iron Age," Dr Johnston says about her grant application to the National Science Foundation in the United States. "Digging can be expensive because we have to buy the tools and other equipment we need, get people to the site, and get them food to eat and a place to stay while we are digging."

Dun Ailinne is the largest pre-Norman earthen enclosure in Ireland, covering some 44 acres. The ditch or 'henge' which circumscribes it is the best preserved and largest such feature in Ireland.

Dr Johnston's research in recent years, since 2006, has mapped about 25 percent of the site and revealed the existence of other ancient elements under the ground.

The prehistoric royal gathering place, which is on private land owned by the Thompson family, has been mooted for UNESCO World Heritage status.

The Dun Ailinne Interpretive Park was developed at Nicholastown by Kilcullen Community Action.

Jennifer will sing for the big occasion

If you're looking for an experienced and versatile singer for weddings and other family occasions, Kilcullen girl Jennifer Wilson is happy to oblige.

Jennifer has been living in Kilcullen for ten years and before that hailed from Dublin, where she had many years of professional singing, including band work.

In recent years she also sang in O'Connells Bar on regular occasions, as part of a two-piece with a friend from Clane.

"With the recession, much of that work has dried up, and when Hannah Evans was the pastoral worker here I got interested in church singing," she told the Diary from her home in Laurel Wood.

Jennifer is now developing that interest further and is available to discuss song arrangements for those big occasions. Contact 086 8478932 or email paulandjennwilson@hotmail.com.

Jason Ringenberg in the BAG

Jason Ringenberg (frontman of Jason and The Scorchers) plays a solo show in Mick Murphy's, Ballymore Eustace, Monday July 2, 9pm, writes Roy Thompson of Ballymore Acoustic Gigs.

Entry €12 on the door. Lets have the place hoppin'!

Community Games Athletes

Young Kilcullen athletes competing at the Community Games in Clongowes Wednesday evening. Pics Kieran Behan.

'Tenner a Month' appeal for Maintain Hope

The Maintain Hope charity co-founded by Gerry O'Donoghue has set up a 'Tenner a Month Appeal' to try and establish a regular income to support its work, writes Brian Byrne.

Local donations in Kenya to the Shelter Childrens Home which the charity supports 'have almost evaporated', Gerry says, and Maintain Hope has been trying to take up the slack.

"We pay teachers, buy books and food, pay school fees as well as medical and counselling bills. There are 200 children in the Shelter 'family', and all these costs have to be met from funds outside our volunteer programme."

The scheme is asking individuals and clubs to pledge €10 a month, which 'will help us to help the poorest of the poor'. "With this we can keep maintaining hope and build on the work to which our volunteers have already so generously contributed."

The scheme would represent 33 cents a day from every donor, a similar time period which it takes a worker in Kenya to earn the price of a bag of porridge.

"Every cent of what we collect goes directly to the children," says Gerry, who has strong connections to Kilcullen and recently retired from the position of Principal at Scoil Bhride in Athgarvan. "Nothing is diverted to expenses—even the paper and postage for our Appeal has been donated."

Since it was established in 2006, Operation Maintain Hope has constructed and equipped classrooms in Tumaini School in Mombasa and built classrooms in Kikambala School also in Mombasa. Maintain Hope has placed teaches on voluntary placement in Kibiko School, Nairobi and Kikambala.

It has also brought children from Shelter home on holidays to the seaside, established a food programme, and bought a bus to bring children to and from school. A programme to support the children through further education has also been developed.

Close to 200 volunteers have completed a placement with Maintain Hope since its inception.

If you or your organisation wants to help, Gerry can be contacted at 087 2642887.

(This piece was first published on the Kilcullen Page of The Kildare Nationalist.)

Dramatic summer at the Carer & Toddler Group.

Kilcullen Community Carer & Toddler Group have teamed up with Drama Dynamics to give 4-8 year-olds a dramatic time this summer, writes Lynn Worrall, and it's all free.

Over the summer Drama Dynamics will come to the Parish Centre while the group is session and take the older children (4-8) for a fun filled hour of acting, puppetry, poetry and more. The provisional dates are July 25, August 1 and 15. The sessions will start at 11am and run for about an hour with juice and snacks afterwards.

This is a great opportunity for carers to continue to attend the Carer & Toddler Group over the summer while the older children are at home. It will give the older children an opportunity to test their interest in drama also. All carers and children are welcome.

All details on our Facebook page (Kilcullen Toddler Group).
See our website for info on the playgroup and here for info on Drama Dynamics. Registration is not required but preference will be given to existing Carer & Toddler Group members and a small donation to the costs is appreciated but not compulsory.

Barrows, spades, rakes appeal

The big 4th of July 'blitz' to complete work on the Nature Trail in Bridge Camphill has most of the volunteer team leaders and catering helpers it needs, writes Brian Byrne. But there's a serious shortage of wheelbarrows and garden tools.

Mischa Fekete of Bridge Camphill is appealing for the loan of barrows, spades and rakes for next Wednesday's big event, a 'Difference Day' involving 250 members of the staff of Fidelity Investments Ireland.

Preparatory work has already been done, and all is ready for the 'invasion' of the company's people on a 'corporate day' with a difference.

If you have stuff to loan, it'll need to be on site the day before, that's next Tuesday. Each item should also be securely labelled with the name and contact details of its owner.

Get in touch with anyone at Bridge Camphill if you can help.

Summer Reading Challenge 2012

A Summer Reading Challenge from the County Kildare Library & Arts Service is aimed at getting children between four and 11 reading six books over the summer.

The theme for this year is 'Story Lab', described as a celebration of story and imagination.

The participants collect stickers, a medal and a certificate when they complete their reading, and there's a 3D Lab model where they can keep track of their progress.

Getting involved is simply a case of going along to your local library at the beginning of the summer holidays. Staff will enrol your child—it's completely free of charge—and every child will receive a membership card and 3D lab model.

The children can read any books they like—fact books, stories, joke books, picture books—it's up to them. Audio books count too! As long as you're borrowing them from the library, they all count. A great way to encourage your child to read is to let them see you making time to read. Once they start copying you, they'll soon get the habit!

For adults, libraries in Kildare will be busy this summer with xbox kareoke, art workshops, creative writing workshops, nutritional talks, book/film clubs and Heritage Week 18th-25th August.

For more information and to locate your local library in Kildare go to our website at www.kildare.ie/library or phone 045 431109.

Going down by the river

Kilcullen has some 'fantastic' bird habitats along the river, writes Brian Byrne, according to consultant ornithologist Tom Cooney. But there's a dearth of wild water fowl.

And that's because of the depradations of mink, Tom told us on the recent and fascinating Bird & Wildlife Walk & Talk he conducted as part of the Biodiversity Study commissioned by Kilcullen Community Action.

"I came across a couple of pairs of baby mallards, and there's a mute swan with four cygnets," he noted from his previous early morning reconnaisance of the area. "That's an absolutely clear and healthy river there, and it should be thronged with wildfowl."

That it isn't is a clear example of the dangers of introducing a completely non-native predatory species, in this case American mink which were farmed in these islands during the 70s and 80s. Many escaped into the wild. "They're just cleaning out wildfowl in Ireland and Britain. They should have been dealt with years ago, with maybe a bounty for hunting them which did help to clear out muskrats that had escaped the same way."



Still, there was much to see, or mostly to hear, on the walk through the Valley Park and as far as the Mill Stream on the mass path to New Abbey. In his earlier morning wanders, Tom said he had encountered more than 30 different bird species.

"What I didn't expect was the number of species that were long distance migrant birds from Africa," he said. "I'm quite pleased that they were there, and I'm sure if I came back at night-time there'd be one or two others."

Some of these, like the willow-warblers, chiffchaffs and sand-martens, come from sub-Saharan Africa, and even from as far as South Africa itself. And we're going to see more of them.

"With climate change we're going to lose a lot of species, but others from warmer countries are going to need the habitats that you have here. And what you have has to be protected, because there are going to be big changes over the next 50 years."

Most of Tom's work these days is research into the effects of climate change on bird species here. Kilcullen is in the middle of a particular area which has lost six species in 15 years. "These include the corncrake and lapwing, for instance. We're losing species as we get warmer, but new species are coming in."



As he walked, or stopped to talk, Tom's ornithological antennae were constantly alert. He'd suddenly break a thread of conversation to mention or point out a particular sound, or bird on a branch. Some travellers, others resident like the wrens. At one point he tapped his phone and played a wren's call. Immediately there was a real one in return, a male challenging what seemed to be another in his territory.

"He's up there in the bush," Tom pointed. "He'll come closer to have a look." And sure enough, he did come, then flew up to a high ivyed elder to get a better view. Tom said he'd been surprised to find as many wrens, because in other parts of the country the recent hard winters had taken a big toll.

"It's quite normal. A hard winter can cause huge population crashes in birds."

He pointed out a family of great tits feeding on a tree, leaning to pick insects from the underside of branches and leaves. He was also pleased to see wagtails, a sign that the habitat is sound. "Especially the pied wagtail, which will only be found near fast and healthy water."



The reeds on both sides of the river and the hedgegrows along the mass path to New Abbey are something to be carefully treasured, he emphasised. "That scrub is great. What's in the hedges here is beautiful, the wild rose, and those thorn bushes should never be removed."



As he spoke, a willow warbler burst into song, even though it was close to the middle of the day when birds tend to go quiet. "He loves tangled undergrowth, and he has come 8,000 kilometres to sing for us."

We saw a sparrow hawk chased by a number of swallows. Tom said smaller birds will always 'mob' a predator species that comes into their territory. "They're fearless, and they will draw blood and drive the bigger bird away."

He was surprised, and pleased, to see the sparrow hawk here. And the buzzards he had spotted earlier, previously almost wiped out by pesticides and shooting. "They're great to have. They'll control the population of other birds like rooks, and they also feed on rabbits and other small animals. They'll pick off the weakest, allowing the stronger to survive. That's how nature keeps its balance."

He gave tips to the group, some of whom had also been out the night before on the Bats Talk & Walk, the first feature of Kilcullen's Wild Weekend. "It's as much about standing still and listening as it is watching. Cup your ears with your hands, focus on a particular area. Concentrate on learning one common bird's call. Then you can eliminate that one from the others and pick up on another one. Slowly but surely you'll get your ear in."

Over the couple of hours we learned an eclectic range of things about birds. How woodpeckers are spreading rapidly in Ireland, that a kestrel is able to maintain an absolutely still head while its wings and body manage difficult winds and keep it hovering, and that insect-eating birds have pointed beaks while seed-eaters have conical ones.

But what Tom Cooney wanted most to tell us is that in Kilcullen we are fortunate to have something well worth looking after. "If you're planning something here as a community, it's not for this year or next year or for the Tidy Towns competition. It's for producing a good healthy environment for birds and wildlife because the pattern will be very different in 50 years' time. In the past Ireland was rather isolated and didn't get so many species, but we will get more. So think about the future."

And there's a past to be remembered too. He pointed out on the walk back that Kilcullen is part of a very ancient riverscape, from a time after the last Ice Age when what is now the Liffey was a much deeper, wider and faster waterway. Digging into and being directed by today's Valley Park bluff. Even the conglomerate 'boulder' in the Valley was borne down from way upstream by a massive flow of water.



"There was a lot of talk in the 1970s, when we were developing the Valley, about how we might get rid of that," Noel Clare recalled as we passed it. "There was even a suggestion of blowing it up."

Sometimes we don't know the value of what we have. Which is why it's important that, from time to time, we have the benefit of outside eyes like Tom Cooney's to remind us.

Another freshener on Lower Main

The Market Square looks that little bit better now after Ray de Courcy and Ferguson Ryan gave up their Monday morning to painting the house beside Fire-Stop.

The KCA volunteer job was facilitated by Margaret O'Shea, who sponsored the paint, and by Laura Bowen who provided the colour scheme. (Pic KCA.)

Nicholastown maze

When Ray Kelly was mowing Nicholastown Green over the weekend he decided to provide children with a bit of a maze to run around and get lost in.

OK, it wasn't tall enough to get lost in, but kids still have their imagination at that age.

The picture, courtesy of Kieran Behan, is an aerial shot made without the need for an aircraft, just imaginative fiddling around with a camera on a pole using a very wide-angle lens.

Big turnout on Brans Treasure Hunt

There was a fine turnout of children and adults for the Brannoxtown NS Treasure Hunt walk along the Green Avenue and Gilltown yesterday.

Good taste at Cookery Night

A full house at the Cookery Demonstration fundraiser for the Oblates Lourdes Pilgrimage in Fallons, with chefs Ursula Davis and Thomas Houghton. Also pictured are Mary O'Neill of Fallons, organisers Miriam McDonnell and Valerie Ryan, and Brian Fallon.

It's all bats, really

Do you dislike bats, or even the notion of them? Don't, writes Brian Byrne, because without them we'd be overun by insects. Each bat consumes around 3,000 bugs in a night's feeding.

That was just one of the fascinating facts revealed at Friday night's Bats Talk & Walk event in Kilcullen's Wild Weekend programme. 'Batwoman' Dr Tina Aughney of Bat Conservation Ireland also told an audience of more than 70 that some bats are 'the bumble bee of the night'. Without the 'only true flying mammals in the world' many species of plant wouldn't be pollinated. Which would mean we'd be short of lots of fruits, like bananas.

In fact, the various activities of bats have even been given a monetary value. "A recent published study says that bats save the US agricultural sector some $22 billion a year," she noted.

The event was part of the Biodiversity Survey currently being conducted by Dr Mary Tubridy on behalf of Kilcullen Community Action. It will result in, among other things, useful information for a Nature Trail along the river. But Friday night had just one focus. A range of mammals which number some 1,100 different varieties around the world, around 46 of which exist across Europe, and in Ireland there are just nine types.



The audience in the Bridge Camphill Hall was about half-and-half adults and children, and so it was to the little ones that much of the evening was directed. Tina debunked the myths first, including the ones that bats are related to mice, that they can get tangled in your hair, and that they'll infest your home if they take up residence.

"In fact, they don't reproduce much, maybe one baby every two years," she said about that last. And even though a baby bat will grow to adult size in about six weeks, the mother can stay with her offspring for up to two years, making sure it learns to survive, hunt and fly. "In August you can see them skimming across the river on the hunt for insects, often the baby first followed by the mother."



Bats will roost in many places, but do so especially near water because that's where insects breed and so there'll be food. Which is why bridges like the one in Kilcullen are favoured. So are older houses, although Tina Aughney quipped that the current 'ghost estates' are likely to be populated much faster by bats than by people. Still, it hasn't been a good year for the species. The weather is all wrong, the cold, wind and wet upsetting the insect population and therefore the food supply.

Of the nine resident bat species in Ireland—all of which are in the 'microbat' or very small category—there are about six in the Kilcullen area. Each has quite distinctive characteristics, especially in their sounds which are used to seek prey and avoid obstacles using a 'sonar' sound reflective system.

Special electronic 'bat detectors' are used to find and track them, each kind recognisable by their own sound frequency. "Bat sounds are mostly higher than humans can hear," Dr Tina said. "Though some children can hear species that use lower frequencies, adults just can't."

She detailed the complexity of the systems, noting how they can work out the eatibility, location, speed and trajectory of insects simply from the reflections coming back. "There's a level of mathematics there that we simply can't do. One kind of bat, the Brown Long-eared, can locate a moth by hearing the flutter of its wings." And the same moth has developed an avoidance of becoming lunch or dinner by literally dropping to the ground and 'playing dead'.

Bats have long been a protected species, but there's real concern about them at the moment. A 50 percent decline in the insect population across Europe is one issue, but the biggest 'stress' is destruction of habitat.

"This can be related to the effects of development, but farm hedgegrows and treelines are very important to bats as they travel in search of food. And while bats love to live in old trees, these days we cut down dead trees with holes in them, for safety reasons."

Then there are predators. Barn owls, for instance, though as they are themselves a protected species, they're not deemed to be a significant problem. Domestic cats are. "We have known of very clever cats who can gobble up bats as they fall out of roosts preparing to fly," Dr Tina said, suggesting that cat owners should always keep their pets in at dawn and dusk. "A single cat can kill off a complete roost."

At the end of an informative and very entertaining presentation, the event was thrown open to questions. The best, and most, came from the children. 'How do they not bump into each other when they swarm?', 'When do they come out?' (depends on the species, and their timings from sundown are predictable to the minute), 'How long does it take them to digest an insect?', 'How much bones in a bat's body?' being just a few. And Dr Tina had to admit to not having all the answers. "I'm getting scared of the questions now," she grinned at one point.



The talk part concluded with the youngsters being given dead bats of different species to show to their parents (and guess which were the more squeamish?). After that it was a walk down through the dusktime Valley Park with bat detectors and sharp hopeful scanning of the between day and night sky.



Detectors crackled, bats were spotted, and everybody eventually went home happy. A magic of nature had been revealed, spells were woven, and knowledge was transferred.

Friday nights don't come much better, really.

Happenings at Canoe Club

Kilcullen Canoe Club has a new look website, writes Maria Wilmot. Why not pop along for a visit, register as a user on the website or leave a comment on the guestbook page. Check out our Facebook and Flickr pages also.

On the water training continues every weeknight from 7pm. Activities on offer include 'Newbie' nights (Mondays and Tuesdays), Polo (Thursdays), Slalom (Fridays) and Circuits.

Congratulations to Dave McDonnell who has recently been promoted to the K1 Div 3 class. Good luck!

Congratulations also to all Kilcullen Canoe Club paddlers who competed in recent events. Podium placings include Junior Liffey Descent, 26th May – Bronagh Galvin, 2nd in girls u18 K1; Tori Keogh, 2nd in girls u15 GP. Erne Paddlers, 27th May – Dave McDonnell, 2nd in K1 Div 3; Liam Keogh and Eamon Moran, 2nd and 3rd respectively in men’s GP; Mary Fitzgerald, Alison Miley and Olivia Murphy - 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively in women’s GP; Aaron Thorpe, 1st in novices. Salmon Leap, 17th June – Michal O’Farrell and Liam Keogh, 2nd in short course K2; Noel O’Connell, 2nd in K1 Div 3; Paul Carroll, 3rd in men’s GP; Fiona Wilmott, Mary Fitzgerald and Alison Miley – 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively in women’s GP

Kilcullen Canoe Club upcoming events include 30th June – Carrick on Shannon race; 8th July – Kilcullen Canoe Club non ranking (fundraising) race; 14th / 15th July – National Marathon Championships

And finally, go n-éirí an t-ádh le (good luck to) Oisin Farrell who’s heading to Wausau, USA to compete in the Junior and u23 Canoe Slalom World Championships in July.

For more information on Kilcullen Canoe Club, contact Maria Wilmot by email.

Kilcullen art in Dublin

Members of the Kilcullen Art Group are exhibiting in Dublin over the weekend around St Stephen's Green, as part of the People's Art series.

People's Art Dublin is a voluntary, part time, non profit making group, brought together by Dublin City Council to promote the visual arts to the public of Dublin. Each year after expenses are paid, donations are made to various charities.

(Pic: Sabina Reddy.)

Fergal's big five-oh

It was a right old hooley in The Spout last night as Fergal Sloan and friends celebrated his 50th birthday party.

Cinderella went to the ball tonight

The cast of Cinderella, at tonight's Stage 2 performance in the Town Hall Theatre, with Maryclare McMahon.

KCA street collection next week

The annual street collection for Kilcullen Community Action will be held on Saturday 30 June, writes Brian Byrne.

The recent KCA meeting decided that the collection locations this year will be at Nolans Butchers and at the street and car park entrances to the Eurospar Supermarket.

During the discussion, KCA treasurer Kieran Forde noted that while the organisation had enough funds to deal with needs to the end of the year, 'substantial' new sources of finance would be needed beyond that.

He reminded the meeting that some sources, such as funding from KTK, had now ended.

In response to a query from JJ Warren, Noel Clare said that letters to businesses looking for support for the Summer Flowers Project would soon be sent out.

"Last year we got a good response from the businesses," he added. and noted that some had already contributed to this year's project.

Nature events tonight, tomorrow

Just a reminder of two superb nature events in Kilcullen this weekend.

The first is a Bat 'Talk and Walk' tonight, Friday at 8.30pm with Dr Tina Aughney and Dr Mary Tubridy. Tomorrow, Saturday, there's an 11am Walk and Talk on Bird and Wildlife along Liffey. Both events start at An Tearmann.

Suitable for children and adults alike.

And there's a feast of other possibilities this weekend for those whose interests are off the wildlife radar. They include a Food Tasting and Cookery Demonstration tonight, Friday, in Fallons in aid of the Kilcullen Oblates Invalids trip to Lourdes, starting at 8pm and costing €20.

The second night of the Stage 2 production of Cinderella is being performed tonight by the youngsters of the talent school in the Town Hall Theatre from 7pm, and there's a Brannockstown Book Fair this evening at The Stray Inn. Bring your old books, go home with replacements.

On Sunday afternoon there's the annual Dunshane Camphill Open Day, always worth a visit and costs nothing except what you want to buy there from their wide selection of crafts and home-grown or home-made produce.

The same afternoon, Brannoxtown NS are running their Treasure Hunt from 2pm.

Keep in touch with community event listings on the KCA Community Calendar.

There goes that song again...

We've gotten used to seeing litter and even home rubbish dumped on the sides of our country roads, but this is a first. Snapped by Ronan Murphy on the Sunnyhill Road, a kareoke machine! As he says, nothing to sing about.

But we wonder, did the owner finally get the message ... that he, or she, just couldn't hit the right notes?

New appeal for paint funds

An appeal for €250 for paint has been made by Kilcullen Community Action, as part of its commitment to support the visual improvement of Lower Main Street, writes Brian Byrne.

Donations of €150 towards the purchase of paint had already been received, Noel Clare told the meeting, and also reported that a suitable colour scheme had been prepared by environmental architect Laura Bowen.

The meeting also said it would accept the volunteering offer by local resident Ray de Courcy to do some of the painting work.

The painting work will be carried out on premises in the market square and Lower Main Street which are not currently occupied. KCA has already painted other buildings in the area.



On the same matter, the meeting unanimously decided to send a letter of appreciation to Jim Kelly of Castlemartin Estate for the visual remedial work carried out on the Lower Main Street property owned by Sir Anthony O'Reilly.

In what is still a work in progress, the security fencing has been painted, flower baskets and planting have been put in place, and a semi-derelict building is beginning to look lived in.

Food fundraiser in Fallons

A fundraiser in aid of our Kilcullen Oblate Lourdes Fund is being held in Fallons on Friday 22 June, writes Miriam McDonnell.

The event begins at 8pm and tickets are €20, and the night involves a demonstration by a fish expert and Fallons chefs, with food tasting and tips. There will be a raffle with some great prizes and it will be a fantastic night!

Fallons are hosting the evening assisted by Paul Carey from the Good Food Gallery.

Renewed call for team leaders for nature trail day

An appeal for a number of team leaders for the upcoming 'Difference Days' nature trail volunteer day at The Bridge Camphill was reiterated at the recent Kilcullen Community Action meeting, writes Brian Byrne.

Noel Clare said 'a couple' of local leaders were needed for the initiative, which will involve 250 staff members of a Boston-based financial services company which has offices in Dublin and Galway.

A number of helpers will also be required to help with catering arrangements, Noel added, and said that if anybody could provide basic equipment like wheelbarrows and shovels for the say, they would be appreciated.

"For those who want to help as team leaders, they will need to be involved with a bit of earlier coordination," Noel said.

The meeting heard that some initial work had been done by the 'Difference Days' organisation on the Nature Trail which had already been initiated by The Bridge Camphill.