Leaving Cert students look at life in the Liffey

Teeming life in a healthy riverBiology came alive for over 60 Leaving Certificate students when they visited the nearby river Liffey in the centre of Kilcullen on a recent Friday afternoon to look at life in the water, writes Noel Clare.

UCD Entomologist Dr Jann Barrs, who lives in Kilcullen, joined the group to show them the great range of life living in the water. Fish were plentiful and the students managed to see young salmon, trout, stickle backs and an eel. They were even managed to see the stomach contents of some of the fish – mainly insect larvae that the fish had just recently eaten.



There were many crayfish in the river also – indicative of its reasonably clean nature. Mayfly (of which there are 13 species in the Kilcullen area), Caddisflies, various snails and worms were also seen to be plentiful.



We walk by the river on a regular basis with little idea of how it is teeming with life and the students were all quite amazed to see the variety and extent of living creatures living in their midst.