BEAUTY AROUND US

Daffodils can now be seen well above the ground in several places throughout Ballincollig. And the first daffodils of the season in full bloom can be seen on the Carrigrohane Road near the Poulavone Roundabout.

 

 

There are so many facets both natural and created for everyone to enjoy in Ballincollig Regional Park. The scenery is ever changing and walking along the various paths there is always something new to see. The Park is now open until 7pm each day.

 

 

BIODIVERSITY – AN INTERESTING ARTICLE

In a recent article the new President of the British Ecological Society stated that gardeners should avoid mowing the dandelions on their lawn if they want to help bees.

Dandelions – which will start flowering this month – provide a valuable food source for early pollinators coming out of hibernation, including solitary bees, honey bees and hoverflies.

Leaving the grass to grow 8-10cm (3-4ins) tall means clovers, daisies, self-heal and creeping buttercup can also flower. This is something we can do for the insects, birds and plants that are local to us. She also encouraged gardeners to halve the amount of mowing they do.

She went on to say carrots that have flowered, or “bolted”, and onions in unkempt vegetable gardens are some of the best plants for pollinators.

However, she said gardeners should avoid planting too many “pompom shaped” flowers, such as old English roses and dahlia, because they focus so much of their energy on producing petals and have very little nectar and pollen. “As a rule, if you can see the pollen and nectar parts of a flower without pulling back petals, then it’s ok for pollinators.”

The entire article is available to read on our website www.ballincolligtidytowns.ie

 

CE/TUS WORKERS

The work in the Car Park behind Quish’s SuperValu is now complete but our workers have set out plenty more projects to tackle in the coming weeks and months. With the work on the path from behind Westgate Foundation to the Community Drive cleared, we have asked that the streetlight along here now be repaired.  

Clearing under the Beech hedging on the Old Fort Road has started and already it has made a huge difference.

Some more of our workers cleaned along the Inniscarra Road.

These are just some of the projects that have been tackled this week.

WEEKLY LITTER PICK

Twenty-eight Volunteers were out for last Sunday’s weekly Litter Pick. Two Transition Year students also joined them. The morning was fine and the usual areas were covered. In total the following were collected:-

4 bags of plastics
3 bags of cans
2 crates of glass
3 bags of rubbish

Over the past number of weeks we collected one bag of small domestic appliances (kettles, toasters and an iron) on our Litter Picks. We dropped them to MD O’Shea’s as they always recycle them for us.

Also, over time we have been putting any large metal items found when out litter picking or on workdays, aside and this week we brought 100 kg of metal to O’Donoghue’s Waste Disposal for recycling.

 

WEBSITE

We read a lovely comment recently about the Times Past page on our website from someone who was enjoying the selection of old pictures. She was hoping that there would be more posted soon. It would be wonderful to be in a position to do this in the coming weeks. From data collected we can see that people all over the world are enjoying visiting the website. If you have some old photos of Ballincollig, please get them to us and we will have them returned to you without delay.

 

PLEASE LEND YOUR SUPPORT

More Volunteers are needed for the weekly Litter Pick or to work on several upcoming projects. Please lend your support. If you can offer just one hour a week, contact PAT CLARKE on 087 6348807.