Heritage Week 2025

Heritage Week is a celebration of Ireland's natural, built and cultural heritage through a variety of events, workshops and tours organized by local communities across the country.

The Restore Ballymacraven River Association was delighted to host 2 events this Heritage Week, focusing on riparian biodiversity and ecology.

Our first event "In Search of Otter Poo", was a major success! Ruairí Ó'Conchúir (LAWPRO) lead an otter ecology talk, teaching learners big and small about one of our most elusive mammals. Attendees learned how to "read the river", and were given the chance to become more aware of the bio-indicating queues of our rivers and streams. The presence of otters is most easily identifiable by their spraint, or poo. Our group found spraint at the foot of the cascades in Ennistymon, confirming the presence of these protected animals in the area.

For week 2, "Explore the Biodiversity of the Inagh and Ballymacraven Rivers", was hosted by Kevin Nunan (Chairperson, RBRA), Ruairí Ó'Conchúir (LAWPRO), and Rachel Dowling (Project Officer, RBRA). This walk-and-talk encapsulated a wide range of topics, from the history of the Restore Ballymacraven River Association, to the life cycles of salmon, and everything in between. It was fantastic to see such a wide range of participants, from locals to holiday makers, and Heritage Week event veterans. The talk finished on a high, having the chance to look at the macroinvertebrates living in the river. This is a demonstration that attendees always love, as getting up close and personal with these lesser known creatures is rare.

The Restore Ballymacraven River Association would like to extend our thanks to everyone who attended one of our Heritage Week Events this year. We would also like to thank the Heritage Council and Local Authority Waters Program for their continued support.

Attendees enjoying our biodiversity walk of the Inagh and Ballymacraven Rivers

Happy attendees, bioindicators and kick sampling.