On Saturday last the re-enactment of the Fair Day in Castleblayney recalled memories of Fair Days in the small towns of rural Ireland.  MEG member Liam Murtagh went along to the ‘Castleblayney 400’ event and saw a range of produce, crafts, services, games and working farm machinery from bygone days on display.   He now reflects on the importance of the production and use of local food produce into the future.      

The Fair Day which was held in glorious sunshine in Castleblayney on Saturday last brought an air of enjoyment and excitement to the town. It was a welcome development in what has been challenging times for both businesses and for many residents. For some it was tinged with some nostalgia as they remembered the Fair Days of the 1960s.

Pictured at the ‘Fair Day’ in Castleblayney were some members of Castleblayney Community Gardeners along with a customer. The fruit and vegetables on display were grown in town’s community gardens or locally.

On the Fair Day in Castleblayney up to the 1960s most of the food produce on sale on the street or in the shops came from the surrounding parishes. It was usually transported to the town by horse and cart and so virtually no oil or other fossil fuels were used in the growing and transporting of the produce. The work of growing crops involved long hours of physical toil on the land – tilling the land with horses and often working in adverse weather conditions. It was ‘organic food’ but such a term was not used in those days.  In the case of my own family, we cooperated with our neighbours at busy times such as at the digging of the potatoes and saving hay.   Incomes were small and erratic and emigration was commonplace.

 In the years since the 1960’s there has been a transformation in the way we grow and buy our food. The number of farmers who grow vegetables for sale or even for their own use is very few. While there are some Irish growers, much of our food travels thousands of kilometres.  Enormous amounts of oil are used to grow and transport both the food we grow here in Ireland and the food we import. The flavour of food that travels long distance is often of doubtful quality.  I find that the carrots or plums I pick from my own garden are always far superior to those on the supermarket shelves.

On the way home from the Fair Day I purchased a daily newspaper. The main headline read: ‘Human Influence on climate change a ‘clarion call’ to global community’. On the previous day, the latest report from the UN’s climate scientists had been published and there was in-depth coverage throughout the media. The challenge of climate change that faces the next generations will be enormous – many say now that it is not a question of averting climate change, it is a matter slowing its progress and allowing humanity to adapt to it.

Summers in Ireland will be warmer and drier, winters will be wetter and milder and  there will be an increase in the frequency of heavy rainfall events.  While this might all seem tolerable, we need to consider that what happens internationally will have a major impact on Ireland. The ‘Stop Climate Chaos’ group claims that Ireland could face an influx of climate change refugees from countries that will be severely affected or even wiped out by rising sea levels.

The role of addressing climate change is one for the UN, for governments, corporations, communities and individuals. Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases by cutting down on using oil is the main way to addressing the problem. As there are considerable amounts of greenhouse gasses produced in the modern agri industry this is an urgent need to address the issue. As individuals we can choose to eat foods that have a low carbon / low food kilometres rating – the lowest would be for food gown in our garden! In Co Monaghan the GIY movement and various community gardens and allotments projects are playing a role in both awareness raising and growing some food locally. Farmers Markets and initiatives such as this weekend’s ‘Taste of Monaghan’ help the marketing and sale of local food. The amount of local produce in supermarkets varies a lot but we can keep reminding them that we would like to have more fresh local produce available.

At a community level in this county, Monaghan Ecological Group  is seeking to harness the efforts of people here to undertake local climate change responses including awareness raising, skills sharing, and projects in the areas of local food, energy and currency – such as the LETS Trada one that was featured in a previous article.

For enquiries or comments please email monecogroup@gmail.com. Check out the Monaghan Ecological Group facebook page or website at http://monecogroup@wordpress.com

It’s the time of year that some birds leave our county and some others arrive here for a winter stay to join our resident bird population. MEG member Liam Murtagh says that some bird species are in significant decline and we can monitor what is happening locally by participating in various surveys organised by Birdwatch Ireland, like the 2013/2014 one on wintering waterbirds that is about to commence

Sunday the 22^nd September brought us an ’Indian Summer’s’ day, and as it was the Autumn Equinox there were equal hours of daylight and darkness. The autumn colours are only beginning to appear in our countryside but many of summer visiting birds such as the Swallow are about to leave us to head south to warmer lands. While these birds leave us there are about one million winter visiting birds such as Whooper Swan and Curlews arriving here from latitudes further north. Both sets of migratory birds can cover thousands of miles. While one may marvel at the homing instinct of these birds and their ability to fly such vast distances we hear that there has been a 23% decline in long distance migratory birds in Europe over the past 30 years. The number of farmland birds is also in sharp decline across Europe. In Ireland the barn owl and the summer visiting corncrake are now very rare. There are various causes, but loss of habitat is one of the main ones.  It is just one aspect of the various aspects of biological diversity on the planet that are under threat.

The Curlew pictured above is a winter visitor to our wetlands. In the past we also had resident Curlews breeding throughout Ireland but their numbers have been in significant decline in recent years. In 2012 only one breeding pair was recorded in Co Monaghan.

Ireland’s wetlands and their waterbirds are currently monitored as part of the Irish Wetland Bird Survey (I-WeBS) being organised by Birdwatch Ireland. The 20th season of the Survey is about to start and BirdWatch Ireland would very much welcome your help. I-WeBS is the nationwide scheme for monitoring non-breeding waterbirds – largely the swans, geese, ducks and wading birds – that migrate to Ireland each winter. Whether you are an experienced birdwatcher or interested in finding out how you can contribute to conservation, you can help. You can take on a site yourself or opt to learn the ropes from someone who already participates, but the organisers are always keen to bring new participants on board.

I-WeBS involves conducting counts of all waterbirds at wetland sites once per month from September to March on predefined count days. The counts are recorded on the count forms provided by the I-WeBS Office or entered onto the online data entry system at the end of each visit. Wetland sites range from small ponds and river stretches with small numbers of birds that can easily be can covered by one observer with a pair of binoculars to large complex estuaries that hold thousands of birds and require a team of experienced observers with telescopes.

If you would like to get involved, contact iwebs@birdwatch.ie  letting Birdwatch know where you are based and whether or not you have a telescope. They will find the right site for you. If you would like to be involved in a range of bird watching activities locally you could join the Monaghan branch of Birdwatch Ireland. See www.birdwatch.ie for contact details and also for details of other bird surveys conducted by Birdwatch Ireland.