Establishment of an orchard in the Old Bridge. This project will provide organic fruit and nuts for the local residents in the coming years as well as providing an environment for the encouragement of biodiversity.
We began this project last year during lockdown so initial progress was slow but since then we have planted our first orchard. While the primary focus has been to provide the community with food, we have also taken the opportunity to develop habitats for bees. We cleared space on the flood bank for Mining Solitary Bees to create homes. Going forward the inclusion of berried hedges and a copse of native Irish Trees will provide habitats and food for a variety of insects and birds.
This project will take about three years to complete which is perfect timing as the trees will require ongoing care to establish successfully.
A conversation with a work college opened up an opportunity for Tidy Towns to engage with the community in McDonagh Crescent on The Old Bridge. It also provides us with an area for tree planting and wild flower enhancement. The project has been slow to get off the ground as all communication had to be done by letter due to COVID until we got contact details from the residents.
Watch the video on Facebook of our volunteers digging out the bank to clear space for miner bees.
