Martha Dillon. Pairc Na Coille

When I open my front door here in Pairc na Coille there is a beautiful large dense area of trees and
shrubs less than a hundred yards away facing my house.
This area is home to thousands of creatures.
Bats including the protected species, the lesser horseshoe bat, birds, foxes, insects, bees, moths,
butterflies, badgers, etc.

We have in this area call it a nature reserve.
In Springtime into Summer at 5 am we hear the dawn chorus which sounds like an early morning
orchestra. Then follows the nesting season where many birds nest and the young are seen flying
around. Butterflies and honeybees are seen in abundance in our flower gardens collecting nectar as
well as all the other indicators.

Honeybees are declining in Ireland as we are marking them homeless by using most of the landscape
for forestry and housing and not leaving enough natural habitats for them to live.
Bats are seen here flying around at night and foxes and badgers are also seen around the estate.
In Autumn and Winter when nature slows down and the weather is harsh and cold the birds feed
happily from the bird feeders that are put up for them. The cute robins go one further and come to
the doorstep.

So what is to become of this nice setting Clare County Council have outlined if it is going to be bulldozed for housing.
These creatures are already in the accommodation there, so we must be their voices.
Much is being said about climate change but we must accept it is no longer someone else’s problem
but our own. We can all do something and it starts with the way we think. Instead of destroying
nature, we must learn from it.

As Robert Wilson Lynd wrote, “There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the
way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before”. This area is one of the few
large dense areas left in the town of Ennis. By destroying it, it dramatically reduces the number of
birds and wildlife that come to people’s back gardens.
NATURE MATTERS
Martha Dillon