Dublin Bay Boating News and Information
Dublin Bay s Natural Wonders to be Set in Context by Expert Richard Nairn
20th April 2021
Dublin and its Bay – national capital, port city, natural wonder, internationally designated biosphere, maritime highway, nautical playground, cultural icon - and much else.
Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association invites you to join their next Zoom session on Dublin Bay Nature, which will be given by Richard Nairn on Thursday, 22nd April at 20:00 hrs.
Dublin Bay is one of the most intensively studied coastal areas in Ireland, and much is known about its marine life, birds and mammals, their numerous presence made all the more remarkable as it is an integral part of the life and environment of a busy city port.
First things first, as Richard Nairn makes clear. Please, he requests politely but firmly, there will be no mention of precisely where this interview was conducted. Suffice it to say that we are talking somewhere near Ashford, give or take a few kilometres. Suffice it to mention that the trees he monitors and cares for here grow within an easy stone s throw of a minor tributary of the River Vartry. Suffice it to suggest if you want to know more about his work, then read his book rather than come calling in person.
Where one of Ireland s leading ecologists has his haunt is not a public place, he stresses. Yet he hopes that what is going on here, in his little (no more than three acres) slice of old-fashioned Irish woodland, may be of general interest.
The narrow coast road that runs between Blackrock and Dún Laoghaire in the south of Dublin used to be busy with car traffic going in both directions.
It could be a precarious route to cycle, especially for families with small children. Too often, impatient drivers would speed to overtake and, at certain times, that was risky because the incessant oncoming traffic.
Then, early this summer, one lane of traffic was removed and replaced with a dual-direction cycling path. In just eight weeks, it was transformed. Today, some 4km of segregated cycling infrastructure with fine views of Dublin Bay and Howth Head runs from Blackrock to Dún Laoghaire and on to Sandymount.