Ulsara 2020 newsletter

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THE UPPER LEESON STREET AREA RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTERExtract from Gardening for Biodiversity, written by Juanita Browne and illustrated by Barry Reynolds.This guide was funded by The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht through the National Parks and Wildlife Service’s National Biodiversity Action Plan Fund,with support from the Heritage Council and the Local Authority Heritage Officer Network. To request a hardcopy of the full booklet email heritage@dublincity.ieBiodiversity-friendly management tipsDon’t use pesticidesThe rule is simple: If you avoid using chemicals, your garden will be muchmore biodiversity-friendly. ‘Pesticides’ include herbicides, fungicidesand insecticides.Remember: the insects and slugs, which you may be trying to kill, do feedimportant food sources for pollinating insects, and other insects too, whichform the basis of the food chains in your wildlife garden.Make your own compostAs well as being a way to recycleyour garden and kitchen waste andgiving you a rich substrate for yourplants, a compost heap offers animportant site where invertebratescan live and breed.Conserve waterInstalling a water butt recyclesrainwater for your garden. Thiscan also be used to top up the birdbath, bog garden or pond whennecessary.Make your own leaf mouldMake a wire cage in a corner ofyour garden to create leaf mould.Leaf mould is formed from decayingleaves and is a great conditioner forfallen leaves and needles in autumn.This is also a great way to provide ahome for lots of soil and leaf litterbiodiversity.Only buy peat-free compostthe world. We have now reduced our peatlands to less than 10% of what onceexisted across the midlands. By choosing peat-free compost, you will help toconserve our remaining peat bogs and their unique biodiversity, includingcomposted wood, composted green waste, and leaf mould. Always look fora ‘peat-free’ label rather than simply ‘organic’ as these may still contain peat.If there are none available, why not ask the store manager to stock peat-freecompost. Customers can make this change happen!You may be tempted to use slug pellets to foil snails and slugs, but these can be veryharmful to birds and mammals, such as hedgehogs who prey on the slugs andsnails that consume them. Instead, you could try a beer trap or copper wire.and snails who don’t like moving over copper.they do provide food for hedgehogs and many birds and amphibians.4 ULSARA NEWS Summer 2020ULSARA 2020 Draft 3.indd 4 23/07/2020 15:54
Dawn Chorusin Dartmouth SquareTHE UPPER LEESON STREET AREA RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTERGraffiti ControlReport 2020In the early hours of Sunday, 24th April last year, the gates of DartmouthSquare were opened to receive about eighty “early birds” who hadleft their warm beds to join environmentalist, Éanna Ní Lamhna toexperience the Dawn Chorus.Éanna welcomed the group and took them on a stroll through theSquare. She explained that the Robin is the first one to start singing.Because they have larger eyes, letting in more light, they are the firstones awake. Their song is their welcome to a new day. The way Eannaexplained it- in her inimitable way, they are saying to their Robin friends,I am alive and awake; how are you? Soon the Blackbird and the Thrushjoined in, and Eanna kept us all entertained with stories of how the birdsbuild their nests and set out to attract a mate. An hour or so after theRobin started the day, other birds such as the Great Tit, Chiffchaff andBlue Tit came to join the party, contributing their unique sound to awonderful Dawn Chorus.Five years ago, in response toa profusion of unsightly graffiti,ULSARA became active in graffiticontrol. With the support of DublinCity Council, we began cleaning andoverpainting all graffiti on publicutility structures such as ESB boxesand transformers, An Post Boxes,Litter Bins, Parking Ticket Machinesand Lamp Standards. DCC providedthe appropriate green, grey and blackpaint and we provided the muscle!The sound of their singing is continuous from the beginning, withdifferent birds joining in over the course of the early morning. It’salmost as if they hand over the job to new comers as the first songs arereplaced by more and different sounds.As dawn broke the “early birds” were delighted to see that ULSARAvolunteers had laid out a delicious cooked breakfast for them. Everyonestood together chatting and discussing the experience. The event was agreat success and will certainly be repeated when Covid 19 restrictionsare lifted.We are very grateful to Dublin City Council who co-sponsored the eventwith ULSARA.Tackling GraffitiDawn breaking over Dartmouth SquareInitially our graffiti patrols took placeevery two months and became lessfrequent as the problem was broughtunder control. Between patrols we docycling surveys on a monthly basis.Feedback from passers-by and localresidents has always been positiveand appreciative. Our hard work wasrecognised in 2017 with an award fromDublin City Council.ULSARA members Geraldine O’Connell Cusack andSharen McCabe at the Dawn Chorus breakfastTime for breakfastWe have noted that graffiti on privateproperties has much reduced due toeradication actions by their owners.Generally we are cautiously optimisticthat the improved low level of graffitiin our area can be maintained.Covid 19 restrictions have placed ourpatrols on hold but we are ready toresume when it is safe to do so.ULSARA NEWS Summer 20205ULSARA 2020 Draft 3.indd 5 23/07/2020 15:54
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