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Tidal Rapids, Pearl Mussels and Irish Linen:

Following the Annual General Meeting in The Queen's University of Belfast, members set off south by coach down the Ards Peninsula along the shores of Strangford Lough.

Underlined text links to photographs of the events.

Strangford Lough is a large marine inlet (150 km2 ) on the east coast of County Down, almost land-locked and connected at its southern end to the Irish Sea by an 8 km channel, the Strangford Narrows, with strong tidal currents. The landscape owes much of its form to ice movements, and in the Lough itself, drumlins appear as islands or small rocky reefs, known locally as "pladdies". The sediments grade from bedrock in the Narrows through cobble, gravel and sand to mud. Extensive beds of eel-grass and green seaweeds provide the main food for up to 15000 grazing waterfowl, particularly brent geese and wigeon in winter. In summer, the Lough is the breeding area for several hundred common seals. The Lough is an internationally important site for the study of marine biology and is a Marine Nature Reserve. About one third of the area of the Lough is exposed at low water, as at Kirkubbin. Members search the shore here for the many and varied rocky shore molluscs. At The Dorn, Ardkeen, there are tidal rapids, where salt water flows through shallow channels even at low tide, allowing sub-littoral species to survive on the shore. These included grotesque forms of sponges, sea-squirts and sea-cucumbers, the feather star Antedon, and a local white-shelled variety of the painted top-shell Calliostoma zizyphinum..

The town of Portaferry looks across the Narrows to Strangford and is home to the Marine Laboratory of Queen's University. Dai Roberts showed visitors around the teaching and research facilities of the Laboratory, which can accommodate 45 students easily. The Laboratory also houses the C-Mar research centre for the development of marine resources and aquaculture, where Nephrops and Pecten maximus culture is being studied. Exploris, Ireland's major public marine aquarium is behind the Laboratory, although it was shut by the time we reached there. While some of us stayed in Portaferry to attend the Porcupine and Portaferry Scientific Divers meeting on Marine Protected Areas, others returned late in the evening to a welcome supper provided by Dai and Valerie Roberts.

The next morning, Sunday, a group set off by mini-bus in driving rain to visit a pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) river west of Lough Neagh. Although the river was swollen by recent rains, we borrowed waders and searched, with some success, for the mussels among the cobbles and shingle of the river bed, using a glass-bottomed box.

Finally, we drove on to Wellbrook Beetling Mill, west of Cookstown in County Tyrone. This is a watermill used until 1961 to give Irish linen its smoothness and sheen. The rain had stopped, and a walk along the millrace along the Ballinderry river gave good views of Dippers. After an al fresco lunch we entered the mill. The beetling engines consist of a row of wooden hammers, resembling a row of organ pipes, raised on cams before falling with a deafening clatter onto the cloth laid over an immense wooden roller beneath. The upper storey contains an interesting museum, and I have managed to germinate two seeds from a bale of flax, which have just produced white flowers.

We are grateful to Dai and other Northern Ireland members and their families for the support they gave to make our visit so enjoyable.

 


 

 

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