4. They Saw the Signs, They Opened up their Eyes & They're not Happy Now

Good Morning and Welcome,

To issue number 4. This week having heard from our local election candidates, the local electorate has a few things to say for themselves. Wonderful news for Rhinolophus hipposideros. With judging around the corner, Cahersiveen Tidy Towns are looking for a barrel load of volunteers & barrels themselves. Not forgetting all the best of what’s going on and what will be going on around the place.

South Kerry by the numbers:

• 374: Election posters decorating the Ring of Kerry road between Loher Church and Deelis Bridge.

• 15.58: Signs per kilometre on that same stretch of road.

• 2: Election poster lorries on the same 24km I tried converting lorries into election posters but my maths isn’t up to it.

• 1950000: € Will get you the most expensive house in the area for sale.

Cahersiveen Tidy Towns needs YOU!

Fair play to the volunteers at Cahersiveen Tidy Towns, judging by the above pic, plans for this year’s competition have been long in the making. Talking of judging… that begins next week so get in touch here. Also, they want your barrels;

Giving Rhinolophus hipposideros a proper home in South Kerry

What am I in about? Well, Rhinolopus hipposideros is, of course, the binomial name* for the Lesser Horseshoe Bat.

The Lesser Horseshoe Bat is one of the world’s smallest and Ireland’s rarest bats, found only in 6 counties and Kerry is lucky enough to be one of them. Funding announced this week will enable the council to undertake Pilot Ground Truthing of the VWT modelling of landscape connectivity for Lesser Horseshoe Bats. Now, I don’t, for a moment, have any idea what that means, but I’m guessing this will help to increase their population. Having read their main diet consists of flies, midges & mosquitoes I believe it’s a project every one of us should get behind. Also, it does look a bit like a Rhino, doesn’t it?

*The binomial name is the correct term for scientific/latin animal names. Every day’s a school day.

Constituent Responses

Avid readers of this newsletter will of course remember last week we heard from our local election candidates. This week, some of our fellow constituents would like a word;

Irate Facebooker Ruth Brophy took to the keyboard this week to put forward a wholly legitimate motion, why don’t we, like Kenmare, allocate an area for these posters. Whilst there is a legitimate argument that posters are vital for new candidates to get their faces known, I’m not sure that argument rings true with the current turf war we see playing out along one of, if not the most toured routes in the country.

Let’s have another look at those numbers again;

• 374: Election posters decorating the Ring of Kerry road between Loher Church and Deelis Bridge. Figure correct as of Tuesday, as of this morning, there are 14 more along a 2km stretch, so who knows how many more along the rest of it.

• 15.58: Signs per kilometre on that same stretch of road.

• 2: Election poster lorries on the same 24km along with 3 trailers.

• 24: The number of posters in the above photo!!

• 11500: € Is the maximum amount any candidate can spend in an election area of our size. As a conservative estimate, these corriboards are €70 each, surely, there must be a better way to invest these funds (advertising in a local digital newsletter, would immediately leap to my mind).

I mean, would they ever just shtop!

Best of the rest;

• Live music tonight in O’Carrols Cove with Marty.

• If you were planning on heading to The Point, Renard tomorrow don’t. they are closed for the day

• A restorative yoga workshop with a live cellist is on in Tech Amergin, Sunday from 4pm book here

• There’s a Street Feast planned for Cracow Park Valentia on Sunday 1-5pm.

• BEAG are back this week gardening at the school from 11am.

• There’s a talk on Climate Change & Decarbonization at Tech Amergin on Monday evening, 7pm, one for our local election candidates to attend

• Smash Bro’s a new burger joint has opened in Caherdaniel, 100m up the Coomnahorna Rd.

Just Announced;

• Nurture in Nature. Inspired by the profound moments we've had with our community in the outdoors, NIN is a 75min. gathering where Dani will lead us through various rituals to connect to sea, sand & soul. Friday 31st 6pm Ballinskelligs Beach/ Café Cois Trá

Thanks

Thanks for reading, for signing up, for following on socials, for sending over bits to be included. if you know anyone who might like this type of thing send them on this email, they can join below. If there’s anything I’ve missed, you’d like to contribute or think should be covered, just hit reply. Alternatively, you can just tag your posts #skoracle and I’ll pick them up.

Next week we’ll have a week off politics, unless you don’t want to of course.

Good luck, be well

Dave

southkerryoracle.ie