The Garden Room at Killarney House was at full capacity on Monday 20th January for the Kerry Biosphere's Rainwater Planter Workshop. Hosted by the Biosphere, the workshop provider Féidhlim Harty delivered an entertaining, informative, and interactive workshop that appealed to all audience members. There were 63 participants present on the morning, and it was noted that the group was particularly interested and willing to engage with the interactive workshop. This made for a very productive morning with networking and collaborative concepts being explored. The Biosphere was delighted to welcome attendees from throughout the Kingdom, from Ballybunion in the North, to Sneem and Kenmare in South Kerry.
The morning kicked off at 10am with a brief introduction from Biosphere Officer, Brendan Kirwan. Brendan then introduced the workshop host, Féidhlim Harty. Féidhlim delivered an informative hour long presentation on nature based solutions for water management and touched on concepts such as rainwater planters, rainwater gardens, swales, etc., The presentation also presented data on adverse impacts on our natural watercourses. Féidhlim's presentation whet the apetite of our participants who were left hungry for more information as we paused for a 20 minute coffee break. The tea, coffee, and scones provided by the Killarney Plaza were exceptional, the huge scones in particular were cause for delight. After the break, the attendees were broken up into five groups. The groups were sorted by topics offerred by Féidhlim, including habitats, roads, rainwater planters, and awareness (promotion of nature based solutions). Each group was given three questions to consider. The results of these brain storming groups led to proactive and feasible actions that can be carried out. A list of actions were proposed, with a timeline of circa six weeks to complete the action, in keeping with the second of Féidhlims workshops. The Kerry Biosphere team would like to thank all those that attended our workshop, and Féidhlim Harty for his enthuasiastic delivery. We will be hosting a second workshop in six weeks time to follow on with the strong start and continue to explore potential collaborations and nature based solutions projects in the Kerry Biosphere.
