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OPEN COUNTRY
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Sat听 6.10 - 6.35am
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Local people making their corner of rural Britain unique |
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This week |
Saturday听24th March 2007 |
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The tide enters at just one point, called the Narrows, and it is here that Helen sees and hears the violently rushing waters of the Routen Wheel. Accompanied by marine ecologist and ornithologist, Bob Brown, Helen continues by boat into the main body of the Lough, passing some of its hundreds of islands, through waters containing such an enormous variety of habitats that they attract over two thousand marine species.
These in turn are food for a vast variety of birdlife. James Orr, of the听听 based at Castle Espie, takes Helen to see some of the large populations, numbering many thousands, which feed at low tide and provide a real spectacle at this time of year.
For hundreds of years the ebb and flow of tides have been harnessed by man for various purposes. Maritime archaeologist, Thomas McErlean of the University of Ulster, describes the rise and fall of the kelp aquaculture and the medieval use of fish traps at Grey Abbey Bay, on the north east side of the Lough. He also points out the two tidal mills on the foreshore at on Mahee Island on the west coast. These were built by monks for grinding corn, and date back to the 7th century, the earliest use of this technology found anywhere, showing that apart from leading a life of prayer the monks were accomplished scientists of their day.
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