Shannon River is teeming with wildlife

THE weekend before last I was in Lanesborough for the annual Lough Ree environmental summer school. I had the pleasant job of guiding boatloads of people on the lake and the river and showing off their beauty.

The Shannon looks well even in a wet July. Its banks are lined with purple and yellow loosestrife and creamy meadowsweet, willows flutter in the breeze and the great reed beds display several shades of green, each type of reed confined to its own zone along the shore.

While the boat was tied up waiting for the passengers I was admiring the precision flying of swallows speeding centimetres above the water surface and occasionally dipping their lower beaks to scoop up a floating insect. Then I noticed some were a little smaller and pale brown. A few sand martins had joined in.