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Archive for Men's Shed

Chapel Quay: Civilised activism

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen 
· May 16, 2019 

We met on the 11 th May at Chapel Quay to continue our work on the biodiversity river garden there.  We are making great progress with the space and it is wonderful to see it taking shape. The phacelia flowers we sowed have germinated and our coming up nicely. These are beautiful blue flowers which the bees love. We have created two arcs in the lower section of the garden for these flowers. We added some bee friendly wildflower seeds into that area too.

The grass was cut by Bev and Rob painted the gate using our sponsored paint from fusion home interiors. Beata joined us too and helped out. She loves visiting the garden with her daughter. The hard work was rewarded with some freshly ground coffee from Colm in O’Neills coffee shop. A great café in town which we are lucky to have. We moved the picnic bench to a new spot down by the river and had our coffee along with some croissants. Some great conversation and plans for an upcoming seedbomb event were discussed. A great morning and keep an eye on our page for any meetups at Chapel Quay. We try to be there most Saturday mornings between 9 and 11 am.

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Wildlife Garden Bee Friendly Arc

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen 
· February 18, 2019 

Our intrepid volunteers get to grips with the Wildlife Garden at Chapel Quay.  From a rubbish strewn wilderness it is slowly being converted into a wildlife observation area by the river for schools and picnic area for residents and visitors.

Men’s sheds meanwhile are renovating the benches and tables.

Plus phacelia for the bees will be planted in the arc shown.

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Men’s Sheds On Top of the World

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen 
· January 17, 2019 

A litter picking task force organised by Ian Osborne were at the Rock again to collect the litter left by local visitors.  It is a shame that litter keeps appearing at the Rock, one of Skibbereen’s top natural resources and walkways.  Ian has dedicated a lot of time to keeping things tidy, and today was joined by a number of members of Skibbereen’s own Men’s Shed.

Litter is unfortunately a growing problem in Ireland.  The Irish Times reports that the scale of the problem is severe and growing.  “Figures show that 54 per cent of Dublin City Council households had not signed up to any authorised waste collection service despite a legal obligation to do so. The council said the cost of disposing of illegally dumped waste  was €640,000”.

The Examiner writes that Kerry had some of the cleanest and tidiest town in the country, but that parts of Cork are listed as “clean to European norms”.  Could do better!  Tidy Towns also undertake regular litter picks and volunteers are always welcome.

More drastic measures are afoot.  Cork County Council has written to the Government seeking permission to up the ante in the battle against those who “are blighting the landscape”.

Naming and Shaming?

The Examiner continues with the news that Cllr John Paul O’Shea has “won widespread backing for a motion that the council ask the minister for housing, planning, community and local government to beef up the Litter Pollution Act 1997. He said this legislation should be amended to allow the council to increase the on-the-spot fine of €150 to €300 for leaving or throwing litter in a public place.  He also wants approval for local authorities to publicise, every three months, the names, addresses and penalties handed out to those fined and convicted of a littering offence in the courts: “It’s easily recognised that we’ve a huge problem with littering. People will risk the smaller fine and we need a proper deterrent.”

Mens Sheds Skibbeeen

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Herb Box No 2

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen 
· July 19, 2018 

So the flower and herb boxes are going really well for sustainable Skibbereen. Two are installed in Townsend St. Here are the making and finished pics showing the remarkabel samurai saw in action.

Herbs to be added will be culinary for use by the centre.

 

 

 

 

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Swift Boxes to be Built

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen 
· July 13, 2018 

Swifts will need new homes in Skibbereen soon so Men’s Sheds are investigating how to make some.

Here is some handy advice from Bristol.

“Swifts take quite readily to artificial nest boxes; however there are a few general tips worth taking into account before you start to install your own. Firstly it’s a great help to have swifts nesting nearby or at the very least swifts that fly high overhead. If you do then you are half way there. Unfortunately if you haven’t then it could be difficult to attract swifts, but not impossible. Secondly, If you know you have swifts nesting already around your house, try and install your new boxes as close to them as possible. It also helps if the entrance hole is a similar shape and angle as the natural hole, for example if your swifts enter via a downwards facing entrance hole install boxes with the same aspect. Likewise if your swifts fly straight in without landing momentarily, fit boxes with their entrances on the front without a landing strip. For more help on how to locate natural swift nest sites see Bristol Swift Survey 2016.

The nest box ideally should be at least 5 metres above the ground, although swifts have been known to nest as low as 1.5 metres. The nest box can be fitted to any aspect, however if fitted on the south side precaution should be taken to avoid the mid-day sun (maybe by painting it a light colour).Most importantly, take care when putting it up and don’t take any risks on a ladder – please read Swift Conservation website ‘Fitting nest box safety guidelines’ and Ladder Safety.

The flight path into the nest box should be free from nearby obstacles such as trees or wires. Finally a sound system located next to the nest box playing swift attraction calls really helps attract swifts. Play the calls as loud as you can without annoying your neighbours – read details of When to play Swift Calls CD/mp3 at bottom of page.

I have been making and adapting my swift box designs for the last 10 years. I found that my designs with a bottom entrance have the highest occupancy rate. All my boxes (except for the shoebox design) are made to fit under soffits which are less than 150mm deep. The shoebox design is for soffits over 200mm deep. My most successful design, the twin box is quite heavy and awkward to handle, so I would recommend two people install it. This is the main reason behind my recent single box designs in 2015 and 2016, which retain all the good points of my twin box design but are much lighter to handle.

In 2015 I included a couple of new designs which are easier to make and a lot cheaper, costing less than £10 per box. They are both made to fit under wooden soffits less than 150mm deep. The ‘Zeist’ box has a front entrance and has been around for many years, whilst my ‘single compartment box’ is just a smaller version of my twin box design with a bottom entrance and landing strip. My 2016 ‘shoebox’ and corner box designs are specifically for use under deep soffits, which are over 200mm and are currently being trialled.

All of my designs are fixed using top brackets on either side of the box. To help support them even more securely, a third bracket can be attached underneath the box and fastened to the outside wall. I would recommend this for the 2015 single box and twin box.

Internal Swift bricks
The key to the long term security of swifts in the UK is to encourage the building industry to incorporate swift bricks into the walls of new builds on a regular basis. It’s already started to happen on some building sites, but a lot more still needs to be done. The beauty of these boxes is once they are installed there’s no need for any future maintenance unlike external nest boxes. So if you’re thinking of building a new house or planning major building refurbishment then internal swifts boxes should be considered. There are lots of commercial swift bricks available to choose from which should suit every type of new building or extension, as seen on the BBC’s Countryfile on Sunday 5th March (44 minutes in).

Trial swift boxes for 2017 with black interiors
Swifts seem to prefer to nest in as dark a recess as possible, actively seeking out places which seem pitch black to us. So I have painted the interiors in 3 of my boxes black to trial in 2017. I’ve chosen my “smaller box” designs as historically they only have a 30% occupancy rate compared to my longer boxes which have an occupancy rate closer to 70%. Although these smaller boxes are regularly visited by prospecting swifts they are rarely used as nest sites. I’ve wondered if this is because they are too bright inside compared to my longer boxes. So in readiness for the 2017 season I have painted the interiors of 2 corner boxes and 1 Zeist box black, using a matt black emulsion. For comparison 3 similar boxes have been left unpainted.”

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Herb Ville Bed No 1!

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen 
· July 4, 2018 

The first herb ville bed has been made and set up.  Made from plain timber, the bed was designed and made by the Skibbereen Men’s Shed group.  Assembled on site the herbs, grown from seed at Russagh Mill Hostel or bought from Deelish Garden Centre, were selected and placed by Herb Ville expert Jacqui Kilbryde.

This box is one of two to be used by Co-Action groups for culinary use. It features lavendar, thyme, calendula, stawberrys and sweet peas.

The box itself is painted with Milk Paint.  See more articles for the recipe.

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Boxes for Birds

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen 
· June 2, 2018 

Tidy Towns, Men’s Sheds and St Patrick’s school combined forces to make, paint and put more bird boxes around the town and woods.  The boxes are free to any bird who want one, but a waiting list has meant that more are being built again this year.

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