NEW RAILWAY STATION AT PELLETSTOWN -WHERE IS THAT?
I am willing to bet that you never heard of Pelletstown but the area has attracted much attention as it now has a new train station which I will find useful going forward especially as there is a train every 30 minutes in either direction. At peak times the frequency is higher.
During my visit I photographed both sides of the track and both sides of the Royal canal as well a a public park which I had been unaware of until today. The public park is named Ashington Park and it is described as a green space by Dublin City Council.
Pelletstown railway station is a railway station on the Western Commuter line in the Cabra area of Dublin, Ireland, beside the Royal Canal.
The station was opened on 26 September 2021 by Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, becoming the first new station to open on the Iarnród Éireann network since Oranmore railway station opened in 2013.
Planning permission was originally granted in 2014, with modified permission approved in 2018. In 2018, Iarnród Éireann stated that construction would begin in 2019, but the groundbreaking did not take place until February 2020.
The station is adjacent to the 8th Lock residential quarter development, owned by German investor Union Investment.
COOLMINE WOODS – I WAS UNAWARE OF THIS PUBLIC FACILITY UNTIL THIS WEEK
At the centre of Coolmine is Coolmine woods. Its main path is often used as a shortcut for people heading towards the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre or by schoolchildren attending Coolmine Community School. Its flat and open grass make it popular for joggers and dog-walkers while during the summer, local football teams train on the grass.
THE RIVER SLANG – THE DUNDRUM SLANG OR THE DUNDRUM RIVER
Please correct me if I am wrong whey I say that the stream flowing through the green space in my photographs is the River Slang
The River Slang , also known as the Dundrum Slang or the Dundrum River, a tributary of the River Dodder, is a stream which rises on Three Rock Mountain, County Dublin. It is in the jurisdiction of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.
This is new to me. I got off the tram at Windy Arbour and walked along St Columbanus Road which I never visited before and then I came across what could be described as a linear park on the banks of a small stream and I could not decide if I was in Dundrum. Clonskeagh, Milltown or Dundrum. Why Clonskeagh? Because Our Lady’s National School had a sign showing its address as Clonskeagh.
I asked two people who I met on my journey and one said Dundrum and the other said Milltown [the property foe sale advertisements appear to agree]. Later a friend told me that legally it is in Rathmines Great which came as a surprise but according to my friend Rathmines Great is in the Electoral Division of Dundrum, in Civil Parish of Taney, in the Barony of Rathdown, in the County of Dublin.
From Three Rock Woods on the northern slopes of Three Rock Mountain, the Slang flows down through Ticknock, passing Ballinteer north to Dundrum, where it (sometimes known this far as “Ticknock Stream”) receives the Wyckham Stream, and then loops east, north, and west, coming to a mill pond north of the Dundrum Town Centre retail complex. The Slang then runs north via Windy Arbour and subsequently joins the River Dodder at Milltown, near the Nine Arches viaduct, now used by the Luas.
The small Wyckham Stream, joining from the west, is a natural tributary, visible on early maps, but was later connected to the Little Dargle River, further west, to take some of the flow of that river into the Slang, to increase the supply for powering of mills.
Today there is a walk made by the County Council from south Dundrum to Marlay Park, along part of the Slang, the Wyckham Stream, and part of the Little Dargle.
TOLKA VALLEY PARK – I USED A VOIGHTLANDER 40mm LENS
Today I walked to Broombridge along the Royal Canal [about 7km] and then returned to Bolton street via Tolka Valley Park and Griffith Avenue. I do not know what the total distance was but I was exhausted by the time I returned home.
To begin with the Voigtlander 40mm lens worked perfectly but when it suddenly got colder I began to notice that the edges of the images captured by my camera were becoming blurred at the edges and as time passed the problem got much worse. After examining my equipment in detail I discovered that there was condensation inside the lens [why I don’t know]. I do not know how to prevent this happening in future especially as my apartment is very dry, maybe too dry.
Tolka Valley Park is an important regional park of about about 50 hectares. The river valley is rich in plant and animal life, a haven for biodiversity within the city, and local history. The Park is situated over a former city landfill, creating challenges to its management and design.
One of the interesting projects here is the ‘integrated constructed wetlands’ which were created in 1999 as a novel way of treating the incoming waters of the Finglaswood Stream. This Stream was polluted by misconnected domestic drains. This project was jointly initiated by Dublin City Council Parks and Landscape Services Division, Drainage division and National Parks and Wildlife Service. Wastewater from dishwashers, showers, washing machines, kitchen waste, oils, car washings together with surface water runoff from roads and houses was flowing to an artificial pond in the Park, by the now culverted Finglaswood Stream, before ultimately flowing into the nearby Tolka.
The pollution from these surface water sewers resulted in algae and scum, foul odours and an unpleasant appearance to the pond. Phosphates and Ammonia from household detergents were also contributing to ‘eutrophication’, a term used to describe the excess application of nutrients, in the Tolka river. Oxygen was low in the river and there was ‘weedy’ plant and algal growth that blocked light and choked streams – thereby worsening the environment for fish, including Salmon (Salmo salar) and Trout (Salmo trutta).
The construction of the wetland has been a success on many fronts: trapping pollution, reducing bad odours, making the pond more pleasant, and creation of new wetland habitat for local biodiversity.
The Council had a survey conducted of the wildlife in the wetlands in 2008. Perhaps the most exciting discovery of this survey was the presence of the Common Frog Rana temporaria. The frog is one of only three amphibian species in Ireland. While it is one of Ireland’s most familiar animals, its fortunes have declined in recent times. It is listed as ‘Internationally Important’ in the Red Data Book (Whilde, 1993) and more recently was determined to have a poor conservation status due to a decrease in both its range and population (NPWS, 2008). This is primarily due to the loss of habitat as a result of the widespread drainage of wetlands in recent times. It is protected under Annex V of the EU’s Habitats Directive.
The wetlands at Tolka Valley Park can be seen to be making a valuable contribution to the conservation status of this important species in Europe.
BOTANIC GARDENS – THIS TIME I USED A SONY 70-200mm F2.8 GM LENS
As well as being a tourist destination and an amenity for nearby residents, the gardens – offering free entry – serve as a centre for horticultural research and training, including the breeding of many prized orchids.
The soil at Glasnevin is strongly alkaline (in horticultural terms) and this restricts the cultivation of calcifuge plants such as rhododendrons to specially prepared areas. Nonetheless, the gardens display a range of outdoor “habitats” such as a rockery, herbaceous border, rose garden, bog garden and arboretum. A vegetable garden has also been established.
The National Herbarium is also housed at the National Botanic Gardens. The museum collection contains some 20,000 samples of plant products, including fruits, seeds, wood, fibres, plant extracts and artefacts, collected over the garden’s two-hundred-year history. The gardens contain noted and historically important collections of orchids. The newly restored Palm House houses many tropical and subtropical plants. In 2002, a new multistorey complex was built; it includes a cafe and a large lecture theatre. The gardens are also responsible for the arboretum at Kilmacurragh, County Wicklow, a centre noted for its conifers and calcifuges. This is located some 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of Dublin.
A gateway into Glasnevin Cemetery adjacent to the gardens was reopened in recent years closed at present because of Covid-19 restrictions].
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