LIVING UNDERWATER
The Garavogue provides the ideal home for many fish, including our well-beloved Atlantic salmon, but this iconic species is not the only aquatic inhabitant enjoying our river.
The Garavogue waters host many other special and protected species, including the mysterious European eel, three species of lamprey, and the white-clawed crayfish, who likes to hide under stones
They love including midges and mosquitos in their diet, so you can think of bats as a helpful and natural pest control system. Insects are often abundant near water courses like the Garavogue, so Doorly Park is a premium foraging spot for these small enigmatic mammals.
Bats like to roost in crevices they find in trees and old buildings, and can fit through gaps less than 2 cm wide.
Bat boxes can be built to provide them with more roosting options. Keep an eye out and you’ll notice some of the bat boxes that have been erected for the local bats along the park.
The areas along the Garavogue have been known to host six of the nine resident bat species in Ireland including the soprano pipistrelle, which is the smallest bat in Ireland, and the Leisler’s bat, the largest.
A crayfish in the Garavogue River
DID YOU KNOW?
The mysterious European eel is known for its fascinating life cycle, which starts in the Sargasso Sea, where all eels are believed to hatch from their eggs.
As larvae, they embark on a long migration journey until they reach European rivers. Their path stretches for over 5000 km and can take up to two years!
After reaching adulthood in rivers like the Garavogue, they return to the place where it all began to restart the cycle in the Sargasso Sea.