President gives his support to Fermoy initiative
President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, has given his support to the proposed National Thank You Day which is the brain child of Fermoy man, Graham Clifford.
The event, designed to lift the spirits of a lockdown wary nation, is set to take place on February 28.
In a letter to organiser, Graham Clifford (social entrepreneur and writer/ broadcaster), the President said: “I hope it will be a day on which many will reflect on those who have eased their journey through this worrying time, and will extend to them the small, but profound, act of expressing gratitude and appreciation.
“As we begin, I hope, to put these difficult days behind us it is such acts of solidarity that will ensure that together we can navigate our way safely towards a shared and brighter future.”
Graham Clifford said that on Sunday, February 28 organisers of the ‘National Thank You Day’ want to create a moment of reflection where we stop and thank those who have helped us personally over the last very difficult year – friends, a family member or a stranger.
“It could be a thank you to the postman who delivers week in, week out, the local radio presenter who lifts your spirits each day.
“It could be the neighbour whose resilience and care has helped you through, the teacher who goes over and above, the boyfriend who makes you smile no matter how grim the world seems, the shop assistant who asks you ‘how you are?’, the binmen who show up every Monday morning no matter what or the author, whose book created another world when you needed it over the last year,” he said.
“Whomever it is, we want you to say thank you to them by posting a card or letter. To reflect on how those small actions have had massive positive impacts. Perhaps virtually you can send an e-mail, text message or WhatsApp. If you can, perhaps design a TikTok, video or picture to send”.
The organisers asked that anyone sending a thank you online to use the hashtag #Thanksamillion
“On the anniversary of Covid-19 being detected in Ireland, let’s decide to look forward in hope and resilience rather than back in despair - while remembering those we’ve lost to the virus”.
On Monday the Glucksman Gallery at University College Cork published creative ideas online through video to help people design thank you cards or little mementos.
Also, organisers are calling on people to post their own thank you pictures online using the hashtag #Thanksamillion to the National Thank You Day twitter handle @Thanksamillion5 or on Facebook: Ireland’s National Thank You Day
And the day will be a multilingual event with #thanksamillion translated into other languages to include Ireland’s migrant community.
The Fermoy International Choir will also release their version of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ with a new special video for the day.
Amongst those supporting the initiative is television presenter Angela Scanlon who has a podcast called ‘Thanks a million’.
“Acknowledging that absolutely no one can make it through these difficult times without the help and kindness of others. Together we can weather any storm,” Graham added.
A live stream of two local barn owls is proving popular, as Rathcormac Game and Wildlife Club have begun sharing footage each evening via social media.
The barn owl nest cameras were set up in the hopes of following the elusive owls as they nest, court, hatch, feed and rear their young, according to John Howard of Rathcormac Game and Wildlife Club.
The first glimpse of the two adult owls was seen live on Sunday, February 21 as cameras captured the birds nesting in an owl box, set up on private lands outside the Corrin Nature Reserve.
“It’s something we had in our heads to do with quite a while.
It’s going to be fierce interesting as the season goes on,” John told The
Avondhu.
According to John, the courting season for the barn owls has already begun, in which the birds start pairing up and building their nests.
Mid to late April should see the owls begin laying and later hatching and rearing their young, which John notes will be ongoing until June or July.
“We’re very excited about it. We hope to stream for longer and if we can do longer streams, we will. We’ll mainly be streaming from the dark as this is when they’re active, so our times may change as the days get longer,” John added.
According to birdwatchireland.ie, barn owls are a scarce resident in this country, mainly seen in central and southern Ireland and are red-listed due to a significant decline in breeding population, with the birds no longer breeding in large patches of northern, western and eastern Ireland as they once did.
While the European population is currently evaluated as ‘Declining’, John notes that the Cork population of the barn owl is doing ‘quite well, especially around Cork’.
“With people reducing and cutting out the use of rat and mouse poison, that has definitely helped. I’ve cut out the use of poison on my farm, and it’s the same on the Corrin Nature Reserve,” John said.
SLOW STARTERS
Although the two birds featured on the Rathcormac Game and Wildlife Club livestream are not located on the reserve, John notes that they are the same owls that can be spotted hunting at the reserve.
“The nest box is not at the reserve, it’s on privately owned lands in Rathcormac. We are planning on putting up a box at the reserve but it takes a lot of time,” he added.
Between selecting a suitable location, building and installing a nest box, according to John, it still may take a number of years before a barn owl may choose to inhabit it.
It took eight years before the pair that are currently being livestreamed decided to inhabit their nest box, John noted.
For now, however, the public is invited to follow along the journey of two local Rathcormac owls on their journey to parenthood via nightly live-streams from 8pm-9pm, available on the club’s Facebook page.
Pointing to the recent success of Kerry farmer Seán Ó Laoghaire with his viral goat videos, John spoke about the barn owl live-streams stating: “I’m hoping it will go viral.”