Project Description

The inaugural Wild Loop Head Nature Weekend took place in June 2022 featuring a variety of - mostly free - talks, guided walks and activities.

The following walks, talks and activities were offered:

Saturday 18. June

• A walk & talk to the Loop Head bird colonies with Cormac McGinley of Cormac’s Coast.

• Talk by Mary Kate Bolger of Dolphinwatch Carrigaholt: “The Shannon Dolphins” at Halla Eoin Kilbaha.

• Snorkelling lessons to discover the colourful underwater world of the Pollock Holes with Kilkee SubAqua Club.

• Pony trek along Loop Head’s hedgerows with Carmen’s Riding School.

• Nature Art at Sonas Studios - learning how to print with transfer dyes and local grasses.

Sunday 19. June

• Whale Watching on Loop Head with the IWDG and Purecamping’s Trea Heapes.

• Talk by entomologist Nick Larter: “Insects of Loop Head’s Sod Hedges” at Halla Eoin Kilbaha.

• Talk by Laura J. Foley of Wild Atlantic Hemp on the "Hemp4Soil Project" at Halla Eoin Kilbaha.

• Nature Art at Sonas Studios - learning how to print with transfer dyes and local grasses.

• Biodiversity Blitz at the Purecamping Woodlands.

The talks were generously sponsored by Wild Atlantic Hemp.

Project Justification & Objectives

The Loop Head Peninsula is in the lucky position to have largely intact and thriving ecosystems with a wide variety of exciting wildlife. The Wild Loop Head Nature Weekend was a pilot project to explore the possibility for a larger scale festival which would both educate on and promote Loop Head's natural history and so boost nature tourism on the peninsula.

Project Stakeholders

• Loop Head Tourism

• Dolphinwatch Carrigaholt

• Wild Atlantic Hemp

• Loop Head Community

• Kilballyowen Development

• Purecamping

• Carsten Krieger Photography