The Royal Canal is such an important part of life in north Dublin City for both people and nature.
Phibsboro Village Tidy Towns was supported by Community Foundation Ireland to commission a Biodiversity Action Plan. The 2021 report by Dr Mary Tubridy highlighted the importance of the Royal Canal and reflected the threat to local biodiversity from:
“Development of canal and environs for amenity without adequate regard for its biodiversity importance.”
Dublin City Council declared a biodiversity crisis in 2019. The council’s comprehensively researched Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) 2021-2025 outlines one of the main threats as ‘Habitat Loss – the removal of an area of habitat, for example, a hedgerow or an area of woodland. Once lost, the assemblage of species living in that habitat are displaced and even if the habitat is replaced, say with planting a new tree or hedgerow, it can take years to regain its original value. As well as direct removal, habitat loss can occur through insensitive management of areas. Land use change and urbanisation are key factors in habitat loss in Dublin.’
In 2022, an aquatic ecology survey was conducted by freshwater expert Dr Ross Macklin commissioned by Shandon Residents Association supported by the Local Authority Waters Programme. Dr Macklin highlighted that a red-listed endangered freshwater snail Myxas glutinosa (Glutinous Snail) is found at Lock 6 as well as a rare water plant, Tollypella glomerata (Clustered Stonewort).
A 2022-2023 ecology survey was conducted by entomologist Nessa Darcy on behalf of Phibsboro Village Tidy Towns. She catalogued insect populations living along and in the Royal Canal including west of Crossguns Bridge and discovered a red-listed beetle in the canal opposite the Old Bakery site — Haliplus lineolatus, the Hydravore beetle, is red listed as Near Threatened in Ireland.
Royal canal biodiversity video
To start your own journey of discovery of the nature along the royal canal, please download and use this biodiversity map, put together by the Phibsboro tidy towns biodiversity group:
