Steve Grant and five of his English golfing friends again used Shannonbridge as their base for a week golfing holiday and never saw a drop of rain for the seven days while they played golf at Mount Temple, Esker Hills, Birr, Ballinasloe, Tullamore and Glasson.

They hit on an Open Day at Birr and were surprised at the low green fees which were 12 Euro for the day. They had a good look at Oliver Hilliard’s “Irish Golfer’s Diary to Open Fixtures and said that next time they will make better use of this diary.

Brendan Mc Williams writes a daily column in the Irish Times called Weather Eye which has some connection to the weather. Today he tells about the Bats in Ashford Castle boiler house. Seems the man in charge of the boiler house studied the formation of the bats and their varying layout depending on the weather.Well worth reading.

Brendan and Eileen Killeen and their two boys Colin and Kevin visited Clonmacnois yesterday travelling up the river on the cruiser with Colin and myself. There was a good breeze blowing in our path and we got various views of a bog fire near Cloonshask which is now in its second day. On the way we saw the fishermen fishing on Long Island in a bay and well sheltered by the trees. Brendan Eileen and the kid sat out on deck for a while but found it a bit too cold. We saw the mouth of Cappaleitra backwater and the old canal loading point for the quarried stone opposite Devenish Island. Swallows, swans, the odd duck and a solitary Crane were the birds we saw. At Clonmacnois we had a coffee outdoors at Clonmacnois and two Blackbirds came out of the brush looking for food. They just collected the pieces of bread and scurried back into the brush and presumably a nest. The highlight for young Colin and Kevin at Clonmacnois was rolling down the hill and they were not happy until the other four took a roll as well.

The river level continues to drop and was 2.53 M on Friday and 2.5 Metres this morning as recorded by Brian on the Barge who has moved his moorings to The Cut.

Brian heard the Corncrake in Borannagh Callow on 12^th May down near The Cut. Bird Watch Ireland tell us that 14 birds were reported before Brian’s including one from Clonmacnois.Contact Bird Watch at 0509-51676.

Today is First Communion Day in Clonfinlough Church and some children from this area that attend Clonmacnois are included. No doubt Father Frank will have all their names listed on the weekend Parish Newsletter.