Mayo celebrates the heavens above at Wild Nephin National Park

THE spring equinox is bringing us brighter evenings, International Sky Week is upon us, and the Mayo Dark Sky Park at Wild Nephin National Park are holding its annual series of free events taking place this week.

Today, Wednesday, April 3, people are invited to attend ‘Astronomy for Beginners / Réalteolaíocht do Thosaitheoirí’. This show, delivered in a mix of Irish and English, will demonstrate how to find famous objects in the sky.

Tomorrow night, Thursday, Hotel Newport will host ‘The Amazing Swift – Reversing the Decline’ a talk by Lynda Huxley of Swift Conservation Mayo at 8pm. The Swift population in Ireland has seen a dramatic decline in last 30 years. However, voluntary group Swift Conservation Mayo has been establishing nest box projects throughout the county for 12 years, and we are now seeing an increase in our breeding population.

On Saturday, April 6, Ronan Newman will present a talk, ‘Visual Astronomy Under Dark Skies’, at the Ballycroy Visitor Centre – Wild Nephin National Park at 8pm.

Newman is the founder of Irish Astronomy Week and a passionate astronomer. Based in Co Mayo he is a regular observer of the night skies and brings buckets of knowledge and enthusiasm to share with all budding astronomers, stargazers and moon watchers.

Later in the month sees the return of the Women in Dark Skies online series returns, when Dr Bridgette Farnworth from New Zealand will give a talk by Zoom at 7pm (Irish time) on Wednesday, April 24. Dr Farnworth will discuss her research with a broad range of New Zealand native species, which includes the foraging behaviour of rodents, how wild rats respond to changes in light at night, and how nocturnal lighting affects invertebrate behaviour.

• For more, see www.mayodarkskypark.ie.