Our District Conservation Officer and Manager of Ballycroy National Park Visitor Centre, Susan Callaghan is featured on Mooney Goes Wild on RTE Radio One. Sue talks to Derek Mooney and Richard Collins about the ecological consequences of light pollution, what you can expect to see in our Dark Sky Park and the upcoming Mayo Dark…

Dark skies are more than just dark, they inspire artists, writers, philosophers and musicians. Dark Sky island is the 8th studio album recorded by Irish singer, songwriter Enya and it was inspired by starry skies over the Isle of Sark. In 2011, the Isle of Sark, in the Channel Islands, became the first ever Dark…

The first ever Dark Sky Ambassador Course was held in Ballycroy at the end of January. As a pilot initiative, the outreach team from Blackrock Castle Observatory from Cork to conduct a Dark Sky Ambassador training programme for local trade and customer service representatives from Newport, Mulranny, Ballycroy, and further afield. “As we now have…

The International Dark-Sky Association has granted Gold-tier International Dark Sky Park status to Ballycroy National Park & Wild Nephin Wilderness – to be jointly recognized as Mayo Dark Sky Park. County Mayo, situated in western Ireland, is widely celebrated for its rugged and unspoiled landscape on the edge of Europe’s wild Atlantic coastline. A Gold-tier…