The Tempo River is a small river in

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The river rises near Dooneen Forest, flows through the town of

Tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

, finally joining with the

Colebrooke River The Colebrooke River is a river in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Its source is in the Sliabh Beagh mountains where it is known as the ''Many Burns''. The river flows in a south-westerly direction, through Maguiresbridge, before merging w ...

before it enters

Upper Lough Erne Lough Erne ( , ) is the name of two connected lakes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is the second-biggest lake system in Northern Ireland and Ulster, and the fourth biggest in Ireland. The lakes are widened sections of the River Erne, ...

. The Tempo River locale has been designated as an Area of Special Scientific Interest in Northern Ireland. The underlying geology of the river is old red sandstone, carboniferous limestone and basal clastic bedrock with extensive sand and gravel deposits throughout its length. The river is lowland riffle and run dominated with occasional deeper sections of glide. The Tempo is one of the few rivers in Northern Ireland which still retains a substantial population of the freshwater pearl mussel. This species was once very common, covering large areas of riverbed in many of the river systems of Northern Ireland. In recent decades it has undergone a dramatic decline and has totally disappeared from all but a small number of rivers. The decline has been largely due to historical pearl fishing and more recently

river engineering River engineering is a discipline of civil engineering which studies human intervention in the course, characteristics, or flow of a river with the intention of producing some defined benefit. People have intervened in the natural course and b ...

works and poor water quality. Remnant populations such as that occurring at the Tempo River are of considerable conservation importance as they are generally genetically and morphologically distinct and may be useful in any future conservation or reintroduction programme. The Freshwater Pearl Mussel population in Tempo River was assessed as 'stable' in a 2018 study by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Animals found in the river include

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

s, white-clawed crayfish, kingfishers,

Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are ...

, and

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

References

{{coord, 54.28102, -7.48601, format=dms, display=title, region:GB-NIR_type:river Rivers of County Fermanagh

See also

References