April 24 Clondalkin Ireland
We have a great many birds in our small back garden right through
the year. To a large extent they are the same birds all the time. The
sparrow is of course the most numerous, and they live all the year round
in the roof of the house. They number about 20 at the best of times and
will feed from the hanging peanut feeder or from the ground. Most of the
other birds seem to appear in pairs or singly.
Wrens, Robins,
Thrushes, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinches, Magpies, Pigeons, Collared
Doves, Crows and of course the Blackbirds all co-exist without any
apparent trouble. I guess they know how to gauge and respect each other's
sense of space.
We seem to have two pairs of Blackbirds. One of the
males has a few very distinctive musical phrases in his song which makes
him immediately identifiable. Our Carport which is only half roofed is now
the site of the nest which the Female of this pair has built on one of the
shelves. Last week it had one egg in it. Now it has four and she spends
most of the day sitting on these eggs.
Across the way on the other
side of the carport, about 8 feet away, a robin has built a nest on
another shelf and she is also sitting. I have not been able to determine
yet the egg situation with the robin as I have been unable to see both
birds off the nests at the same time. However I hope to remedy this
soon.
Top
Calender
April 26
A Beautiful
Goldfinch gave us a visit today. He didn't stay very long but he is the
first one I have seen for a long long time, so it's nice to know that
there are still some left around. I will keep a lookout for this fellow
again as he/she may be nesting nearby.
The blackbird is now
spending more time on the nest. She doesn't leave it as often as she used
to do. I expect that when the eggs hatch out she will be in and out very
often bringing food to the chicks.
I see less and less of the
robin also but I know that she is still there as she can be seen going in
or out occasionly.
Top
Calender
April 27
Today is a special
day. The swallows returned to the Hazelhatch today. They are swooping up
and down the canal feeding on the flys as they go. I saw one sitting on a
wire for quite a long time this-evening so he must have been tired after
his journey. They come all the way from Africa back to the same place they
nested last year or back to where they were born. And we think we're
smart.
While I'm on about the Hazeler, two Jackdaws nested in a
disused chimney pot on top of the house across the road last year. I've
just noticed that they are at it again in the same chimney pot this year.
Good luck to them.
Top
Calender
April 28 I've just found
out something about the robin's nest in the garage. The female bird is not
going and coming at all. It's the male bird that is doing all the coming
and going, bringing food to the female. So theirs is very much a joint
effort. The blackbird on the other hand seems to be left to her own
devices while her partner shows off his singing abilities from the
treetops.
We go down to Lough Ennel sometimes to visit the swans. You can
go right to the lake shore. If you stand there with a piece of bread in
your hand you will be quickly surrounded by 30 or 40 swans all trying to
take the bread from your hand. They have strong beaks but no teeth to talk
of, so they don't hurt at all. They remind me of the Children of Lir
If
you go to read the Children of Lir story, just click the Close X Button at the top right of it's window to return to here.
As I
type I can hear a male Chaffinch chirping outside. It's the first time
I've heard him this year. They seem to be independant sort of birds. They
flit around in pairs among the branches of the trees, not mixing with the
sparrows at all. They feed from the ground or from the hanging feeder. The
male does all the singing and is more colourful than the female.
Top Calender
May 02 Well, May Day has
come and gone. It didn't seem to bother the birds.
So far I've
little to report on my two shelf nesters. Both the blackbird and the robin
are still sitting, with some to-ing and fro-ing for food, diversion and
fresh air. They don't seem to be upset by us going into the garage but we
do go easy. It makes a difference having these birds instead of the
magpie I had a couple of years ago. He was a sorry sight. He obviously had
some difference of opinion with some of his colleagues, so they set about
him in a big way. Any time they spotted him they gave chase and as good as
nearly killed him. Eventually he took refuge in my garage. Remember the
half roof.
The magpie I think is a very clever bird. He is not as
bird-brained as he is bird. My fellow, once he discovered a safe haven
made himself at home on one of the shelves. He could have been there for
some time before I noticed him. But one day he blinked and that was what
brought him to my attention. You know the way you spot things like that
out of the corner of your eye. Like when you spot a spider traipsing
across the floor while you are watching television. He used to go out for
food but almost always wound up being chased again by his enemies. He used
to come racing for the garage with the other two in hot pursuit. He would
come in at just the right height and when level with the break in the roof
he would suddenly drop by a few inches so that he continued his flight
under the roof while the other two continued over it. At this point I am
certain that he would breath a sigh of relief and think what dummies the
other guys were.
Top Calender
May 04 Well, I've been
holding my breath for the last few days. On Thursday May 3 I checked the
Blackbirds nest. Wham!! 4 chicks. But I thought they were all dead. Well
no, they're not all dead. They're all alive, but they spend most of their
time sleeping. I get to look at them with a mirror when the blackbird goes
out for more food. It seems as if they don't need very much food at the
moment, but as they get bigger they will eat more and keep the blackbird
much busier. The bird is very cautious in her approach to the nest. She
never flies in to it. When she has collected enough food by way of spiders
and worms, she makes her way to the driveway in front of the house and
lands on the ground. After a short while she goes in under the garage door
where there is a little opening. She then runs all the way across the
garage floor and hops up on the wheel of my bicycle. She stays there for a
while checking things out. She then hops a little higher to the back of a
high chair. This chair, oddly enough is called a perch. After some time on
the chair she makes the final hop to the shelf and hops over to the nest
where dispensing into open beaks takes place. This routine is the same
every time.
The robin is still there on the other shelf. For a
while I thought she had deserted. But no. I still haven't been able to see
into it's nest. The last time I tried to look in I nearly got an eye full
of robin, so I'm more cautious about it now. I don't want to frighten the
birds off the nest, now that they've got this far.
Top
Calender
May 6 We will get our
free-range eggs today. Hens eggs of course. I think they are Rhode Island
Reds. Not Commmi reds. Just Reds. Little red hens. God Ray, I think I'm
loosing it.!!!
Top
Calender
May 8
We got our free-range
eggs on Sunday. The hens are Rhode Island Reds. I verified that. They
spend all day out in the fields eating spiders and worms and seeds and
anything else they can find. But they get some sort of supplementary feed
as well. Then they are brought in at night and presumably lay a few eggs
before they go out again in the morning. That one on the left looks
vaguely familiar. No, it couldn't be.
I bartered the eggs for some
lovely hydroponic tomatoes. The plants are grown in water, with no soil at
all being involved. All the required food is added to the water in a
controlled way. They really come out good with a lovely tender skin and a
good flavour. Thanks to Newcastle Ray
The blackbird is going
in and out more often now as the pangs of hunger have to be satisfied on a
more regular basis. There's definitely 4 chicks there and all of them seem
to be OK. I must say it's very difficult to tell by looking at them. They
look so miserable. But the fact that they are all eating and are all still
alive must mean they are OK. I wonder will they all make the grade. The
question is relevent. Yesterday (Monday) I found a chick from unknown
quarters on the ground outside the front of the house. I spent quite some
time looking for the nest he might have come from. But alas agus faraor I
could find no sign of one, so I guess he had to go by way of the cold and
starvation. Nature, with all it's benevolence has a very hard side
too.
I see I have had two new visitors to my guest book. Hello
Clodagh. Hello Francine. So now I have had 4 visitors. One
of them was me myself and I. Another was Clondalkin Ray. And then
we have Clodagh and Francine. The biggest problem with web sights is to
get people to them. You can have the best sight in the world but if people
dont know it's there you might as well not have it at all. That's why
sites are continually advertised on television. So having a site doesn't
mean that your advertising bill will go down. It might well go up!!!
However, once you have got people to your site via your advertising, you
can tell them an awful lot more about your products and services than you
ever could in your ad. And again once you have got them there you can do
business with them there and then.
Top Calender
May 10 Well Here's some
news for you. That old male blackbird has redeemed himself. He has
obviousley been shown where the nest is and is now actively involved in
the feeding program. I suspect that all along he had no idea where the
nest was. And maybe that was how the female wanted it to be. But now that
she needs help he has been drafted in.
The two robins are working
feverishly bringing food to their nest which I still haven't seen into. So
I can tell you nothing about the chicks there. But the blackbird chicks
seem to be gaining strength now and are stretching well up for their
food.
Top Calender
May 11 I'm sitting in the Hazeler looking out at quite a drab sky though it's not cold. I am
watching the jackdaws coming and going to their chimney nest. Those
jackdaw chicks must be real hungry because the time between mouthfulls is
anything between 30 and 40 minutes. They must be starving. In the meantime
the swallows are ducking and diving and swooping all over the place up and
down the canal and the adjacent fields. It's bright now until almost 10
o'clock and I think that's why those birds come here to breed. It gives
them a longer feeding time than if they were further south and presumably
the food they want is here as well. A swan flew past the Hazeler the other
day quite low. He was moving to a new spot on the canal closer to
Clondalkin. Probably around the 12th Lock.
Top Calender
May 15 Location,
location, location. It's just as important for birds as it is for people.
A nest on a shelf in a garage full of junk seemed like a great idea at the
time I'm sure. It's in out of the wind and rain, and there are no cats
skulking around and no magpies looking to raid the nest. But what's this.
All of a sudden these little fellows think there big enough to stand up
and have a look around. So when I went out one day for something there's
this one standing on the edge of the nest surveying his surroundings for
the first time. I quietly withdraw. He is unperturbed. But now I begin to
see some problems on the horizon. And sure enough they come to
pass.
Top Calender
May 18 I guess these
birds are at the young teenager stage now so that's why they think they
know it all after one or two looks around. Out they hop and get spread out
all over the garage falling into boxes and behind coal bunkers and into
the carrier on the back of the bicycle. Meanwhile the blackbird parents
come back with food and find an empty nest. They go berserk and start
flying in and out and all around about looking for these little, you know
I'm looking for the right word here and it has come to me, but I'd better
not use it lest I offend my readers. Things got so bad that the parents
stopped coming in with food for a day or two and I really got worried.
Then when I stepped into the garage one day one of the little fellows made
an abortive attempt to fly through the glass window of the back door. He
finished up on his back on the floor with a serious pain in his head and
both legs gesticulating skywards. I picked him up and put him back into
the nest where he stayed for quite some time. The Parent birds have
concluded that looking for the guys up and down the estate is a total
waste of time and have reverted to coming to the garage. Much noise making
seems to have coaxed out the little fellows to where they can be seen.
Unfortunately they are all in different places and feeding has now become
a great problem. However they are working away at it, but at any time I
can only account for two of our heros. I wonder where the others are. Deep
thoughts..
Top Calender
May 19 Even deeper
thoughts...I can now account for only one of the young blackbirds. The
parent birds are still coming in to feed him but he makes it as difficult
as possible for them. He keeps on moving around the garage and is in a
different place every time they come in. They make chuckling sounds in
their throat to announce themselves and I presume that this causes him to
reveal himself. He has started to chirp as well now.
Top Calender
May 20 Well today I can
account for none of the blackbirds. I can only assume (because I don't
want to assume anything else) that they are all out in the trees and
bushes in either the front or back garden. This seems reasonable because
the parent birds are still going around collecting as much food as they
can carry. Nevertheless, I think this last few days have been the most
dangerous time for the blakckbirds.
The robins on the other hand
seem to have avoided some of the dangers associated with hopping around on
a garage floor full of junk. I have noticed that they fly directly away
from the nest and skip the garage floor bit.
Top Calender
May 21 The garage seems
now to be well and truly empty. All the birds have left....
Top Calender
May 25
Look at the two fellows on
the left. Well they're probably not two fellows, They're probably a fellow
and a girl. Crows are real family birds. They are very gregarious flying
around in large flocks during the day and yet maintaining a special pair
relationship. They live in rookeries. What's a rookerie Dad. It's a group
of trees in which, in their wisdom, crows decide it would be a good place
to build a few nests and set up home. So you will seldom see one crow's
nest on it's own. Magpies on the other hand tend to nest further apart
from each other even though they are members of the crow family. Crows
seem to be intelligent birds doing things with a sense of purpose. They
have a certain arrogance as well. I'm sure you have noticed the way they
give a little hop out of the way on the roadside as you drive towards
them. They always leave it 'till the last minute and then move only just
enough to prevent being run over.
There's a pied crow on
the left. He looks like a Magpie doesn't he. I love to see crows going
home in the evening. They're like a load of fellows going home after a
football match all heading in different directions and yet all going in
the same direction. They look totally disorganised. It's as though they
are changing company all the time as they fly. "I'm going over to talk to
that fellow", " That's all right Jack, I'm going over to talk to your one
over there". "That's OK, Say hello to your man over there for me while
your at it". They're criss-crossing all the time as they fly. And then you
have the straglers. The lone bird who stayed in the field too long and
barely makes it home before dark.
Occasionally you will get a pair
of crows nesting away from the conventional rookery. It may be another
case of "It seemed like a good idea at the time". I learned the other day
that a pair of crows built a nest under an over-hanging ledge of a roof of
a warehouse. This guy had reason to go onto the roof to do some work and
unwittingly got too close to the nest. Before he knew it one of the crows
set about him giving him a few smart taps on the back of the head with his
chisel of a beak. This was enough to land him in hospital for the rest of
the day and now he appears complete with head bandage and a red face
trying to explain how he was set upon by a crow. I am indebted to
Clondalkin Ray who was the source of this information.
Top Calender
May 26 I meant to say it
before but I only ever saw one baby robin leaving the garage. I decided to
have a look into the nest today and lo and behold there are three eggs in
it. So now I am completely confused. Are these three eggs that didn't
hatch, or are they three new eggs. I must keep a closer watch on trafic in
and out of the garage again to see if a robin goes in or out. But I do
know that the robins are feeding a young one. They are collecting food in
the back garden all the time. But the young one must have taken up
residence in the garden next door because that's where they are taking the
food.
Top Calender
May 29 A small diversion
now for a contribution from one of my readers regarding crows and a
particular dog who thinks that a particular man who shall be nameless is
an even bigger dog than he.
On the intelligence of crows
I
can vouch for this trait. I like to observe the antics of the huge
gray-breasted crows. Im sure there is an official name for them; crows that
frequent my garden; home to a simple but happy white terrier.
The
westie gets fed twice most days; morning and evening; the crows know
this. I know because the crows like to observe the antics of the man and
the dog that frequent the same garden. It works like this;
At
feeding time, even before I go out with the food bowl, there's often one
or two, but rarely more than two of these crows perched on the electric
wires, which run the length of the garden.
It's quite obvious that
they are watching and waiting. They seem impatient, not staying in one
spot fore more than 30 seconds to a minute. They move from wire to pole to
rooftop etc. in random succession. It almost seems like they are thinking,
get on with it; we all know what comes next, and we are
hungry.
Then, when the food is out, they start their work. One will
swoop down to the grass and land a safe distance from the eating dog. If
the dog ignores him, he will hop a foot or so closer until the dog is
enticed into giving chase. Then the other will take advantage of the
confusion down below, and swoop in for the kill; a dog-nut or two, and
loft away while the dog is at the other end of the garden wondering 'how
come I can never catch a crow' they're just too clever to get caught by
a simple white terrier
The terrier is of course a good natured
soul, and when he's had his fill, he either retires to one of his many
chill-out spots, or merrily sniffs his way around the garden, and lazily
ignores the crows as they cautiously steal the nuts from his food bowl. He
sometimes even relaxes and watches them with a casual
interest.
It is therefore somewhat ironic that the only creature
who genuinely worries this terrier is a man who shares a common interest
with him; That is, they are both watchers of birds. But that's an other
story. He thinks I'm a bigger dog than he is!!!
Top Calender
June 3 Well, the news on
the blackbird front is this. It looks as though only one blackbird chick
survived unless something happens to suggest otherwise in the next day or
two. The one definite survivor has announced himself by appearing openly
in the back garden. Mind you, I knew he was there somewhere because the
parents have been collectin anything they can get their beaks on right
through until now, and still are. He appeared yesterday looking very
healthy indeed. He is a good shade of brown with a suggestion of speckling
on the front, but I quess that in time he will turn jet black if a male
but not so black if a female, Forgive me for refering to him as "he" all
the time when I don't even know what he is yet. I would hate to be
referring to him as an "it". So "he" it is..I will be looking out to see
if any more of his kin show themselves in the next few days. I hope at
least one more shows up.
Now, regarding the robin. One young robin
definitely left the nest and can now be seen feeding in the back garden.
Some times he feeds himself from the ground mixing with the sparrow, and
if you can't pick him out just watch until something happens to cause the
sparrows to up and away, which invariably it does, the young robin will be
the only one to stay where he is. I notice too that sometimes he stands
and does a lot of flurrying with his wings and making little squeaks in
the presence of a parent robin as though waiting to be fed. If the parent
flys into a tree the young one ups and flys after him to the same branch.
But what is going on in the garage. Do you remember I found that there
were three eggs left in the nest. Well there is a robin still going in and
presumably sitting on them. I'm really puzzled by this. It would seem to
suggest that the pair have now split to take care of the two parts of the
family, the as yet unborn part on the one hand and the fellow being fed in
the garden on the other.
A lovely pair of chaffinches have been
nesting somewhere nearby but I don't know where. They are also collecting
lots of food from the ground and so are feeding young one. In fact, I
think i might have seen a young one. He had all the feather patterns of a
male bird except for the lovely red colouring which the adult male has.
But he was not at all as plain as the female chaffinch.
From the
comfort of the Hazeler over the last few days I have been watching a willy
wagtail. He seems to have a nest in a hole in the wall opposite the front
window. He collects all his food in the carpark and then flys up onto a
telephone wire and surveys the place for a while. He seems to spot food
from there and every now and then drops suddenly to the ground, picks up a
few bits and straight up again to the wire. Eventually he flys in a
twisting fashion to the nest as though to mislead, rather than going in a
straight line. He did this for as long as I was there, which was probably
too long. Say no more. The pint was good and the craic was mighty. Oh,
while I'm at it, The jackdaw is still feeding the family in the chimney
pot. I spotted him going in a few times yesterday. About every 15
minutes.
Now. We have a poor little magpie in the back garden. He
is young, skinny and skrawney, very unsure of himself and a bit nervous as
magpies are anyway. I suspect that he fell from his nest at an
inappropriate time and was refused re-entry. Didn't have a pass-out I
suppose. So now he is feeding himself. When I saw him first about a week
ago he would pick up a piece of food and then put his head in the air to
get the food to fall into his mouth. He has obviously got enough this way
to keep him going. Every now and then adult magpies come and assault him
badly and he has to mak a run for it. Does that ring any bells. Do you
remember my magpie of a couple of years ago in the garage. I'm beginning
to think that there is a bit of sociological behaviour attached to the
magpie that I don't know about. Anyway I think this fellow is going to
survive because over the week he has definitely improved.
I hear a
bird singing profusely over the last few weeks. I can't put a name on him.
I first noticed him down near Killucan beside the canal. But now I hear
one all the time out around the house. The trouble is that I can't ever
see him. If I find out what he is I will let you know. Watch this
space.
Top Calender
June 5 Newcastle
Ray tells me it might be a Willow Warbler. Ray knows his birds so I'll
take his word for that. This information was gleaned yesterday while
gazing through the front window of the Hazeler when again I saw the
jackdaw going into the chimney across the road and the willy wagtails
tending to their little ones in the hole in the wall.
Top Calender
June 11 The news on the
chaffinches is good. Early yesterday morning when I looked out into the
back garden there were 5 young ones being fed by the male parent. They are
all able to fly and seem to be able to feed themselves now and again. But
I think they don't really know what to look for because they give it up
after a short while and resort to being fed by Dad. They all go through
the same ritual when being fed this way. As the parent bird approaches
with a morsel they wave their heads from side to side in a little frenzy
and then wait for the next bit. It's as though they were watching a very
fast game of tennis. I mentioned earlier that they didn't seem to mix with
the sparrows but in fact they do; to the extent that at times the sparrows
have to jump over them to get to their next spot on the ground. They also
spend a lot of time sitting on branches of trees waiting for the parent
bird to appear with some food. The ritual there is just the same. A fast
game of tennis and then eat.
There does seem to be just one
blackbird. I am unable to account for the other three. Perhaps the cats
can. Who knows? The survivor is braver now, coming out from under the
bushes more often but when an alert happens and all the other birds take
flight he runs into the bushes again. This could be his downfall, as that
is where the cat will some day be waiting. Let's hope not.
The
robins are doing OK. I see at least one being fed in the back garden and
there is an adult bird going in and out of the garage on a regular basis.
So there is more hatching going on.
Top Calender
June 13 Hello to Dave and
Rosanna in the Normandy who have just joined the elite group of
signatories of my guestbook. You know, this page is full of silly stuff
about birds but it doesnt have to be all birds and occasionally I will
wander off somewhere else. A Bird's Eye View came into my mind a while
ago. Where would you get one of them while still standing on the ground.
Well we went down the Mullingar road there last year and went on beyond
Mullingar on the Ballymore road to the Hill of Uisneach. It is only about 600 feet above sea level at
the top but because it stands in the middle of the flat central plain
which makes up much of the acreage of Ireland, you get a most fantastic
360 degree view of the country-side around. For many many centuries the
reigning Kings of Ireland held court here with their chieftons and
subjects to bring in laws, carry out marriages, oversee sporting occasions
etc.
Top Calender
June 16 Well well well ! ! ! I
think this calls for a small celebration or even a big one. Two more baby
blackbirds have appeared out of the bushes and are now feeding themselves
off the ground quite openly. So now there are 3. They are quite happy
mixing with all the sparrows which numbered about 15 yesterday when I saw
them. At times when I look out I can see all at the one time, the parent
blackbirds, 3 young ones, 6 chaffinches, about 10 sparrows, an intruding
blackbird who collects food and then flies out, 2 colored doves, a wood
pigeon, a robin and a young one. (The young Robin is called a juvinile)
The swooping in of the magpie usually puts an end to all this collective
feeding much to his delight I'm sure. He then goes around collecting the
choicest pieces for himself or his family, because he carries away quite a
lot at times. He also buries a lot of stuff. That's an act of forward
planning on his part. I don't know if he ever comes back for the buried
food or even if he would be able to find it again if he wanted to. The
Back lawn is ideal for this burying. First he looks for a good spot. This
will usually be where some moss is growing and I have plenty of that. He
then picks away some of the moss to expose the ground below. He then picks
up the piece of food and pushes it into the ground and then he replaces
the moss on top of the food. All this sort of activity requires a high
level of intelligence. I know some would say "no, that's not intelligence.
It's in the birds nature to do those things. He is programmed to do them."
However, those who would say that should be prepared then to see ourselves
in the same light, and argue that we are not intelligent either, but that
everything we do is in our nature so to do. Well, who knows...
Top Calender
June 17 A young Great Tit came
to the feeder today. His full frontal yellow colour has not developed yet
but the black mark under his chin is quite visible and marks him out as a
Great Tit and not a Blue Tit. A Greenfinch came to the feeder today as
well. We're not getting as many of them as we used to a few years ago. I
wonder why. I don't think that it is anything that I have done, but we
just don't get them. If you want birds in your garden you can attract them
in by ensuring that there is a variety of food available to them.
Wild-bird seed is good to spread on the ground. It is a good mix of
different seeds and therefore what won't suit one species of bird will
probably suit another. Little bits of fat can be thrown on the ground as
well. The best way to get the fat is first to have a Boiled Fry with
a couple of rashers in it. Don't eat the fat off the rashers but seperate
it from the rasher on the one hand and from the rind on the other hand.
Then chop up both the rind and the fat and distribute liberally in the
garden. Some birds will eat the rind and others will eat the soft fat.
Typically the robins and the blackbirds and the magpies. You should also
make sure that there is a bucket of water in the garden full to the top so
that the small birds can reach the water without falling in. I'm not in
favour of platform types of bird table. Birds landing on such a table
cannot see the ground below it. Cats are fairly smart too you know. They
will sit motionless at the foot of the supporting stake and wait for a
bird to land on the table. They will then leap up unseen by the bird and
make a swipe at the table with a hooked paw. Their success rate is high.
I've seen it happen. My bird table is not a table atall, atall atall. It
is four thin stakes stuck into the ground at the corners of a 1 foot
square. The tops of the stakes are connected by transverse bamboo sticks
which act as perches. There's about 7 of them. You can hang feeders from
some of these, or slices of bread etc. The beauty of this arrangement is
that the birds can see the ground at all times. Ehhhh, what's a boiled fry
Dad. A boiled fry is a fry with all the baddies taken out of it and a few
extra goodies put into it.
Top Calender
June 20 I'm in
mourning......There's a load of magpie feathers out in the back garden. It
looks like the cat has had his way with the poor innocent little bird. He
probably just wasn't fast or alert enough. Lost his concentration I
suppose. Another magpie came and stood amongst the scattered feathers and
acted a little strangely. It was as though he recognised the smell of the
feathers but couldnt figure out why the bird wasn't with them. He just
stood there, now and again picking at a feather to check again and putting
his head down low and out straight with his body almost down on the
ground. A most peculiar stance for a magpie. He went away eventually but
came back about 20 minutes later and went through the same routine again.
I think they are a maligned bird. I doubt if our brain has the capacity to
know why nature works in the way that it does. We will often work out the
HOW but not too often the WHY. It's the business of philosophy but that
has its limits too.
Top Calender
June 25
Well, here we go
again. Yet another cause for celebration. We have a new robin holding
court in the garage. I went into the garage the other day looking for
something and turned around to search on the shelf, and there he was, not
12 inches from me looking me straight in the eye. Not a move out of him.
The cheekieness of the robin is in his nature because this fellow is not
old enough to know by experience that he can be cheeky. He just is. He
hops around to different parts of the garage and is able to fly but not
very good. But he has actually flown out of the garage, whereupon I
thought I would never see him again. But wonders will never cease. He
found his way back again in about ten minutes, just in time for another
food delivery from one of the parent birds. So it seems as though he
really feels at home there on the shelf...
We went to Lough Ennel at the weekend for a picnic and to see
the swans. We thought we'd picnic at Lillyput but there was a sports day
on there so we moved on to Tudenham where we did have our picnic only
because we didn't want the bother of moving again. But we might as well
have been at Mondello or at the Indianapolis 500 for the noise that was
there. Compliments of the many waterbikes and speed boats that were flying
around at great speed. So that wasn't great.
Finished the picnic and cleaned up and went then to where the
swans are. It was fine when we went there in the cold weather but now that
the weather has warmed up the algae has taken over and the smell is less
than inviting. When one sees algae like that the thought that usually
comes to mind is of loads of effluent of all sorts coming from the town.
But apparently the Council there has done quite a lot to improve matters
and it could be much worse than it is. And when you look closer at it the
algae is quite localised and will probably disperse as quickly as it came
when the weather changes. Let's hope so.
Top Calender
June 29 Well, once again the
garage is empty. I don't think the birds had 100% success, but they didn't
do too badly either in the context of the big picture. There is a new
generation of at least three new blackbirds and at least two new robins
and they now constitute the sharp end of their particular family lines. If
the parents were to die without producing offsprings then that is the end
of a family line or a branch of a family line. It is interesting to
ponder, How many reproductions have taken place in your family line in
order to ensure your delivery at this point in time. The question put
another way is, How many generations have preceeded you. If you take a
generation to be 25 years for the sake of arguement, then 80 generations
will bring you back only as far as the time of Christ. So your 80th
forefather was alive at that time. I wonder where. If you are of Norman
extraction then he certainly wasn't in Ireland because another 40
generations would come and go before they got here. He might have been
somewhere in Europe trying to keep himself as far away from the Romans as
he possibly could. Unless, that is, he was a Roman himself. Many of those
80 will have had to suffer war, famine and pestilance of all sorts in
order to survive long enough to produce their next generation. I wonder
what did they have to do to survive. And so on down to you and me. I
wonder what the goal is....or is there one....
Top Calender
July 3 Gazing from the window
of the Hazler I notice that the baby jackdaws across the street have come
out of the chimney pot but seem to still regard it as their home. They
spend a lot of time just perched on the edge of the pots and occasionally
fly away to the top of a telephone pole nearby. After a while there they
come back to the chimney pots. The birds at this time do a lot of preening
and if you keep a sharp eye out you will see a lot of little bits of
fluffy down-like feathers floating around on the breeze. They're getting
rid of the original fluffy stuff that grew on them when they were chicks.
I noticed too for the first time that the Hazeler itself is host to two
jackdaws. They're using the disused chimney in the centre of the roof. It
belongs to the fireplace that they blocked up in the bar. I don't know how
I missed that. I suppose it's because I spend more time inside looking out
than outside looking up.
We went to Tudenham again this weekend but
only because I lost my way when I missed a turn. It was just as noisy as
the last time but we parked in a better spot this time. I went to have a
good look at the water and I must say it was as clean as a whistle there.
They have a mooring area there for rowing boats used by fishermen and I
had a look at them. There was about 150 of them there and out of that
there was only 4 clinkerbuilt timber boats. All the rest were fibreglass.
Top Calender
July 9
We went down to Maynooth College yesterday. They
have two nice gardens there. One of them is a walled garden with very many
alpine plants in one section and lots of perenniels in the rest of it laid
out as long beds or borders. The other garden is a much more formal affair
based on rocks, water, green shrubs and water plants such as lillies and
reeds. Lots of the rocks are used as stepping stones but many others are
upright features rising out of the water and coming to a point at the top.
They all have two smoothe vertical sides at right angles to each other and
look like the remaining corner of a ruined house. I don't know if they are
supposed to mean something, but I wonder if the ruins of the FitzGerald
castle outside the College played any part in the inspiration there-of.
With regard to the castle, you know it was built by Maurice FitzGerald
around 1240 and was in good repair up to the 1640s when it was pretty well
destroyed by Owen Roe O'Neill. But it is now being restored once again and
ironically the builders involved are FitzGeralds. The castle is situated
at the junction of two rivers which are in fact no more than streams. But
they probably were at a higher level in those early times and ensured that
the castle always had a supply of water. The rivers are the Lyreene and
the Joan Slade. I went to the bridge near the mill and had a look over at
the Lyreen. You can see where the Joan Slade comes in on the left hand
side. The river is very shallow and a lot of large stones are half above
water with plenty of moss growing on them.
And Lo and
Behold what did I see, but a wagtail with a flash of yellow on him. I
thought to myself " a yellow wagtail". A bit unusual. Later the Hazeler
called. This was my chance to check out with Newcastle Ray who
definitely knows his birds. He told me that what I had seen was more
likely to be a Grey Wagtail. The wagtail that most of us would call a grey
wagtail is in fact a Pied Wagtail and the grey wagtail has a good flash of
yellow on him, and he would be likely to go to places such as where I had
seen him looking for food on wet mossy stones in a river. The yellow
wagtail on the other hand has lots and lots of yellow on him and would be
unusual in Ireland though not unknown.
Top Calender
July 11
There's a happy looking fellow on the left. Well you might
say what has he got to do with birds. Well he is more to do with the
unfeathered variety than with those with feathers. And if they want to see
him then they have to see him. And that's that.
Top Calender
July 12
Well it's
the 12th. It doesn't seem to bother Ronan or Dylon. There's a coincidence
for you. To have a grandson born on the 12th of July and a couple of years
later to have a great-grandson born on the 12th of July again. Happy
birthday Ronan, Happy birthday Dylon. While I'm here it doesn't seem to
bother the swans either. Here's a picture showing a black swan down at Lough Ennel, minus a few green
bits, by kind permission of Clondalkin Ray. I wouldn't say there's
too many black swans to be seen in Ireland somehow. I wonder if this one
is related to The Swan of Tuonela
The Swan Of Tuonela
is based on Finnish legends about a black swan that takes souls into the
afterlife Lemminkainen, a hero and poet, wanted to master the secret
of death by shooting the swan of Tuonela. Tuonela is the Finnish Hades on
which the black swan glides, singing as it goes back and forth over the
river of death. Now he lies defeated beside the blood-red stones of
the Tuonela river. The swan, the symbol of death's eternal secret, swims
away majestically on the dark river
Top Calender
September 9 Well, time moves on.
This paragraph is dated Sept 9 but in fact is being written up later than
that but it relates to Sept 9. Attending at the Hazeler on that day I
watched for a long time scanning the sky for a swallow. Not one to be
seen. Now I definitely saw some the week before, so I conclude that they
packed their bags and went about their business during the week starting
Sept 2, and were all gone by Sept 9. That makes their visit from April 27
to say September 5. I would love to have seen them preparing and going. I
wonder how it happens. Do they depart in little groups or do they all
gather together and at a particular sign all take off at the same time. I
guess that something like the length of the day triggers them off and away
they go.
Top Calender
October 13 Shame of shames!!!
They are doing up the house accross the road from the Hazeler. There is
scaffolding all the way up to the roof, right up to where the two jackdaws
are living in the chimney pot. Well, are those jackdaws going to get a
surprise when they come home? Hey Jack, I don't seem to be able to get
into our chimney pot. Someone has put a lid on it!!! Well thats's life.
Just when you think you have it all sorted out someone comes along and
goes, naa ni naa ni naa naa.
Top Calender
October 16 With the days getting
so much shorter now a few changes can be noticed in the garden. One is
that the most noticable songster in the garden these days is the robin.
The Great Tit and Blue Tit are also noticable but quieter. The blackbirds
are completely quiet as are the thrushes. The Blackbirds are there all
right, the males actively shaping up as they feed but no singing. The
Thrushes may be there but I haven't seen them for some time now. The
Magpies are very active visitors and will probably continue to be. There
is a Cole Tit around the garden all the time now as well. There is no sign
of the Chaffinches or of the Greenfinches either. I must keep a closer
watch. Hello to Songster Jim if you are still there.
Soon
now we will be going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark. Last
winter I noticed that even at 11.00 or 12.00 at night the Robin was
singing. I look forward to hearing him again this winter as I return from
my evening adventures...
Top Calender
December 1 Well, Just because I
wrote nothing in November doesn't mean that nothing was happening. It is a
bit quiet at this time of the year one has to admit, but about three weeks
ago there was a great flurry in the back garden. A flaming red bullfinch
came in accompanied by about five others. I presume they were young
bullfinches. At first I thought they might be five females but I sought
oppinion from Newcastle Ray and he thinks not. The big male was having a
real go at one of these younger ones which might indicate that it was a
young male that Daddy thought should be on his way. Any way they didn't
stay for long and I haven't seen them since.
Three blackbirds were
seen feeding in the garden today and a thrush has been visiting quite
often over the last few weeks. The magpies are as regular as ever coming
and going all day every day. There is a lot of starling activity these
days too. I noticed one today having a good look at a chimney pot. However
I think he would be well advised to think again. I wonder if the good
weather is adding a little confusion to things. I notice also that the
blackbirds are doing a lot of shaping up as though we are nearing the
start of a new season.
Top Calender
December 4 There is unbelievable
activity in the back garden for the last hour or so. Birds are flying all
over the place; back and forth, up and down, in and out, chasing each
other by the new time. But they are all confining their chasings to their
own species. So far in the last hour I've seen of course the blackbirds, a
thrush, a whole family of chaffinches, a robin and a juvenile robin, cole
tits, blue tits and great tits, the usual sparrows and magpies and a
stranger who went through so fast that I didn't get a chance to see what
he was though I might have got enough of a glimpse to find him in my bird
book. I must have a look.
Top Calender
December 16
Do you ever wonder
where all the birds go at night when all is quiet or even not so quiet,
depending on where you live. Where we live is nestled in a corner bounded
on the one hand by the Naas dual carriageway and on the other by the M50.
It is a noisy spot at times. Well I have made a discovery. Outside our
front door is a berberi bush, about 7 feet tall. During the day it
accommodates sparrows pretty well all day. They come and go and are not
roused to flight when I pass by them to enter my 87 D chariot in which to
do battle on the highways. In fact they totally ignore me as do so many
others. But as night falls they leave the bush and go elsewhere for warmth
and peace during the dark hours. I suspect that their hiding place is
within the eaves of the house as I have seen them come and go there even
during the day. There are very few leaves on the berberi now and as I
return from my night wanderings I can see clearly that one of the
blackbirds has taken to sleeping in the same place in the bush every
night. While passing by the bush he is no further than about one foot from
my head. His feathers are well puffed up to keep him warm so he looks a
little bigger than usual. He must feel quite secure there in his thorny
cage for he shows no sign of waryness or fear at having a passer-by so
close. It's a peaceful serene thing.
Top Calender
January 30 Today is the first day
that I have heard any real effort at a dawn chorus. Up to now one would
hear a few Tits and perhaps a Robin making occasional twitters at between
06:30 and 07:00 in the morning and that would be it. They would go silent
again quite soon after. But this morning at about 06:30 I heard very
distinctly one or maybe two Blackbirds. That for me marks the beginning of
the Dawn Chorus. Now they didn't go on for two long but who can blame them
on the first day. It was probably just a voice test to make sure
everything was working OK.
Top Calender
January 31 Well this morning the
Blackbirds were at it again. So yesterday wasn't a "one off" thing. They
were singing at 06:30 and were still singing at 07:30 when I left for
work.
Top Calender
February 1 Today I noticed that
the Thrushes have joined in the early morning song. They are not as
tuneful as the Blackbirds. The blackbirds tune is quite varied though it
may contain a phrase that will keep recurring within the tune. The Thrush
on the other hand has a short one-phrase tune which he repeats 3 or 4
times in the one song. The next time he sings, the song is likely to be
the same as the last time. Some people can't tell the difference between
the blackbird and the thrush because their voices are so similar, but it's
their songs you should be listening for. Repetition with the Thrush,
variety with the blackbird.
As I type I can hear a thrush being
very very vocal somewhere out the back and it is now 13:50 in the day. So
I expect this singing to increase in frequency throughout the next many
weeks until the blackbird finishes off the day singing his heart out at
the top of one of our trees at dusk.
The blackbird I spoke of
earlier in his thorny cage is still sleeping there at night. The slamming
of car doors and people passing by within one foot of him doesn't seem to
bother him. As yet of course there are no leaves on the bush so he is
quite visible. He must know that he is quite safe within all those thorny
branches for he goes in and sleeps on exactly the same branch every night
sometimes even before it is fully dark. Just below his perch the bluebells
and daffodills are coming up and will soon give a lovely showing of
flowers. Roll on Spring!!
Top Calender
March 31 Easter Sunday. Well,
the daffodills are in full bloom and the bluebells are still working at
it. One or two of them have put out a flower but it's still too early for
most of them. In the meantime the blackbird has left home and gone to
sleep elsewhere. Its definitely that time of year. He has been singing and
showing off with little flicks of his wings and upward flicks of his tail
for quite some time now and must have met with some degree of success. As
I type I can hear him outside singing on top of one of the trees. I
suspect that he is not the same blackbird as we had last year and the year
before as his song is quite different. He is not alone in the garden
however. Twice or three times now in the last few weeks we have had a pair
of goldfinches in the back garden. They come and take nuts from the
hanging feeder. We don't see goldfinches that often, but Newcastle Ray
tells me that he has more goldfinches than sparrows! Recently we have also
had some greenfinches. Sparrows are in abundance though I feel that their
numbers are down. The robin is very active and so is the wren. There is
also a good number of thrushes. Chaffinches are still coming and going,
usually in groups of four or five at a time. The magpies are also alive
and well. Yesterday I heard a sweet-singing bird high in one of the trees
and had a look at him with the binoculars. I think he was a Spotted
Flycatcher.
Top Calender
April 1 April Fool's Day. I
hope I don't fall for something silly today. The TV cable passes by the
front bedroom window and while it is clipped up to the eve a portion of it
hangs down to form a bit of a loop like a skipping rope. It has been
raining all morning and I've noticed that a magpie uses this loop as a
perch to stay in out of the rain. On and off this morning he has been
there for about three hours and he spends a lot of the time talking to
himself. He's muttering away there all morning looking in the window.
There's really no privacy left any more!!!!
There's a little story
here for you The Magpie and the Bell
Top Calender
April 14
The other day I
was thinking that I should be keeping an eye out for the Swallows though
it might be a bit early yet. But if you're not watching then you'll miss
the moment of arrival and when you see one you'll wonder "how long have
they been there". Last year they arrived around April 27. Today I met
Newcastle Ray in the Hazeler and I mentioned this. And Lo and Behold, he
tells me that he saw two swallows this morning around Newcastle. Well you
won't believe this but while he was telling me there one was flying right
accross in front of the window. I said it to him and like a shot the two
of us were up off our stools and rushed out the door. Only seconds passed
and two swallows came into view again, up and down the canal as usual. Ten
days earlier than last year. What do you think of that. It was very
exciting while it lasted.
Top Calender
May 1 On March 31 I
speculated that the blackbird in his thorny cage was not the same one as
we had last year and the year before. But now I have to make a very
definite correction. He is the same bird. It has taken him some time to
remember his little tune but now he has got it back and it is
unmistakable. He has been missing from his night perch on a lot of
occasions recently but nevertheless he does return every now and again. He
was there last night for instance, perched on exactly the same branch as
he always uses. So he is as much a creature of habit as are the rest of
us.
Top Calender
May 20
We went down the
road to Kinnegad this weekend mainly to get some Bird Produce i.e. Free
range eggs. On the radio as we went was some Sibelius music, namely The Swan of
Tuonela.
It prompted me to make an addition to my July 12 entry. Have
a look.
On the way back we detoured at Clonard in toward the Hill
of Down. Returning we arrived at the entrance to the old site of St
Finnians Monastery. I wanted to have a look around the place. There is a
more recent church there now, derelict, but which served as the local
Church of Ireland up until 1991. As I pulled up Lo and behold there is a
Grey Wagtail flitting about in a puddle of dirty rainwater. The Grey
Wagtail has some yellow in his plumage so we often think that we are
seeing a Yellow Wagtail but that is not so. The Yellow Wagtail has a lot
more yellow to him. Anyway I was quite delighted with that and decided to
go in over the gate and walk down towards the church. There were many
Bluebells still to be seen though they were on the wain. As I walked I
disturbed two baby rabbits. They didn't stay around for long I tell you. I
got to the main gate into the church grounds but didn't go in as the place
is really over-run with wild growth. I noticed a little plaque near a
young copper beech tree and read that the tree was planted by Colleen
Gasteen in memory of the Gasteen Family. It's an unusual name to me.
Top Calender
May 28 This
weekend we met Newcastle Ray. Like ourselves he occasionaly takes a
drive out the road but he usually goes in a different direction to us.
This time he went down to Robertstown. We have been there many times. But
he got a bonus while he was there. He heard a Coo Coo. I haven't heard a
Coo-Coo for about 5 years and I would say that most people haven't heard
one for much longer than that. We seem to get fewer and fewer of them now.
At one time, a year wouldn't pass without hearing one. The last time I
heard one, was on the Grand Canal near the Lyons Estate. I must take a
wander out that way again and see if anything is going on.
Top Calender
June 18 I
haven't given an update now for quite some time. The reasons are various;
lack of time, lack of words and not least a lack of the frantic activity
we had last year when a robin and a blackbird both decided to nest in the
garage. This year they remained conventional and nested outside in the
bushes where they cannot be seen. The new blackbirds are already out and
flying around as though they owned the place. There seems to be at least
two, maybe three and some times the parent birds and the young appear all
together on the ground in the back garden. But it has to be said that the
male parent is the dominant bird. He regularly runs the younger birds out
of the garden and puts on a great display of dropped wings and raised
tail, making many short runs here and there aroun the grass. I hope the
cat from next door doesn't get one of them. A sparrow fell victim to the
cat last week amid a terrible flurry of feathers. On the road to Mullingar
last week we saw a Hawk. Newcastle Ray said it was probably a kestrel.
He's probably right but I call them all Hawks. The one we saw was hovering
over a spot where he probably saw something like a mouse or something else
perhaps. All of a sudden he dropped to the ground like a stone. He must
have got something because he didn't come up again. She stoops to conquer.
Top Calender
July 6
This
lovely picture of a Yellow Wagtail is from the Birds of
Britain Magazine.
Well June was the wettest since records began
in some places and July is shaping up to equal that as far as we can see.
Rain is almost non-stop and when it does stop people almost remember the
date and the time of day that such a stoppage took place and where they
were at the time of the momentus event. However birdlife goes on
regardless. We have a very sad looking Magpie in the garden at the moment.
I think he has a broken leg. When he lands he is all to one side like
Ballinalack and finds it very difficult to hop in a straight line. Imagine
yourself with one foot nailed to the floor while you walk with the other
foot and you will have some idea of how the magpie is getting around.
There is nothing much that I can do for him because he can fly and
therefore cannot be caught. I wouldn't think the outlook is too good for
him.
We have a good showing of greenfinches in the garden now
coming in groups of 5 or six at a time. The peanuts are going down quite
fast. There is a very persistant Coletit there as well trying to compete
with the greenfinches for his share of the nuts. However the greenfinches
are more than a mathch for a small fellow like a coletit and he usually
has to concede.
At times now we can see up to six blackbirds in the
garden. They sunbathe in the trees with their wings spread out to make the
most of what heat there is. (Sometimes not very much). I don't know
whether it is surprising or not but two of the blackbirds are definitely
senior males. And they just do not get on. There are lots of attacking
runs and lots of showing off but rarely any contact.
The
Goldfinches are showing up on a fairly regular basis. Usually two or four.
But not more. These birds are nicely coloured with yellow brown black
white and a distinctive red around the head. They are also nice singers
but I cannot name that tune.
My observation of the week has to be
that of a willy wagtail. What's so strange about that. Well, what's so
strange about that is that he is to be seen and heard flying around
Superquinns Supermarket in Lucan. No, Not Outside, but Inside. I guess he
found his way in but now can't find his way out. They're going to need a
bird catcher....
Top Calender
August 13
The Picture is that
of a Hawk. On Sunday August 4 we went down to Lough Ennel near Mullingar.
I say near Mullingar but it's also near Tyrellspass at the south end and
this is the end we went to. It's called Lilliput. This is where the
inspiration for that famous adventure book, Gullivers Travells, came from
believe it or not. There is a nice swimming area there for children and
adults alike if you felt so inclined and there were many children swimming
at the time we were there. There was much screaming and shouting and
hollering and splashing and jumping and fighting going on and one would
think there was a million children there enjoying themselves. Many of them
were in traditional togs but many others were in wet siuts or maybe they
were dry siuts, but in any case they looked like the sort of siuts a diver
wears. That seems like a great idea as the siut gives them boyancy on the
one hand and keeps them warm on the other.
We went to the jetty
where you can hire a rowing boat or one with an outboard motor on it if
you wish. I prefer to row. I can experience the smell of fumes anywhere
any time so why do it on Lough Ennel. We took our boat and had a very lazy
row around the south end of the lake. And Boy! If you want to see swallows
in numbers this is the place to do it. We knew they were about because we
could see them swooping over the water all the time. But I rowed towards a
huge bed of reeds at the south-east corner and suddenly became aware that
the whole bed was covered with swallows. Now this is a lot of reeds, maybe
a couple of acres. Suddenly the whole flock of birds rose from the reeds
and we were totally surrounded by them swooping and diving and skimming
past our heads with no more than a foot or two to spare. It seemed like a
long time but it was only minutes and just as suddenly the whole flock
settled on the reeds again. It was quite an experience. It was a great day
there all together.
This Sunday August 11 wasn't so great. No
boating. But a sojourn in the Hazeler paid off. While I sat there amidst
the gaggle of the inebriated, contemplating the grey sky outside, once
again a hawk appeared just accross the road very near where the two
jackdaws used to hang out. He hovered there rock steady for about three
minutes and then plunged to the ground. I dare say his efforts paid off.
What can I say. More power to him. He has to live too. It's a strange
world though, where for one to live, another has to die.
Top Calender
August 24
The Picture is
that of a Violet Green Swallow.
It's 7 AM. There is no movement of
air whatsoever. The leaves and new growth on the trees are limp. Not a
rustle, not a move, no shake, no bend before the breeze, motionless. The
sky is grey, just as it was yesterday evening when as I rummaged in the
garden I became aware of a particular bird sound. A Swallow! Now
Clondalkin is not renowned for it's swallows so I was a bit surprised. So
I looked up to see from where had the chirping come. To my increased
surprise I saw that whichever swallow it had come from he was only one of
many. The sky was full of them. They were not feeding, but were mostly
flying very high and gliding to and fro almost aimlessly. However one
could detect a directional drift. You know that feeling you get when you
look at apparently motionless clouds, yet you detect almost subconsciously
that they are moving in a particular direction. It was the same with the
swallows. You got the sense that there was movement of the entire flock in
an easterly direction. I do believe that I was witness to the start of
that great migration back to Africa. I was at the Hazeler later in the
evening and there wasn't a swallow to be seen. My guess is that over the
next week or so many more will be seen drifting eastward. I wonder if they
keep sight of land at all times. From Killakee you can see the Welsh
coast. I'm sure that from the south-east coast of England you can see the
French coast (Normandy) from whence came the ancesters of so many of those
of us who became more Irish than the irish themselves. Once over the
French coast, it's over land all the way down through France and Spain and
on into North Africa. So, resting places are available all the way. This
could mean that the journey of the swallows is a much more leisurely
affair than we might be inclined to think. Perhaps it's not a mad dash in
endless flight from the south coast of Ireland accross endless water to
their landfall in Africa, but a relaxed casual leisurely drift from one
coast to the next until they finally reach their destination. OK. You can
go back to sleep now!!
Top Calender
September 02
The
Picture is that of a Tree Swallow.
These Swallows are certainly
giving me the run-around. One minute I see them, next minute I don't. My
last report about the swallows massing over Clondalkin still stands. I do
believe that what I saw was the beginning of their exodus from this
country. However, the process obviously goes on for much longer than I
thought. There are still quite a number of swallows at the Hazeler but
they are acting very strangely indeed. Yesterday evening large numbers of
them were flying around in a very agitated fashion and then they all
landed on the roof of the house across the road. After a few minutes they
all took off again and flew around for another few minutes and then all
landed again. This was repeated over and over again until I lost count.
Eventually of course it got dark and all activity ceased. Down at Lough
Ennel we took a rowing boat again and paid a visit to the reed bed which
on our last visit was black with swallows. We saw but a handful but later
we saw quite a number, again all flying as a flock and high up. I suspect
however that a lot have left the reed beds and those that are still there
are straglers preparing to go. Yesterday was a nice day and I must say
that on a nice day Lough Ennel is really lovely. The surrounding landscape
is made up of low rolling hills all the way round no matter in which
direction you look. From Lilliput you can see the towers of the Cathedral
in Mullingar. Lots of people were out fishing or simply enjoying being on
the water, though I must say that jet skiers should be given somewhere
else to practice their art. I think they pose a danger to others engaged
in less noisy and less powerful activities. There are plenty of lakes in
the midlands and one of them could be designated as THE jet skie lake
where people wouldn't go to swim, fish and row, but to jet skie. Right.
That's that bit said. Westmeath Co Coucil, please take note.
Top Calender
September 09
The Picture
is that of a Pied Wagtail.
Well now I think that my last update was
a bit misleading. In it I implied that the swallows were still at the
Hazler and that they were behaving in a strange way. Now I think that I
was wrong and I think that in fact they were gone. I'm beginning to think
that what I saw was a flock of pied wagtails. I saw them again this
weekend still acting in the same way. But when they take off and go high
in the sky they can easily be mistaken for swallows. But pied wagtails is
what they are.
Top Calender
November 16
On
Dec 16 last year I wrote that one of the blackbirds had taken to sleeping
in the berberi bush outside the front door. Well do you know what it is
I'm going to tell you. He has taken to it again this year, but it is only
Nov 16 now. Perhaps last year he was there for a lot longer than I
realised. Perhaps he was there in November but I didn't know it at the
time. I can hear one outside now as it is getting dark 17:12, making that
sharp shrill chuck chuck sound that they make as they fly low across the
garden from one tree or bush to another.
We were in Athlone last
week and went out to Coosan Point on Lough Ree. There is a lot of ducks
always there but the feeding place is shared also with jackdaws, water
hens, wagtails, chaffinches and swans. At weekends there is plenty of
boating activity as there is a marina just across the water at Killinure
Point but we were there on a weekday and it was really quiet. Very close
by is where Col. Harry Rice used to live. He wrote the book Thanks for
the Memory. It's all about the navigation of Lough Ree from Athlone to
Lanesborough and contains charts for every part of the lake. But it also
contains many stories and tales that he picked up on his travels up and
down the lake. I went out wiith him once or twice to do some soundings in
the lake years ago. I remember also he had a most wonderful alpine garden
facing down to the lake shore. That would be in the 1950s. His book now is
almost impossible to get except through a library
Top Calender
December 22
Well
the days are getting longer once again. We put the shortest day behind us
yesterday. It's a time of the year I really look forward to. I notice in
the front garden that the daffodills and the bluebells are already on
their way. Bird noises in the mornings at this time of the year are
dominated by the thrush and he can be heard from about 7 am onwards. But
you will also notice the robin , the wren and various tits. It's not quite
a Dawn Chorus but they're there nevertheless. I don't think you can call
it a dawn chorus until the blackbirds decide that it's time for them to
join in. And when they do they make a real difference to both the volume
of sound and the quality thereof. In fact I think that their singing spurs
the other birds on to greater heights in their efforts.
I cross
Newland Cross every morning at about 08:10 and I have made a discovery.
Newland Cross is on a major crow highway. No, I don't mean that we are all
crows going to work up the Belgard Road. The Naas Road is running
East-West and the belgard road is running North-South at Newlands. However
running in a south-easterly direction is a great crow road that crosses
the Naas road at Newlands. Every morning hundreds of crows can be seen
flying in their ragged way heading Southeast. I suspect that they may be
coming from rookeries in Peamount and Celbridge. I have yet to check that
out. Again at 4:30 in the evening they can all be seen flying in the
opposite direction presumably after a hard day at the office. Lots of them
stop off at the Newlands golf club trees and at the Newlands shopping
centre and Bewleys Hotel for a bit of a rest both in the morning and in
the evening. No, they don't go into the hotel. They're dressed much too
formally for Bewleys and in any case they probably wouldn't serve them.
Well, a Happy Christmas and a happy New Year to all my readers. Don't
forget to switch the lights off.
Top Calender
26th January
I notice
every morning that the thrush is still the main voice to be heard in those
early hours of dawn. But I must say that my heart was lifted on Thursday
last the 23rd when I heard for the first time this year a Blackbird
singing from the top of a tree. He sang until it was actually dark. Then
all fell silent. I expect now that he will also be heard in the early
morning and we can look forward to a dawn chorus second to none. The male
and female blackbirds are seen more often together in the back garden now
so I think something will be stirring pretty soon. The Chaffinch is very
vocal at the moment also. I can actually hear one as I type. I counted
thirteen sparrows in the berberi bush this morning which is fewer than
usual, but I'm sure there are more around somewhere. Spring is definitely
on the way.
I saw two daisies in the garden today. However they
say that your foot should cover 7 daisies befor the cattle are put back
out on grass. The Daffodills are still slowly on their way as are the
bluebells. They really do take their time. Many of the trees and shrubs
are showing buds now too. The 1st of February marks the beginning of
Spring for some people as it is Saint Brigid's day.
By the way
Gentleman Jim crosed the garden the other day but he must have encountered
a cat on the way because he never made it to the other side. He has a new
resting place now about a foot down. I don't know if I mentioned it before
but I saw a Heron doing his rounds about two weeks ago. He was fairly
close to the canal but he may have been checking the local fishponds for a
nice goldfish as he would be very partial to such a meal. So easily got as
well.
Top Calender
April 28
This
is the time of the year when one has to be on the look out for the arrival
of the swallows. I have been watching now for the last 3 or 4 weeks. I've
been hearing reports on radio programs that they have arrived all over the
country, but not a sign at the Hazeler. I really do think that a lot of
people think they are seeing swallows when in fact they may be seeing
wagtails. They are certainly all over the place. However my watching paid
off eventually on Easter Sunday when I saw about 4 pairs out at the
hazeler, swooping and diving as usual up and down the canal. There are a
lot more boats there now but it doesn't seem to bother them at all. On the
same day I saw a swan coming in to land and take his place amongst the
boats and the odd canoeist. On
Monastery Walk the dawn choras can now be heard from 4
a.m. onwards and it beats anything that the radio programs can put on. The
blossoms are just about to wain now as we are almost into May and they
will be helped along by the winds that we usually get in May. They say
that A WET AND WINDY MAY FILLS THE BARN WITH CORN AND HAY so we should
expect it to be wet and windy. These old sayings are around for a long
time now and are based on the experience of centuries.
Top Calender
September 05
Well
it's not been a good year as far as updating is concerned. Pretty awful in
fact. But I couldnt miss this one. Swallows have appeared over Clondalkin
again today September 5th. They are on their way back to Africa once more
having enjoyed one of the hottest and most humid of Augusts that I can
remember. No more than half an hour ago I heard the twittering in the sky
above me and sure enough the swallows were there. They were moving in a
southeasterly direction. Now they weren't there in thousands but they will
probably be passing over in dribs and drabs for the next few days.
I saw a heron perched on top of a light post on the New Nangor
Road yesterday. I suppose he had some business on the canal only a few
yards away. In the back garden the blackbirds and the sparrows are having
a great time with the Elder Berries. However, the washing on the line
doesn't benefit all that much from all the activity. Welcome to
Colleen. Are you the Colleen that planted the tree in Clonard. And
how on earth did you find this site. You can reply in a further entry in
the Guestbook.
PS:Well, a visit to the Hazeler this evening has
confirmed my feelings about the swallows leaving. There wasn't a swallow
to be seen anywhere out there. So, there it is. When you see swallows over
Clondalkin in September they are on their way home.
Clondalkin by
the way is a compound of two Irish words. Cluan and Dolcan. Cluan means
meadow and Dolcan is a persons name. The compounded word means Dolcans
Meadow. CluanDolcain. The i before the n implies the word "of" so that you
get "The Meadow of Dolcan". OK, back to bed.
Top Calender
September 08
Well,
it's September 8 and swallows are still to be seen. But I'm seeing them
where I wouldnt normally see them. I saw some in Maynooth today and they
were definitely drifting Eastwards. I saw some in Kinnegad yesterday and
the story was the same. So I think they fly over until they see the Welsh
coast and then, when they are good and ready, they just pop accross the
water and perhaps rest a while in Wales before moving on down to the
Southeast of England from where high above the coast they will be able to
see the French Coast. A good rest and a full English breakfast and then a
little hop over to France (Normandy) It's over land all the way from there
down through France and Spain to Gibralter and accross to North Africa.
See how easy it is. Wouldn't you like to be a Swallow!!!
I saw two
swans flying over the house this morning with outstreched necks. They were
heading for a parking place on the canal between the 9th lock and the 12th
lock I suppose.
Top Calender
September 15
You
know I must have been going around with my eyes closed last year. This is
September 15 and this year I can still see swallows. I saw some down in
the Callows south of Athlone on Wednesday last and I saw as many more down
at lough Owel yesterday. We went to the South-West side of the lake
yesterday. You get a much nicer view from that side as you are not looking
into the sun. Its amazing how little the lake is used. I counted ten small
sailing boats on the water and three rowing boats fishing. If such an
amenity was anywhere on the continent it would be packed. But then I
suppose that is one of its attractions. That it doesn't attract.
Top Calender
January 18
Well it's
January again and a new season of activity is under way. The daffodils
have poked their heads above ground to see if everything is ok and if they
like what they see they will emerge slowly to their full stately height
and then bend their heads to produce their beautiful yellow flowers. It's
a pity their flowering season is so short. But we can get daffodils now
that flower at different times and this is one way of prolonging the
lovely show of yellow that they give us.
Bluebells are another
flower now just appearing above ground with the promise of a great show of
blue after the daffodils have gone. I have a small bed of bulbs at the
front of the house that has been covered with leaves since the Autumn. I
always leave the leaves as a protection and a mulch, and of course the
worms come up at night and pull some of them down into the soil thus
improving the quality of the soil.
I'm cutting the tops from some
conifers in the back garden taking care that there is no nesting going on
in them. It will let a lot more light into the garden. It's amazing how
fast and vigorously those trees grow. They were topped a few years ago and
young branches at the cut turned upwards and have grown fifteen feet. So
that is the extent of top that I'm now removing. Of course it's creating a
tremendous amount of rubbish on the ground and the blackbirds are loving
it. They are rummaging around in it all day every day.
This morning
I saw quite a number of birds in the garden. Four Blackbirds at the one
time, a Thrush, a Robin, a Blackcap, a Chaffinch, several Great Tits and
some Blue Tits, a Wren and some Sparrows and of course a couple of
Magpies. Not bad for a small garden in suburbia. If I were to be in a
field in the countryside I would be lucky to see a robin or maybe a
chaffinch in the hedgerow. I am always amazed at the lack of birds in the
countryside, apart from crows and jackdaws that is.
The Newlands
Cross crow highway is still alive and well and as the mornings get
brighter the crows can be seen heading south for the day, returning again
around 4.30 in the evening.
I saw a Heron patrolling the canal at
Clonburris the other day, looking for some fish I suppose.
Getting
back to the blackbirds again for a minute. I haven't heard one singing yet
this year either in the morning or the evening. The most active singer at
the moment and for some time now is the robin. In fact one in the garden
has had the audacity to perch atop the tree normally used by the blackbird
when he is in singing mode. Well I suppose there is room there for both of
them since I doubt that they will ever need the space at the same time.
Top Calender
January 22
The
Picture is a Blackbird. Thanks to the ESB Bird Survey. It's january 22nd
and the Blackbirds are singing at last. Not for very long though. Probably
for about half an hour. They have stopped now. It's 17.38 so we are about
11 minutes into nautical twilight. Civil Twilight ended at 17.27 today.
The Thrushes have been singing for the last few days so they got a head
start on the blackbirds. The robin on the other hand seems to sing right
through the winter.
Top Calender
February 7
The Blackbirds are singing in the morning and in the evening now and
have been for about a week. Their singing really adds something to
the dawn and dusk periods of the day. We may muse as to why they are
so ardent in their song. Some say that they are proclaiming their
territory. But if that is so it seems to be inconsistant with the
fact that in my back garden several of them can be seen at the one time at
almost any time of the day. I looked out this morning and counted
five male birds and one female. And do you know what. Those
fellows with the orange beaks were at the same old game as all the rest of
maledom. Trying to be the one to get his arm around the female and
run off with her. But she wasn't having any of it. Too early
in the morning I suppose!
Top Calender
February 8
You know when I decided and particularly when I started to cut down the
tops of my trees my heart was in my boots because I knew that I was
setting about the destruction of the birds playground. All that
flying about, in and out, perching on the very top to do some singing,
hiding in out of the rain, all this would come to an end.
Well, thats not how it has worked out at all. I have only
topped a few trees so far and as I mentioned before there is a lot of
rubbish on the ground, bits of branches, leaves and twigs and as far as
I can see there is even more activity in the garden now than there ever
was. Most of the action is coming from the Blackbirds. This
morning I saw two females and five or was it six males with their orange
beaks. You know blackbirds don't walk very much normally. They hop.
Sometimes they hop slowly and when they want to run they hop quickly.
But when there is a number of them in the garden at the same time they
definitely walk and run. Mostly after each other. They even
fight these days. It's a confrontation in flight. They run
at each other on the ground and when they meet they rise from the ground
and spirel upwards with wings beating each other into submission and
then fall back to the ground. This may be done several times
presumably until one of them decides he has had enough.
We have some frogs in the garden. They don't walk either.
They hop as well. Toads walk apparently, but I dont think we have
any toads in Ireland. The weather is too bad I suppose.
Could you blame them for staying away.
Apart from the blackbirds, also active today are greenfinches,
chaffinches, sparrows, cole tits, great tits and blue tits.
Top
Calender
March 26
I know that many blackbirds have already built their nests and hatched out baby blackbirds
as early as Christmas time. But I've noticed a blackbird in the back garden collecting lots
of stuff for building a nest right now. Maybe they build a new nest every time they intend
to have a new family. Well they're in lots of luck at the moment because the garden is still
strewn with leaves and bits of twig, all very good for making nests. There is also lots of
moss in the "lawn" as a result of the trees keeping so much light from the grass. The
trouble is now that I don't know where they are building so I'm just going to have to leave
the trees as they are for a while. Some things can't be rushed.
Top
Calender
December 23
To let so long go before this update is appalling. Is this a sign of some terrible laziness?
Yes it is!!!
Well, we are at that time of the year again when the days are getting
longer. But even before that I have seen that the daffodils are above the ground. The sequence in
my little patch is Daffodils first Bluebells next and then Foxglove, which seems to go on forever.
I have a wild sycamore that I cut back to the ground almost every now and then but when I let it
have its way it grows profusely and gives the most wonderful autumn colour, a mixture of yellow
ochre and burnt umber I suppose. It lasts almost up to now. The leaves have only finally
succumbed to the wind in the last two or three weeks.
I walked into the garage a few
weeks ago in the dark, switched on the light and quite by accident looked down only to see a
hedgehog standing by my foot. I must have only just missed walking on him. Anyway he nosed around
for a while and then decided to take his leave and scurried out under the garage door again into
the night. No more news about him until the other day when I nearly walked on him again. This
time he was asleep all wrapped up in a clump of leaves, and there he is still. I suppose he will
stay like that for a few months. I'll let you know when he comes out again.
Clondalkin
has a couple of Herons which I think I mentioned before. But now I have seen them so often that I
now know some of their haunts and could almost guarantee to see them any time I wanted. They park
regularly on top of a 38KV pylon along the New Nangor Road and also frequent the Camac River quite
a lot. I'm trying to get a good photo of them but not having much success. I can't get close
enough.
I'm getting some news about a pheasant but that will have to wait for another day.
I notice that the big singer these days is not the blackbird but the thrush and the
robin. There are some tit noises as well but they are only muttering amongst themselves.. That's
it for now. O! I nearly forgot. Someone wants to know which Val Byrne am I. Let me answer the
question with another question. Which Val Byrne would you like me to be?? How many Val Byrnes do
you know.
Well Happy Christmas everybody and a happy and prosperous New Year.
Top
Calender
February 8
You remember last march I quit cutting the tops from my trees because the blackbirds and others
were working hard at nest building. Well in spite of the cold and wet weather I'm at it again but
somewhat earlier and even at that I think the birds are too. However I don't have as much to do
this time and hopefully I won't interfere with them too much.
Well it's February and the
hedgehog hasn't made any move yet. I hope he is still alive. I havn't looked as I do not want to
interfere with whatever nature would deem he should do or when he should do it. I'm sure his own
clock will wake him up when the time is right. The herons I mentioned earlier have grown in number
to four now so there must have been some around that I was not aware of. I have seen all four of
them together on the 38KV pylon just a couple of weeks ago. I still can't get a good photo of them.
A good forest friend of mine has been telling me about an unusual pheasent which he and
his colleagues have met with up in the forest. Normally a pheasent will avoid men as the latter
are wont to carry guns with the sole purpose of blasting the said bird from the sky. But this
bird has the shoe on the other foot and, far from running or taking flight he not only stands his
ground, but attacks with great gusto every man that he can get close enough to. The grammer is
terrible isn't it. Take a look at this. Here the pheasent is trying to tear off the mans foot in
spite of the mans protestations. Only the mans tenacity and sheer strength enable him to withstand
the attack.
How about this one. The man is doing his best to invoke Queensbury
Rules but the pheasent is having none of it. The attack goes on unabated. There is no doubt about
it but this pheasent is an unusual bird.
My own guess is that this bird is in fact an echo warrior in disguise whose aim in life
is to prevent the cutting down of Christmas trees. I suspect that he will be there for some time
to come. Thanks to my forest friend Terryfor the photographs.
Top Calender
April 24
Well, between one thing and another I've not been able to update as often as I should and now it's
April and still a bit on the cold side. But things are going on in spite of the cold. For about
three weeks now I've seen a ladybird on a lavender bush in the front garden. There must be sufficient
food there to keep him/her going for ever.
In the back garden where I've been continuing
with the tree trimming the hedgehog has woken up and moved out to god knows where. I haven't seen
him since.
At the Hazeler I saw the first swallow yesterday, one and only one. They
have appeared about the following times in the last few years.
2001 April 27
2002 April 14
2003 April 28
2005 April 24
Top
Calender
November 26
Well, I hope you didn't hold your breath between my last entry and this one. If you did you are either in serious trouble or you have a great pair of lungs.
Without trying to put dates on events let me just recall some of the things that have been going
on recently. For a small garden in your average housing estate quite a lot can happen.
I
looked out the window one day and there cool as you like is a hawk plucking the feathers from a
magpie. All I can say is the hawk must have been fast because the magpie is one of the most nervous
birds I know. He never waits around for trouble but senses immediately when he should pack his bags
and go. He will usually be gone before trouble gets anywhere near him. But this fellow was beaten
by the speed of the hawk and was now in the process of becoming a meal. This is or was another sad
example of how life is organised. One form of life always seems to depend on the eating of another
form of life in order to survive. That includes ourselves. But we cannot say that we eat in order
to survive. But we do survive as a result of eating. To eat is part of our nature. Birds don't
have wings in order to fly. But they do fly as a result of having wings. Nature is very complex.
One of our problems in understanding it is that none of us lives long enough to even start to come
to grips with it, and those of us who live longest are well past our best-before-date as far as
intelectual ability goes. So the chances are that humanity will never understand nature simply
because it is not part of our nature to understand nature. What a bleak picture.
I hung
up a bird feeder stocking recently with peanuts and balls of fat alternately placed on it. It
drew a a lot of starlings, greenfinches, goldfinches, great-tits, sparrows etc. It worked fine
for a while and then a grey squirrel came along and dimantled it. I have had to revert to the old
peanut feeder again. This squirrel has taken to vistiting our garden on a regular basis
now and
Top
Calender
|