Dalkey Tidy Towns - Wild Life Newsletter March 2011

Wildlife Newsletter for the Township of Dalkey
March 2011 - Michael Ryan

FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER

Brent Geese Photo: M. Ryan

Many birds will still be nest building and if you leave out hair, your dogs or your own, on a bush or branch there’s every chance the birds may take it to line their nest. If you can get feathers, the filling from old pillows maybe, and leave them out, long tailed tits may take them to weave their nests. The feathers, up to 2,000 in some long tailed tits nests, comprise more then 40% of the structure which is also constructed from moss, spiders webs and hair, giving the nest a degree of elasticity, handy if you are going to have up to 16 chicks. Sadly, long tailed tits being very small suffer high mortality in extended cold weather like we had this winter but populations can recover, if we ever get mild winters again.
There’s a wonderful video of a pair lining their nest at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_44B9aaPY3c
At the risk of constantly repeating myself, this time of the year I often recommend to keep an eye out for the evening fly past of Brent geese. These birds spend the night at Sandymount strand or at the Bull Island in Clontarf roosting in big flocks before flying south in the morning to Newcastle or Kilcoole in Wicklow where they will feed in the BirdWatch reserve or the surrounding fields later returning the same route at dusk.
In the morning the birds fly down in small groups, sometimes hugging the coast, sometimes flying directly across Dublin and Killiney bays. But it’s when returning in the evening, when they assemble in large groups numbering many hundreds and coming back in classic flying ‘V’ formations, that they make a spectacular sight.

In the past we’ve waited for them at Colimore Harbour or Sorrento Point as the light starts to fade. Sometimes, for instance if they’re flying into a northerly wind, they’ll fly close to the land in Killiney Bay then rise directly over Dalkey Hill, but most of the time they’ll follow the coast passing a few feet above the sea at Dalkey Sound. Sometimes we’ve almost given up on them when suddenly honking calls come out of the gloom and flights of geese fill the sky as they soar overhead, flying north into the last fading light of the sinking sun. Going from Dublin to Wicklow and back to feed may seem a long way to travel every day but these are birds which, when in April their body clocks will tell them to fly north, will fly directly to Iceland in one unbroken flight for their first stop over. They will then feed up in Iceland putting on another 40% of body weight before setting off on the last lap of their long journey to their breeding grounds in Arctic Canada. Although a relatively small bird they have the longest migration distance of any species of goose.

Brent Geese Flying North
Photo: M. Ryan

WHEATEAR
Flying to Gambia a few years ago we were able to gaze down at the vast area of the Sahara passing below us for hours on end. By early March one of our first spring visitors will be arriving after flying that vast distance then continuing up the whole length of Europe before arriving on our shores. The Wheatear winters in sub Saharan Africa before returning to Europe, landing and spending time at the coast feeding up before heading inland to breed among rocks, crevices and rabbit burrows in mountains and high ground. Its name has nothing to do with the colour of its ear or its food preference, it being an insect eater. When it moves it has a very noticeable white rump patch and the name is a derivation of its old English name ‘White Arse’. Its Latin name Oenanthe oenanthe is much more fitting for such an elegant bird. Apparently ‘Oenanthe, is also the name of a plant genus, the water dropworts, and is derived from the Greek ainos “wine” and anthos “flower”, from the wine-like scent of the flowers. In the case of the wheatear, it refers to these birds’ return to Greece in the spring just as the grapevines blossom. The first wheatears to arrive here will be males which will set up a territory before the females arrive. The one in the photograph was seen on Killiney Hill last spring.

Wheatear on Killiney Hill, Spring 2010
Photo: Lucy Desierdo

Sad report of a red squirrel found dead on the road, probably ran over by a car, in mid January. The squirrel was found at Oakdene just off Ballinclea Heights. There were reports last year of red squirrels being seen on telegraph lines around Ballinclea heights and since these observations were made in spring and summer it’s possible the reds may have built a drey and possibly bred in a tree in someone’s garden. Young adult squirrels have to move way from their parents to set up new territory and it’s often while they’re on the move trying to cross roads that they meet unfortunate ends. In a number of places in Britain where endangered red squirrels had high numbers of fatalities crossing roads, rope bridges were suspended above the roads, baited with acorns and other food to attract squirrels to them. Subsequent studies found the ropes provided were used by the squirrels when positioned properly. Cars and cats are the main cause of unnatural death in red squirrels.