Wildlife
Newsletter for the Township of Dalkey August 2015 - Michael Ryan |
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It
became nationwide news last year when someone tried to poison the peregrines
that nested in Dalkey Quarry, using tethered pigeons coated in poison.
It was pure chance that a passer-by spotted the unfortunate pigeons
which had been hung on a string suspended from the top of the quarry.
Thankfully none of the peregrines were harmed and the adults went on
to fledge four young. The four chicks had been ringed by a Wildlife
Ranger while still in the nest and if it wasn’t for the fact they
had been ringed and were identifiable we wouldn’t know the dismal
fate of one of them. One of the four peregrines born in the quarry was
found dead in Northern Ireland in May. It had been shot, then its body
was thrown into a river along with another dead peregrine, a horrible
fate for such a beautiful creature. A fisherman, having spent a very
pleasant day by the Blackskull River in County Down, was on his way
back to his car when he spotted the birds, which were probably thrown
into the river from a nearby bridge. Luckily the fisherman realised
the implications and contacted the PSNI. The birds’ remains were
being analysed but there’s a slim chance of anyone being caught.
The Dalkey bird had travelled all the way north (the name peregrine
actually comes from the Latin word Peregrinus, a name originally meaning
“one from abroad”, that is, a foreigner, traveller, or pilgrim.
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The
bird is so named because they can travel huge distances) and possibly
had paired up with the bird it was found with, though they wouldn’t
breed in their first year. The fisherman who was very upset by his find
had actually posted photos of the bird’s bodies in the water on
a blog and they are a very distressing sight. Persecuted for taking
racing pigeons, which is totally natural to them, it’s shameful
to see the fastest creature on earth suffering such a pathetic fate. |