Irish Wildlife Observations 2012.

[cathalger]

Hi Corbyeire,

For all I know there are wild indigenous grey partridge doing fine in Cork where you saw them but you could run into one anywhere these days with reared birds being released for shooting. Small clubs and syndicates let out greys, red legs and pheasant all over the country.

Itd be nice to see a proper wild Irish grey partridge, maybe you have done, I think they must be one of the native Irish birds with the most severely reduced ranges of all.

[johnwest]

I know this is supposed to be wildLIFE observations, this is more about wildDEATH observations. I have frequently noticed numerous dead animals on the road within a short time period; yesterday on the way to fish I saw a dead rabbit, hedgehog, badger and hare, all fresh roadkill from the previous night. I wonder is this coincidence or do certain conditions (e.g. we are at Full Moon at present) increase the likelihood of animals travelling and being killed? No pictures as they wouldn't exactly be pretty!

[fishfeatures]

was out rock hopping last week and saw what I think was my very first stoat, little bugger wouldn't stay still long enough for a photo.

Now i ain't no Don Conroy , so I think it was a stoat , def not a pine marten, maybe a mink?? anyway nice to see one

Stoats are always a treat to see Fishfeatures, doesnt happen often. A mink would be fairly dark in comparison to a stoat and a good bit bigger unless it was a really young mink. Stoat would be reddish brown on the back and a white belly and chest if you got a look at it, wee black tipped tail? Elusive and fast moving?

stoat is was so ... thanks for that.. must keep an eye out at the mark for it in the future.

[chuckaroo]

I know this is supposed to be wildLIFE observations, this is more about wildDEATH observations. I have frequently noticed numerous dead animals on the road within a short time period; yesterday on the way to fish I saw a dead rabbit, hedgehog, badger and hare, all fresh roadkill from the previous night. I wonder is this coincidence or do certain conditions (e.g. we are at Full Moon at present) increase the likelihood of animals travelling and being killed? No pictures as they wouldn't exactly be pretty!

i was in donegal today fishing for salmon and on the way my mate hit a rabbit and a squirrel (both dead), a bird bounced off the windscreen (probably dead), a mouse ran across the road (we just missed it), and im sure we killed maybe half a dozen frogs. it was relentless. grim stuff the prick drives too fast!
only killed one salmon mind. still to get my first one

[cathalger]

Full on masscare Charlie, yeah only killed one salmon, probably filled the boot with them!

John I think I have noticed that before, and I'd say your right ok, sometimes theres a heap of stuff killed at the same time. Could be the moon, maybe just nice nights to be out on the move, I think theres something in it ansd I wouldnt doubt for a minute it was moon related, it seems to affect fish behaviour so why not mammals too?

[chuckaroo]

Full on masscare Charlie, yeah only killed one salmon, probably filled the boot with them!

did not indeed!
was thinking of turnin back for the dead rabbit and squirrel tho.. to salvage some fly-tying material. didnt get the chance - in too much haste to get fishin!

[Drew]

Was driving to work last week during a seriously heavy spell of rain (Had been like that for about 2 days), Coming out of my village and the otters what must have a set up the burn were crossing the road! Can only imagine the water coming down the burn was too much for them and they had to find another way up...

[cathalger]

Full on masscare Charlie, yeah only killed one salmon, probably filled the boot with them!

did not indeed!
was thinking of turnin back for the dead rabbit and squirrel tho.. to salvage some fly-tying material. didnt get the chance - in too much haste to get fishin!

Only jokin Charlie, youd do well to fill a boot with salmon. Yeah the squirrel tail very useful for all sorts of hairwing flies.

[corbyeire]

i know there was a national survey on biology.ie about 5 years ago in relation to road kill

there were peaks in the levels due to juvenilles leaving the nest and waking from hibernation etc.

[FisherKing]

Was out cutting wood a few weeks ago & came across sixteen Newts or (man keepers) as we used to call them as kids under the old rotted wood beside an old stone wall I never seen so many of them in one spot before most I ever across was two.I moved them to another damp area a few feet from where they were. I remember story's form the old people about a cure for burs if you licked the belly of the Man keepers however true it was & also seen a Red Squirrel jump in front of the car luckily she jumped back to safety this is only my second Red Squirrel to see in Sligo.

[blowin]

It's great to see the newts . I used to find the odd one around here but haven't done so for a couple of years now .
Re: the cure you mentioned , my neighbour is a very down to earth farmer who spent several years as a trucker in the States . Quite brash and definitely not overly superstitious --- told me ( when he was drunk) that he had licked the belly of a newt when young and had since healed several severe burns by licking them too . I would have taken that with a large pinch of salt except that his OH who is straight as a dye said she had witnessed it . Both were actually embarrassed to admit to it . So , who knows ??
ATB

[fishfeatures]

Was out cutting wood a few weeks ago & came across sixteen Newts or (man keepers) as we used to call them as kids under the old rotted wood beside an old stone wall I never seen so many of them in one spot before most I ever across was two.I moved them to another damp area a few feet from where they were. I remember story's form the old people about a cure for burs if you licked the belly of the Man keepers however true it was & also seen a Red Squirrel jump in front of the car luckily she jumped back to safety this is only my second Red Squirrel to see in Sligo.

OK never seen anything like that at this end of the country .!! without the photos I would be claiming BS...... what exactly are they?

[chuckaroo]

OK never seen anything like that at this end of the country .!! without the photos I would be claiming BS...... what exactly are they?

the clue to the answer to this question is in the 13th word of Fisherking's post.

[cathalger]

An elderly Tyrone man told me some years ago that when he was a boy the older ones would make them scared of man keepers to keep them away from wells or lint dubs or anywhere there was water that they wanted the children to keep clear of, they had some twist to it that the man keeper would get inside you or somethin, cant just remember the detail, must ask him. Great observation FisherKing. Another old fella locally here said they took man keepers to school and put them in the girls school bags, bet the newts enjoyed that. Havent really heard anyone else other than yourself using the name.

[gfkelly1969]

hi lads maybe some one can help me id the bird in the photo,sorry about the quality of the photo it was taken on the phone and zoomed on the computer

what bird.JPG

the bird was about the size of a blackbird and it was diving for food,it would stay 1 or 2 minutes under water,first time i have seen this type of bird
my first thoughts were that it might be a Storm-Petrel and i looked them up online,its looked similar to a Storm-Petrel but it looked a lot whiter
it was not a gull or a Fulmar,it was a lot smaller and had a different shape head
thanks for any help

[yappo]

Might be a kitiwake have a look here

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blac ... ttiwake/id

Yappo

[johnwest]

Lovely pictures and stories about the newts Fisherking, I suppose they were hibernating for the winter which seems to be on the way. I've never heard that name "man keeper" either.
I have seen a few eider ducks around Donegal Bay on my last couple of trips and yesterday I saw some Brent Geese which have recently arrived frtom Iceland/Greenland I think. The photos aren't great, the birds were at range and I had no telephoto lens.

[gfkelly1969]

Might be a kitiwake have a look here

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blac ... ttiwake/id

Yappo

thanks yappo it was a kitiwake i saw,it was like the First winter Black-legged_Kittiwake on the page thanks again

[chuckaroo]

Might be a kitiwake have a look here

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blac ... ttiwake/id

Yappo

thanks yappo it was a kitiwake i saw,it was like the First winter Black-legged_Kittiwake on the page thanks again

here's a pic i took back in September gfkelly1969:

kittiwakes.jpg

dont know much about birds but i have since learnt that they are both kitywakes
the top one is an adult bird with a yellow beak and the bottom one is a juvenile in it's first year with black beak
i was was surprised to learn that the bill turns colour!
the juvenile was a stunning little bird, especially in flight

[gfkelly1969]

Might be a kitiwake have a look here

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blac ... ttiwake/id

Yappo

thanks yappo it was a kitiwake i saw,it was like the First winter Black-legged_Kittiwake on the page thanks again

here's a pic i took back in September gfkelly1969:

kittiwakes.jpg

dont know much about birds but i have since learnt that they are both kitywakes
the top one is an adult bird with a yellow beak and the bottom one is a juvenile in it's first year with black beak
i was was surprised to learn that the bill turns colour!
the juvenile was a stunning little bird, especially in flight

thanks for the photo chuckaroo the kitiwake i saw was like the one with the black bill in your photo,i knew it was some thing different to what i normally see when it dived under water like a cormorant,i didn't see it fly,it swam off in to the distance