Canoe birding paddle on lough oughter

cavan lakes have lots of shoreline and scrub

Recent paddle on the lakes from carrawtraw got the following bird list.

Sand martins.   ;  Nesting in masonry under Carratraw bridge
House Martin
Swallow
Meadow pipit   ;singing outside center
Pied Wagtail   ; feeding on grass outside center  
4 Hooded crows ; possibly this years young
10 (Approx) Lapwing   ;migratory ( finished breeding elsewhere )
3 young great crested grebes  and two adults
chaffinch
greenfinch
heron  1 young  and1 adult
coot probably about 4
9 mute swans non breeding adults
little grebe
dunnock
reed bunting
sedge warbler
water rail
4 buzzard ; likely to have been newly fledged young and adults.

 

Next Paddle is on 15th  August see ecotrails  

 

 

Grasshoppers

This is not a part of the world you would associate with grasshoppers ( too wet) but they are singing away on the farm notably in the areas that have not been “improved”, and get no fertiliser. I also had a grasshopper warbler on the farm this week  which I don’t think breeds on the farm although we do have suitable habitat. Will have to get up early next year in May or June to double check. I only got them in one tetrad  of the eight I did a timed Tetrad in this 10km square last year for the Atlas, but obviously there could be some breeding not too far away.

Grasshopper photographed in July, co. Cavan

 

Butterfly survey and watching dragons

I walk a set route round the farm every week in order to do a butterfly  survey. The results will go to the Biodiversity Data Center in Waterford. As July comes to an end the number of ringlets is going down and the green veined whites seem to be at a peak. It also allows me to notice the dragonflies each week. The amber winged hawkers have been out for a couple of weeks now. These are some of the biggest dragonflies in the district and easily identified by their brown wings. I was able to confirm that we have the hairy dragonfly on the farm  this spring which delighted me. Today was the first time I noticed a darter on the farm this year . Probably a common darter but I got only a brief glance and there did not seem to be many yet.

mating pair of amber winged hawker Co. Cavan

 

Pond dipping for discovery days at Bear Essentials

young smooth newt

The weather has been very unpredictable and showery in July, here in  County Cavan. I have run several discovery workshops for children and young people at the Silver bear center in Bawnboy. Fortunately, despite the weather , the pond creatures have provided lots of interest. The workshop for children with autism was a learning experience for me and very enjoyable.  

great diving beetle

 

Newspapers and birds

I write a piece for the Cavan Post to put Birdwatch Ireland and the local branch in the paper I thought I would post up my efforts on the web too !

Birds and well being

The best things in life are free
But you can keep ’em for the birds and bees
Money
That’s what I want

So goes the song and in many cases it can appear that environmental protection and job creation or rural development are at loggerheads.

However Ireland has changed along with Western Europe. For large numbers of people contact with the natural world in their day to day lives is more difficult. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in UK invited members to post on line the magical moments involving wildlife that moved or inspired them. The response was huge. People described seeing bright red bullfinches on dull January days and breathtaking bluebell woods in May and many encounters with wildlife. It is worth taking a browse through the responses simply called “RSPB moments”. It also shows how important to many of us these moments are.
 More serious medical research has shown that contact with the natural world has an extremely beneficial effect on our health. Apart from the obvious fitness aspects of getting out and active in the outdoors the more subtle impact on mental health and mind, body and soul cannot be under estimated.
Governments are now starting to put costs on environmental degradation and species loss. Pollination done by insects is worth vast sums. Soil improvement achieved by earthworms is apparently worth 700 million euro annually to Ireland. Our wetlands and bogs act as sponges soaking up floods.
We promote our tourism image as green and natural . We also promote our food exports from a green, safe country. Both industries are worth millions and our customers in Western Europe are increasingly aware of environmental issues.
 The membership of the RSPB in the UK is now three million. The equivalent organisation in Germany has a membership of 4 million. Birdwatch Ireland has membership of 14 thousand. Birdwatch Irelands objective is to protect wild birds and their habitats. We are also a group of people who simply enjoy the magical moments that watching wildlife brings. www.Birdwatchireland. ie .
Local branch contact (087) 6699681

Also in the news is the turf wars of slieve rushen http://tinyurl.com/n8kqem

I have had a great spring doing atlas work up there so I have strong opinions on the need for conservation.

Billberries are ripe now on the slopes of slieve Rushen

 

Moths, slugs ,newts and an otter

This piece of stick is a moth called buff arches

The Discovery Day at Bear Essentials  went off with a bang since we started off with a thunder storm. Thundery weather is great for moths and slugs and we had good collection in the moth trap . The sugar refuges provided lots of slugs for us to look at.

Garden Tiger moth

eft or young newt

The parents and children who came all had a good time and stuffed a variety of cuddly creatures indoors during the thunder storm. Once it cleared up we got outside to look for bugs. I also managed to spot an otter crossing the road outside Bear essentials so that made my day.

 

sand martins nesting in masonry

Three sandmartin nests in holes inside archway (see below)

I had not realised how much sand martins were using buildings to nest in.

Main street Killeshandra ,sand martins nest site

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Killeshandra ,Co. Cavan ,main street the sand martins are nesting under an archway. The other sites I know of , so far are:  under Carratraw bridge, the east face of  Butlers bridge, Rathkenny bridge (face) over the Annalee river and the masonry banks of the Kinnypottle river at Water street, Cavan town. 

 

 

More Damsels

lake near keshcarrigan home to irish damselfly

Leitrim is a stronghold of this unusual damselfly, Coenagrion lunulatum which is also found in Finland but rare in the rest of western europe 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

male and female banded jewelwing

 

These damsels out now like slow moving rivers such as the Cullies river which also has kingfishers breeding 

 

coenagrion puella seems to be the most common damsel on our farm at the moment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Pondipping

head and legs of caddis fly larvae

caddis case made of pieces of plant material

diving beetle , killeshandra

Mayfly larvae

dragonfly nymph possibly 4 spot chaser

Four spotted Chaser

 Had a marvellous time last week  pond dipping with children from Mullagh National school. The teachers were excellent at organizing the event the children interested and well behaved. Every one had a great time.

water snails in May

Mullagh lake has problems and had a strong algal bloom  last week however we managed to find lots of rams horn snails, freshwater shrimps, hoglice, damselfly larvae, caddis fly larvae, midge larvae , water boatmen, mayfly larvae ( small numbers) water scorpion and great diving beetle.

Warm weather brought out the damselflies on our own lake and bog.

 I was delighted to watch four- spotted chasers (Libellula quadrimaculata )egg laying and various chases and courtships. Also present was another type probably( Brachytron pratense) or hairy dragonfly.

 

Two different species above

 

rare plant toothwort

parasitic plant

I found this in hedgerow ,  in the last week of April, in Butlers Bridge Co. Cavan . The plant has no chlorophyll and parasitises hazel bushes