Taxidermists and all that!

The taxidermy industry must be very pleased with the Cabragh Wetlands, whichmay be committed to conserving life, but is not beyond making good use ofany corpses that are found in good condition. Our collection of stuffedcreatures is growing steadily, and at the time of typing this, I can see twopheasants, a shoveller duck, red squirrel, barn owl, stoat, kestrel, skuaand a splendid fox.These specimens were almost all found within or close to the wetlands; somewere road kills, though we must hope against hope that drivers mature andslow down so that the death toll on the roads is reduced. Have you everstopped to think about how many non-human lives are lost as a result of baddriving? If the global human loss to traffic accidents is around 50 million,the non-human toll must be in the billions by now. And we call it progress!Still, that fox is rather splendid. He has the softest coat of ginger-redfur, with surprisingly short black legs. The children will love the chanceto get up close to such a wild creature and even dare to put a finger in itsmouth and feel the points of his teeth. The tiny stoat has an even moreimpressive set of teeth, razor sharp and almost serrated.The skua is the odd one out, yet he really was found in the CabraghWetlands, as the Star told us in an article last autumn. Identification isstill not finalized, but it is most likely a young pomarine or arctic skua,probably bred off the west or north coast of Scotland and a summer visitorto Ireland. It perhaps lost its way in bad weather last October, came inlandand died of starvation in the Wetlands.As a frequent visitor to uninhabited Scottish islands, your correspondenthas first hand experience of being dive-bombed by arctic skuas, which areutterly fearless in defence of their nests. Skuas are guilty of robbery withviolence, harassing terns, auks and gulls until in panic they disgorge theirfood for the skua to steal. If you go near their nests, they will fly highand swoop down, often working in pairs to drive you away. And if you don'tgo, they will hit you, diving in feet first from behind and cracking you onthe head with those sharp webbed feet.We have placed our stuffed skua eight feet up a wall and you can get someidea of the thrill of him diving at you. Come and see him! And if you doencounter some poor creature on the road, stuff him in a bag, pop him in thefreezer and give us a call. Keep your local taxidermist in work!

Every little helps!

The nomination of the Cabragh Wetlands Trust for an All-Ireland Pride of Place Conservation Award is very good news both for the Trust and for the local community. North Tipperary County Council has made the nomination for a cross-border award, in conjunction with Cooperation Ireland. Whether or not we get to shake hands with the President at the autumn Awards Ceremony is perhaps immaterial….though it would be nice to win! What matters is that there is growing recognition at a national level of the key role that community groups play in preserving their local habitats.

It would be easy to leave ecological protection to government, whether at county, national or European levels, and they have vital roles to play in setting ground rules and providing expertise and watchdogs….and money. But we have to believe that we as individuals are the ultimate guardians of our own habitats. If we do not care for the health of our own piece of earth, why should anyone else? It would be good to think that it is morally uplifting for us to be involved, and certainly the best possible example and bequest to our children.

The recent death of Edward Lorenz robbed us of the man recognized as the developer of “Chaos Theory”. He once ran a weather-prediction programme on his computer and decided to double-check the results, but to save time reduced his figures from six decimal places to three, an apparently insignificant adjustment of one part in a thousand. The results were dramatically different, and the implications were developed in his 1972 talk: “Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?”

Small deviations, small actions, can have massive and unpredictable results. Chaos Theory has had a profound impact on scientific and social theory, resulting in “one of the most dramatic changes in mankind’s view of nature since …..Newton”. It’s up there with Darwin and Einstein.

We have to believe that what we do as individuals and a community matters. Who knows what difference putting a coin in a bucket might make, or teaching your child about flowers, or buying binoculars instead of an ipod, or adding your perspective, expertise and enthusiasm to the work of a local group. If we all act locally, we can make a difference globally.

Bird Ringing

The Munster Ringing group has been continuing its seven year programme of ringing birds at a number of sites across the region, to try and build up some solid data about what is happening to our bird populations in this time of environmental degradation. One of their regular ringing sites is the Cabragh Wetlands, and it is worth stopping if you see them at work – there is often something interesting to see.

A recent capture was a Common Grasshopper Warbler (locustella naevia) – a tiny, secretive bird with an olive-brown back, whitish underside and a faint white stripe over its eye. A very shy bird, it loves to hide in rough tussocky undergrowth and thickets, and will tolerate both damp and dry habitats. It must have found a perfect summer home at Cabragh after its extraordinary migration from sub-SaharanAfrica.

Its numbers have declined significantly in recent years, though it is still spread widely in Ireland and Britain. Loss of habitat appears to be the main cause; people are too quick to dismiss the sort of rough ground the grasshopper warbler loves as valueless.

When people are about, the grasshopper warbler will stay hidden (a sensible bird!), but you have a good chance of hearing it. Its call is easily confused with that of an insect, and has been compared to a mill- or spinning-wheel, or the winding mechanism of a fishing-rod reel. It seems to be able to throw its voice, like a ventriloquist, and the sound can carry over a mile on a still night. One estimate is that it can ‘sing’ 1400 double notes per minute, and up to 250,000 during a single night.

Preserve habitat, cherish and enjoy the presence of such amazing creatures.

Bats

As you walk around the Wetlands on these summer evenings one can see bats flying above you. With the launch of the new Batman film it is worth having a look at these fascinating creatures.

Bats are mammals which means that they are warm blooded, give birth to their young rather than lay eggs and also feed their young milk. They typically become active in late spring and early summer. A group of female bats come together to roost and form a nursery. Each female gives birth to a single baby that they can identify by its smell and sound. An interesting feature of bat behaviour is how they mate. Although mating will take place at this time of year (August) the female will not release her egg (ovulate) until next spring. She keeps the sperm with her as she hibernates and then will become pregnant next spring. As they hibernate over the winter their body temperature will drop to 8^oC.

The old wives tale that bats will get caught in your hair is not true. Although bats eyesight can be good for daytime, like humans they have poor eyesight at night. Therefore, bats locate their prey using a system known as echolocation. They emit high pitched sounds beyond the range of human hearing and by listening to the sound as it bounces off objects they can locate insects and other objects and tell how big it is and in what direction it is moving. Using special equipment we have been able to record the bat sounds from Cabragh Wetlands and these can be heard on www.cabraghwetlands.ie. Come out and see them some evening – we promise with their expert echolocation they won’t get caught in your hair!