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!