Birds

So many good people have devoted a lot of time and money to feeding the birds during this very cold winter. Whether helping the birds in your garden or feeding the ducks at your local pond, everyone deserves praise for their generous efforts. Now, with spring surely just a few weeks away, can we ask you to help out again? This is the ideal time for getting your nestboxes sorted.



With older rough-walled buildings gradually disappearing from the countryside and walls, hedges and woodlands all under a bit of pressure, anything we can do in our gardens to help the local birds to build nests, sit on their eggs and raise a brood of chicks is to be welcomed. Garden centres and pet shops are obvious places to look for commercially designed birdhouses, but if you fancy making your own, drop by the Cabragh Wetland Centre one morning and I am sure someone will find you an easy design to take home.



Make sure you get boxes that are suitable for the birds in your neighbourhood – some are very specialist and may be designed to be attached high on the wall of a house. If you have space and can put up several boxes, then get a variety of types. A box with a small hole in the front will attract garden regulars like tits, sparrows and nuthatches, and if the hole is larger then bigger birds like starlings will take over. This sort of box can be placed in a hedge, attached to a tree or secured to the wall of your house or shed.



Robins, wrens and pied wagtails do not normally nest in holes, so a small, open fronted box is better for them. House martins and swifts like to nest in communities tucked up under the rafters of your roof, so two boxes near each other is desirable.



Placement is crucial. Think about predators in your area. Cats are so agile and climb so well that they are a huge threat to nests, so look for a site two to five metres high and well away from overhanging branches which might be a launch pad for your local puss. Do not put a perch under the entrance hole – it will make access easier for predators and also allow noisy house sparrows the chance to sit near the nest and upset the occupants, perhaps driving them away.



Another key issue is to face your box the right way. If you face it south or southwest, there is a danger of too much sun and wind getting into the heart of the nest, and this can dehydrate and kill the defenceless chicks. So north to east is the best direction for the opening. Another important tip is to keep nestboxes well away from the place where you feed the birds. Feeding sites will always be very busy, with noise, squabbling and a lot of species very active, all of which will discourage parents from choosing a nesting site nearby.



There are a lot of things to bear in mind, not least trying to ensure that you are rewarded for your community spirit by having a good view of nesting sites. So act now to get boxes up, and do drop in to Cabragh Wetlands Centre or contact us by e-mail (cabraghwetlands@eircom.net) if you want more advice.

Squirrels & Pine Martens

There are advertisements in the Shinrone area asking for information about red and grey squirrels and the elusive pine marten. A group is trying to collate information about these three species, of which two might be considered native to Ireland. The story is well-enough known. Red squirrels thrived here for centuries, but have been under threat ever since their grey cousins were introduced from America. Gradually the reds have been pushed back, clinging to ever smaller pockets of territory while the more aggressive greys expanded their range and took over the prime sites. It is hoped that the Shannon will provide some sort of barrier to the western spread of the greys, but by and large the outlook for the red squirrel is not good.



Now it seems as if the pine marten may be helping to restore some sort of balance. Its numbers are rising and they are serial hunters of grey squirrels, providing a much-needed natural predator to keep numbers under control. Information is sought from people who have seen all three species living, and hence interacting, in the same neighbourhood.



Squirrels are rodents, of which there are about 2,000 known species, including rats, mice, marmots, prairie dogs, beavers, voles and moles. About 40% of mammals are rodents and they are some of the most successful breeders and colonisers on the planet, moving in to just about every habitat you can think of. Red squirrels are among the most endearing. They make a nest or “drey” and are imperfect and erratic hibernators, driven inside to sleep only in severe weather. They rarely spend the whole winter in a state of coma, but will often pop out to look for nuts they have buried in their winter store.



Squirrels hurriedly dig shallow holes, in which they will deposit a nut, usually hazel nuts or acorns. The process is haphazard and unmethodical, and there is no reason to suppose that they ever recover more than a small proportion of what they have buried. This is almost certainly a major reason why oak trees tend to grow in unexpected places (along with the less pleasant bowel habits of horses and pigs). Our squirrel will smooth the soil over the hastily buried nuts, and then moves on to a new site until a vast store is laid down throughout the woodland to see him through the coming winter.



The more aggressive grey squirrels are an alien introduction from America, and they lack the plumed ears, grace and fascination of our native reds. They have gained a bad reputation as thieves, snatching what they can from bird tables and birds’ nests. They have been remarkably successful in spreading far and wide across Ireland, and once they move into an area, you will not see much of the downtrodden reds.



The pine marten is a handsome cat-like creature. They are mustelids, related to badgers, otters, mink and weasel. Pine marten numbers were driven to the brink of extinction because of the cutting down of forests and woodland. They are by nature arboreal (tree-dwelling) but have been forced to ground level and have learned to adapt by taking on a totally new way of life. This tree loving beast of the old woodlands and pine forests is now a raider of hen houses and underground hunter. Ducks, hens, rabbits and rats are all favourites of this highly carnivorous hunter. Nothing is safe from them. They will search the tree canopy for nests and eggs, burrow into rabbit holes, grab fish, frogs, newts and lizards out of streams and ponds. Insects and berries are also favourites.



Reafforestation has played a major part in the growth of pine marten populations in Ireland and Scotland. Legal changes give them much needed protection, not least by stopping the use of the terrible gin traps that were once far too common in the countryside and nearly exterminated this much needed predator. Nature needs a balance of species, and a flourishing pine marten population will help to control rats and grey squirrels. If you can provide information about these three species, contact us at Cabragh Wetlands and we will pass it on - cabraghwetlands@eircom.net, or telephone 0504-43879. Visit our website at www.cabraghwetlands,ie.

Using our Earth wisely

In 2005 the United Nations published a landmark study called the ‘Millennium Ecosystem Assessment’ It stated that ‘everyone in the world depends completely on Earth’s ecosystems for food, water, disease management, climate regulation, spiritual fulfilment and aesthetic enjoyment’. While that may seem obvious, our behaviour sometimes appears to put the earth’s systems under unreasonable strain. Our extractive economy is stretching the resilience of the planet’s resources to near breaking point. So to be reminded that we all depend completely on our earth’s systems does make sense.



The study found that we are using 60% of available resources unsustainably, notably fresh water and marine fisheries, and it concluded ‘over the past 50 years humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fibre and fuel.’



This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on earth. The distinguished primatologist Jane Goodall has written recently that mankind is causing the sixth mass extermination of species in the history of the planet, and that it is probably unstoppable. So while one part of the UN study affirms that everyone (and everything) in the world depends completely on earth’s ecosystems, the same study is confirming that we are using these resources in an unsustainable way – indeed we destroying the life-support systems that created and support us.



We all have to budget in order to live. Imagine trying to run a house where the weekly shop is €300 and the weekly income is €200.Soon enough action would have to be taken to balance the books.



The bigger budget of the earth is really no different. Currently we are using up what the planet can produce by September of each year. From then until December we are dipping into the earth’s reserves. Unless the deposit account is very large we all know we can only dip into it for so long. There are adjustments which we need to make and it is well within our capacity to respond. The first steps are to acknowledge that there is a problem and that business as usual is not an option for us or our children.



By putting our heads together and working together we can begin to work within earth’s budget, but we do need to give it our attention. That is what we are trying to encourage at Cabragh Wetlands. We encourage you to share your thoughts, offer your advice, respond to our efforts and to get involved. Thoughts for these articles will also be passed on and used whenever possible. Contact us via e-mail at cabraghwetlands@eircom.net and visit our website at www.cabraghwetlands.ie.