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The Blackbird Page

You can watch birds almost anywhere, in your back garden, in the heart of the city, in the depths of the countryside.  I wonder if the mining fraternity still carry a canary with them to detect bad gas in their workplace.  If they do then you see the truth in what I say about watching birds almost anywhere.  The dates below will bring you to some of my recent observations. The setting is Clondalkin, about seven miles west of Dublin City centre in Ireland.  Click on a Date and have a look or even start at the top and read your way down. Cheers. 

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Name:   Val Byrne

vebyrne@eircom.net

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April 24 Clondalkin Ireland

We have a great many birds in our small back garden right through the year. To a large extent they are the same birds all the time. The sparrow is of course the most numerous, and they live all the year round in the roof of the house. They number about 20 at the best of times and will feed from the hanging peanut feeder or from the ground. Most of the other birds seem to appear in pairs or singly.

Wrens, Robins, Thrushes, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinches, Magpies, Pigeons, Collared Doves, Crows and of course the Blackbirds all co-exist without any apparent trouble. I guess they know how to gauge and respect each other's sense of space.

We seem to have two pairs of Blackbirds. One of the males has a few very distinctive musical phrases in his song which makes him immediately identifiable. Our Carport which is only half roofed is now the site of the nest which the Female of this pair has built on one of the shelves. Last week it had one egg in it. Now it has four and she spends most of the day sitting on these eggs.

Across the way on the other side of the carport, about 8 feet away, a robin has built a nest on another shelf and she is also sitting. I have not been able to determine yet the egg situation with the robin as I have been unable to see both birds off the nests at the same time. However I hope to remedy this soon.

April 26

A Beautiful Goldfinch gave us a visit today. He didn't stay very long but he is the first one I have seen for a long long time, so it's nice to know that there are still some left around. I will keep a lookout for this fellow again as he/she may be nesting nearby.

The blackbird is now spending more time on the nest. She doesn't leave it as often as she used to do. I expect that when the eggs hatch out she will be in and out very often bringing food to the chicks.

I see less and less of the robin also but I know that she is still there as she can be seen going in or out occasionly.

April 27

Today is a special day. The swallows returned to the Hazelhatch today. They are swooping up and down the canal feeding on the flys as they go. I saw one sitting on a wire for quite a long time this-evening so he must have been tired after his journey. They come all the way from Africa back to the same place they nested last year or back to where they were born. And we think we're smart.

While I'm on about the Hazeler, two Jackdaws nested in a disused chimney pot on top of the house across the road last year. I've just noticed that they are at it again in the same chimney pot this year. Good luck to them.

April 28

I've just found out something about the robin's nest in the garage. The female bird is not going and coming at all. It's the male bird that is doing all the coming and going, bringing food to the female. So theirs is very much a joint effort. The blackbird on the other hand seems to be left to her own devices while her partner shows off his singing abilities from the treetops.

We go down to Lough Ennel sometimes to visit the swans. You can go right to the lake shore. If you stand there with a piece of bread in your hand you will be quickly surrounded by 30 or 40 swans all trying to take the bread from your hand. They have strong beaks but no teeth to talk of, so they don't hurt at all. They remind me of the Children of Lir

If you go to read the Children of Lir story, just click the Close X Button at the top right of it's window to return to here.

As I type I can hear a male Chaffinch chirping outside. It's the first time I've heard him this year. They seem to be independant sort of birds. They flit around in pairs among the branches of the trees, not mixing with the sparrows at all. They feed from the ground or from the hanging feeder. The male does all the singing and is more colourful than the female.

May 02

Well, May Day has come and gone. It didn't seem to bother the birds.

So far I've little to report on my two shelf nesters. Both the blackbird and the robin are still sitting, with some to-ing and fro-ing for food, diversion and fresh air. They don't seem to be upset by us going into the garage but we do go easy.
It makes a difference having these birds instead of the magpie I had a couple of years ago. He was a sorry sight. He obviously had some difference of opinion with some of his colleagues, so they set about him in a big way. Any time they spotted him they gave chase and as good as nearly killed him. Eventually he took refuge in my garage. Remember the half roof.

The magpie I think is a very clever bird. He is not as bird-brained as he is bird. My fellow, once he discovered a safe haven made himself at home on one of the shelves. He could have been there for some time before I noticed him. But one day he blinked and that was what brought him to my attention. You know the way you spot things like that out of the corner of your eye. Like when you spot a spider traipsing across the floor while you are watching television. He used to go out for food but almost always wound up being chased again by his enemies. He used to come racing for the garage with the other two in hot pursuit. He would come in at just the right height and when level with the break in the roof he would suddenly drop by a few inches so that he continued his flight under the roof while the other two continued over it. At this point I am certain that he would breath a sigh of relief and think what dummies the other guys were.

May 04

Well, I've been holding my breath for the last few days. On Thursday May 3 I checked the Blackbirds nest. Wham!! 4 chicks. But I thought they were all dead. Well no, they're not all dead. They're all alive, but they spend most of their time sleeping. I get to look at them with a mirror when the blackbird goes out for more food. It seems as if they don't need very much food at the moment, but as they get bigger they will eat more and keep the blackbird much busier. The bird is very cautious in her approach to the nest. She never flies in to it. When she has collected enough food by way of spiders and worms, she makes her way to the driveway in front of the house and lands on the ground. After a short while she goes in under the garage door where there is a little opening. She then runs all the way across the garage floor and hops up on the wheel of my bicycle. She stays there for a while checking things out. She then hops a little higher to the back of a high chair. This chair, oddly enough is called a perch. After some time on the chair she makes the final hop to the shelf and hops over to the nest where dispensing into open beaks takes place. This routine is the same every time.

The robin is still there on the other shelf. For a while I thought she had deserted. But no. I still haven't been able to see into it's nest. The last time I tried to look in I nearly got an eye full of robin, so I'm more cautious about it now. I don't want to frighten the birds off the nest, now that they've got this far.

May 6

We will get our free-range eggs today. Hens eggs of course. I think they are Rhode Island Reds. Not Commmi reds. Just Reds. Little red hens. God Ray, I think I'm loosing it.!!!

Top   Calender

May 8

We got our free-range eggs on Sunday. The hens are Rhode Island Reds. I verified that. They spend all day out in the fields eating spiders and worms and seeds and anything else they can find. But they get some sort of supplementary feed as well. Then they are brought in at night and presumably lay a few eggs before they go out again in the morning. That one on the left looks vaguely familiar. No, it couldn't be.

I bartered the eggs for some lovely hydroponic tomatoes. The plants are grown in water, with no soil at all being involved. All the required food is added to the water in a controlled way. They really come out good with a lovely tender skin and a good flavour. Thanks to Newcastle Ray

The blackbird is going in and out more often now as the pangs of hunger have to be satisfied on a more regular basis. There's definitely 4 chicks there and all of them seem to be OK. I must say it's very difficult to tell by looking at them. They look so miserable. But the fact that they are all eating and are all still alive must mean they are OK. I wonder will they all make the grade. The question is relevent. Yesterday (Monday) I found a chick from unknown quarters on the ground outside the front of the house. I spent quite some time looking for the nest he might have come from. But alas agus faraor I could find no sign of one, so I guess he had to go by way of the cold and starvation. Nature, with all it's benevolence has a very hard side too.

I see I have had two new visitors to my guest book. Hello Clodagh. Hello Francine. So now I have had 4 visitors. One of them was me myself and I. Another was Clondalkin Ray. And then we have Clodagh and Francine. The biggest problem with web sights is to get people to them. You can have the best sight in the world but if people dont know it's there you might as well not have it at all. That's why sites are continually advertised on television. So having a site doesn't mean that your advertising bill will go down. It might well go up!!! However, once you have got people to your site via your advertising, you can tell them an awful lot more about your products and services than you ever could in your ad. And again once you have got them there you can do business with them there and then.

May 10

Well Here's some news for you. That old male blackbird has redeemed himself. He has obviousley been shown where the nest is and is now actively involved in the feeding program. I suspect that all along he had no idea where the nest was. And maybe that was how the female wanted it to be. But now that she needs help he has been drafted in.

The two robins are working feverishly bringing food to their nest which I still haven't seen into. So I can tell you nothing about the chicks there. But the blackbird chicks seem to be gaining strength now and are stretching well up for their food.

May 11

I'm sitting in the Hazeler looking out at quite a drab sky though it's not cold. I am watching the jackdaws coming and going to their chimney nest. Those jackdaw chicks must be real hungry because the time between mouthfulls is anything between 30 and 40 minutes. They must be starving. In the meantime the swallows are ducking and diving and swooping all over the place up and down the canal and the adjacent fields. It's bright now until almost 10 o'clock and I think that's why those birds come here to breed. It gives them a longer feeding time than if they were further south and presumably the food they want is here as well. A swan flew past the Hazeler the other day quite low. He was moving to a new spot on the canal closer to Clondalkin. Probably around the 12th Lock.

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May 15

Location, location, location. It's just as important for birds as it is for people. A nest on a shelf in a garage full of junk seemed like a great idea at the time I'm sure. It's in out of the wind and rain, and there are no cats skulking around and no magpies looking to raid the nest. But what's this. All of a sudden these little fellows think there big enough to stand up and have a look around. So when I went out one day for something there's this one standing on the edge of the nest surveying his surroundings for the first time. I quietly withdraw. He is unperturbed. But now I begin to see some problems on the horizon. And sure enough they come to pass.

May 18

I guess these birds are at the young teenager stage now so that's why they think they know it all after one or two looks around. Out they hop and get spread out all over the garage falling into boxes and behind coal bunkers and into the carrier on the back of the bicycle. Meanwhile the blackbird parents come back with food and find an empty nest. They go berserk and start flying in and out and all around about looking for these little, you know I'm looking for the right word here and it has come to me, but I'd better not use it lest I offend my readers. Things got so bad that the parents stopped coming in with food for a day or two and I really got worried. Then when I stepped into the garage one day one of the little fellows made an abortive attempt to fly through the glass window of the back door. He finished up on his back on the floor with a serious pain in his head and both legs gesticulating skywards. I picked him up and put him back into the nest where he stayed for quite some time. The Parent birds have concluded that looking for the guys up and down the estate is a total waste of time and have reverted to coming to the garage. Much noise making seems to have coaxed out the little fellows to where they can be seen. Unfortunately they are all in different places and feeding has now become a great problem. However they are working away at it, but at any time I can only account for two of our heros. I wonder where the others are. Deep thoughts..

May 19

Even deeper thoughts...I can now account for only one of the young blackbirds. The parent birds are still coming in to feed him but he makes it as difficult as possible for them. He keeps on moving around the garage and is in a different place every time they come in. They make chuckling sounds in their throat to announce themselves and I presume that this causes him to reveal himself. He has started to chirp as well now.

May 20

Well today I can account for none of the blackbirds. I can only assume (because I don't want to assume anything else) that they are all out in the trees and bushes in either the front or back garden. This seems reasonable because the parent birds are still going around collecting as much food as they can carry. Nevertheless, I think this last few days have been the most dangerous time for the blakckbirds.

The robins on the other hand seem to have avoided some of the dangers associated with hopping around on a garage floor full of junk. I have noticed that they fly directly away from the nest and skip the garage floor bit.

May 21

The garage seems now to be well and truly empty. All the birds have left....

May 25

Look at the two fellows on the left. Well they're probably not two fellows, They're probably a fellow and a girl. Crows are real family birds. They are very gregarious flying around in large flocks during the day and yet maintaining a special pair relationship. They live in rookeries. What's a rookerie Dad. It's a group of trees in which, in their wisdom, crows decide it would be a good place to build a few nests and set up home. So you will seldom see one crow's nest on it's own. Magpies on the other hand tend to nest further apart from each other even though they are members of the crow family. Crows seem to be intelligent birds doing things with a sense of purpose. They have a certain arrogance as well. I'm sure you have noticed the way they give a little hop out of the way on the roadside as you drive towards them. They always leave it 'till the last minute and then move only just enough to prevent being run over.




There's a pied crow on the left. He looks like a Magpie doesn't he. I love to see crows going home in the evening. They're like a load of fellows going home after a football match all heading in different directions and yet all going in the same direction. They look totally disorganised. It's as though they are changing company all the time as they fly. "I'm going over to talk to that fellow", " That's all right Jack, I'm going over to talk to your one over there". "That's OK, Say hello to your man over there for me while your at it". They're criss-crossing all the time as they fly. And then you have the straglers. The lone bird who stayed in the field too long and barely makes it home before dark.

Occasionally you will get a pair of crows nesting away from the conventional rookery. It may be another case of "It seemed like a good idea at the time". I learned the other day that a pair of crows built a nest under an over-hanging ledge of a roof of a warehouse. This guy had reason to go onto the roof to do some work and unwittingly got too close to the nest. Before he knew it one of the crows set about him giving him a few smart taps on the back of the head with his chisel of a beak. This was enough to land him in hospital for the rest of the day and now he appears complete with head bandage and a red face trying to explain how he was set upon by a crow. I am indebted to Clondalkin Ray who was the source of this information.

May 26

I meant to say it before but I only ever saw one baby robin leaving the garage. I decided to have a look into the nest today and lo and behold there are three eggs in it. So now I am completely confused. Are these three eggs that didn't hatch, or are they three new eggs. I must keep a closer watch on trafic in and out of the garage again to see if a robin goes in or out. But I do know that the robins are feeding a young one. They are collecting food in the back garden all the time. But the young one must have taken up residence in the garden next door because that's where they are taking the food.

May 29

A small diversion now for a contribution from one of my readers regarding crows and a particular dog who thinks that a particular man who shall be nameless is an even bigger dog than he.

On the intelligence of crows

I can vouch for this trait. I like to observe the antics of the huge gray-breasted crows. Im sure there is an official name for them; crows that frequent my garden; home to a simple but happy white terrier.

The westie gets fed twice most days; morning and evening; the crows know this. I know because the crows like to observe the antics of the man and the dog that frequent the same garden. It works like this;

At feeding time, even before I go out with the food bowl, there's often one or two, but rarely more than two of these crows perched on the electric wires, which run the length of the garden.

It's quite obvious that they are watching and waiting. They seem impatient, not staying in one spot fore more than 30 seconds to a minute. They move from wire to pole to rooftop etc. in random succession. It almost seems like they are thinking, get on with it; we all know what comes next, and we are hungry.

Then, when the food is out, they start their work. One will swoop down to the grass and land a safe distance from the eating dog. If the dog ignores him, he will hop a foot or so closer until the dog is enticed into giving chase. Then the other will take advantage of the confusion down below, and swoop in for the kill; a dog-nut or two, and loft away while the dog is at the other end of the garden wondering 'how come I can never catch a crow' they're just too clever to get caught by a simple white terrier

The terrier is of course a good natured soul, and when he's had his fill, he either retires to one of his many chill-out spots, or merrily sniffs his way around the garden, and lazily ignores the crows as they cautiously steal the nuts from his food bowl. He sometimes even relaxes and watches them with a casual interest.

It is therefore somewhat ironic that the only creature who genuinely worries this terrier is a man who shares a common interest with him; That is, they are both watchers of birds. But that's an other story.
He thinks I'm a bigger dog than he is!!!

Top  Calender

June 3

Well, the news on the blackbird front is this. It looks as though only one blackbird chick survived unless something happens to suggest otherwise in the next day or two. The one definite survivor has announced himself by appearing openly in the back garden. Mind you, I knew he was there somewhere because the parents have been collectin anything they can get their beaks on right through until now, and still are. He appeared yesterday looking very healthy indeed. He is a good shade of brown with a suggestion of speckling on the front, but I quess that in time he will turn jet black if a male but not so black if a female, Forgive me for refering to him as "he" all the time when I don't even know what he is yet. I would hate to be referring to him as an "it". So "he" it is..I will be looking out to see if any more of his kin show themselves in the next few days. I hope at least one more shows up.

Now, regarding the robin. One young robin definitely left the nest and can now be seen feeding in the back garden. Some times he feeds himself from the ground mixing with the sparrow, and if you can't pick him out just watch until something happens to cause the sparrows to up and away, which invariably it does, the young robin will be the only one to stay where he is. I notice too that sometimes he stands and does a lot of flurrying with his wings and making little squeaks in the presence of a parent robin as though waiting to be fed. If the parent flys into a tree the young one ups and flys after him to the same branch. But what is going on in the garage. Do you remember I found that there were three eggs left in the nest. Well there is a robin still going in and presumably sitting on them. I'm really puzzled by this. It would seem to suggest that the pair have now split to take care of the two parts of the family, the as yet unborn part on the one hand and the fellow being fed in the garden on the other.

A lovely pair of chaffinches have been nesting somewhere nearby but I don't know where. They are also collecting lots of food from the ground and so are feeding young one. In fact, I think i might have seen a young one. He had all the feather patterns of a male bird except for the lovely red colouring which the adult male has. But he was not at all as plain as the female chaffinch.

From the comfort of the Hazeler over the last few days I have been watching a willy wagtail. He seems to have a nest in a hole in the wall opposite the front window. He collects all his food in the carpark and then flys up onto a telephone wire and surveys the place for a while. He seems to spot food from there and every now and then drops suddenly to the ground, picks up a few bits and straight up again to the wire. Eventually he flys in a twisting fashion to the nest as though to mislead, rather than going in a straight line. He did this for as long as I was there, which was probably too long. Say no more. The pint was good and the craic was mighty. Oh, while I'm at it, The jackdaw is still feeding the family in the chimney pot. I spotted him going in a few times yesterday. About every 15 minutes.

Now. We have a poor little magpie in the back garden. He is young, skinny and skrawney, very unsure of himself and a bit nervous as magpies are anyway. I suspect that he fell from his nest at an inappropriate time and was refused re-entry. Didn't have a pass-out I suppose. So now he is feeding himself. When I saw him first about a week ago he would pick up a piece of food and then put his head in the air to get the food to fall into his mouth. He has obviously got enough this way to keep him going. Every now and then adult magpies come and assault him badly and he has to mak a run for it. Does that ring any bells. Do you remember my magpie of a couple of years ago in the garage. I'm beginning to think that there is a bit of sociological behaviour attached to the magpie that I don't know about. Anyway I think this fellow is going to survive because over the week he has definitely improved.

I hear a bird singing profusely over the last few weeks. I can't put a name on him. I first noticed him down near Killucan beside the canal. But now I hear one all the time out around the house. The trouble is that I can't ever see him. If I find out what he is I will let you know. Watch this space.

June 5

Newcastle Ray tells me it might be a Willow Warbler. Ray knows his birds so I'll take his word for that. This information was gleaned yesterday while gazing through the front window of the Hazeler when again I saw the jackdaw going into the chimney across the road and the willy wagtails tending to their little ones in the hole in the wall.

June 11

The news on the chaffinches is good. Early yesterday morning when I looked out into the back garden there were 5 young ones being fed by the male parent. They are all able to fly and seem to be able to feed themselves now and again. But I think they don't really know what to look for because they give it up after a short while and resort to being fed by Dad. They all go through the same ritual when being fed this way. As the parent bird approaches with a morsel they wave their heads from side to side in a little frenzy and then wait for the next bit. It's as though they were watching a very fast game of tennis. I mentioned earlier that they didn't seem to mix with the sparrows but in fact they do; to the extent that at times the sparrows have to jump over them to get to their next spot on the ground. They also spend a lot of time sitting on branches of trees waiting for the parent bird to appear with some food. The ritual there is just the same. A fast game of tennis and then eat.

There does seem to be just one blackbird. I am unable to account for the other three. Perhaps the cats can. Who knows? The survivor is braver now, coming out from under the bushes more often but when an alert happens and all the other birds take flight he runs into the bushes again. This could be his downfall, as that is where the cat will some day be waiting. Let's hope not.

The robins are doing OK. I see at least one being fed in the back garden and there is an adult bird going in and out of the garage on a regular basis. So there is more hatching going on.

June 13

Hello to Dave and Rosanna in the Normandy who have just joined the elite group of signatories of my guestbook. You know, this page is full of silly stuff about birds but it doesnt have to be all birds and occasionally I will wander off somewhere else. A Bird's Eye View came into my mind a while ago. Where would you get one of them while still standing on the ground. Well we went down the Mullingar road there last year and went on beyond Mullingar on the Ballymore road to the Hill of Uisneach. It is only about 600 feet above sea level at the top but because it stands in the middle of the flat central plain which makes up much of the acreage of Ireland, you get a most fantastic 360 degree view of the country-side around. For many many centuries the reigning Kings of Ireland held court here with their chieftons and subjects to bring in laws, carry out marriages, oversee sporting occasions etc.

June 16

Well well well ! ! ! I think this calls for a small celebration or even a big one. Two more baby blackbirds have appeared out of the bushes and are now feeding themselves off the ground quite openly. So now there are 3. They are quite happy mixing with all the sparrows which numbered about 15 yesterday when I saw them. At times when I look out I can see all at the one time, the parent blackbirds, 3 young ones, 6 chaffinches, about 10 sparrows, an intruding blackbird who collects food and then flies out, 2 colored doves, a wood pigeon, a robin and a young one. (The young Robin is called a juvinile) The swooping in of the magpie usually puts an end to all this collective feeding much to his delight I'm sure. He then goes around collecting the choicest pieces for himself or his family, because he carries away quite a lot at times. He also buries a lot of stuff. That's an act of forward planning on his part. I don't know if he ever comes back for the buried food or even if he would be able to find it again if he wanted to. The Back lawn is ideal for this burying. First he looks for a good spot. This will usually be where some moss is growing and I have plenty of that. He then picks away some of the moss to expose the ground below. He then picks up the piece of food and pushes it into the ground and then he replaces the moss on top of the food. All this sort of activity requires a high level of intelligence. I know some would say "no, that's not intelligence. It's in the birds nature to do those things. He is programmed to do them." However, those who would say that should be prepared then to see ourselves in the same light, and argue that we are not intelligent either, but that everything we do is in our nature so to do. Well, who knows...

June 17

A young Great Tit came to the feeder today. His full frontal yellow colour has not developed yet but the black mark under his chin is quite visible and marks him out as a Great Tit and not a Blue Tit. A Greenfinch came to the feeder today as well. We're not getting as many of them as we used to a few years ago. I wonder why. I don't think that it is anything that I have done, but we just don't get them. If you want birds in your garden you can attract them in by ensuring that there is a variety of food available to them. Wild-bird seed is good to spread on the ground. It is a good mix of different seeds and therefore what won't suit one species of bird will probably suit another. Little bits of fat can be thrown on the ground as well. The best way to get the fat is first to have a Boiled Fry with a couple of rashers in it. Don't eat the fat off the rashers but seperate it from the rasher on the one hand and from the rind on the other hand. Then chop up both the rind and the fat and distribute liberally in the garden. Some birds will eat the rind and others will eat the soft fat. Typically the robins and the blackbirds and the magpies. You should also make sure that there is a bucket of water in the garden full to the top so that the small birds can reach the water without falling in. I'm not in favour of platform types of bird table. Birds landing on such a table cannot see the ground below it. Cats are fairly smart too you know. They will sit motionless at the foot of the supporting stake and wait for a bird to land on the table. They will then leap up unseen by the bird and make a swipe at the table with a hooked paw. Their success rate is high. I've seen it happen. My bird table is not a table atall, atall atall. It is four thin stakes stuck into the ground at the corners of a 1 foot square. The tops of the stakes are connected by transverse bamboo sticks which act as perches. There's about 7 of them. You can hang feeders from some of these, or slices of bread etc. The beauty of this arrangement is that the birds can see the ground at all times. Ehhhh, what's a boiled fry Dad. A boiled fry is a fry with all the baddies taken out of it and a few extra goodies put into it.

June 20

I'm in mourning......There's a load of magpie feathers out in the back garden. It looks like the cat has had his way with the poor innocent little bird. He probably just wasn't fast or alert enough. Lost his concentration I suppose. Another magpie came and stood amongst the scattered feathers and acted a little strangely. It was as though he recognised the smell of the feathers but couldnt figure out why the bird wasn't with them. He just stood there, now and again picking at a feather to check again and putting his head down low and out straight with his body almost down on the ground. A most peculiar stance for a magpie. He went away eventually but came back about 20 minutes later and went through the same routine again. I think they are a maligned bird. I doubt if our brain has the capacity to know why nature works in the way that it does. We will often work out the HOW but not too often the WHY. It's the business of philosophy but that has its limits too.

June 25

Well, here we go again. Yet another cause for celebration. We have a new robin holding court in the garage. I went into the garage the other day looking for something and turned around to search on the shelf, and there he was, not 12 inches from me looking me straight in the eye. Not a move out of him. The cheekieness of the robin is in his nature because this fellow is not old enough to know by experience that he can be cheeky. He just is. He hops around to different parts of the garage and is able to fly but not very good. But he has actually flown out of the garage, whereupon I thought I would never see him again. But wonders will never cease. He found his way back again in about ten minutes, just in time for another food delivery from one of the parent birds. So it seems as though he really feels at home there on the shelf...

We went to Lough Ennel at the weekend for a picnic and to see the swans. We thought we'd picnic at Lillyput but there was a sports day on there so we moved on to Tudenham where we did have our picnic only because we didn't want the bother of moving again. But we might as well have been at Mondello or at the Indianapolis 500 for the noise that was there. Compliments of the many waterbikes and speed boats that were flying around at great speed. So that wasn't great.


Finished the picnic and cleaned up and went then to where the swans are. It was fine when we went there in the cold weather but now that the weather has warmed up the algae has taken over and the smell is less than inviting. When one sees algae like that the thought that usually comes to mind is of loads of effluent of all sorts coming from the town. But apparently the Council there has done quite a lot to improve matters and it could be much worse than it is. And when you look closer at it the algae is quite localised and will probably disperse as quickly as it came when the weather changes. Let's hope so.

June 29

Well, once again the garage is empty. I don't think the birds had 100% success, but they didn't do too badly either in the context of the big picture. There is a new generation of at least three new blackbirds and at least two new robins and they now constitute the sharp end of their particular family lines. If the parents were to die without producing offsprings then that is the end of a family line or a branch of a family line. It is interesting to ponder, How many reproductions have taken place in your family line in order to ensure your delivery at this point in time. The question put another way is, How many generations have preceeded you. If you take a generation to be 25 years for the sake of arguement, then 80 generations will bring you back only as far as the time of Christ. So your 80th forefather was alive at that time. I wonder where. If you are of Norman extraction then he certainly wasn't in Ireland because another 40 generations would come and go before they got here. He might have been somewhere in Europe trying to keep himself as far away from the Romans as he possibly could. Unless, that is, he was a Roman himself. Many of those 80 will have had to suffer war, famine and pestilance of all sorts in order to survive long enough to produce their next generation. I wonder what did they have to do to survive. And so on down to you and me. I wonder what the goal is....or is there one....

July 3

Gazing from the window of the Hazler I notice that the baby jackdaws across the street have come out of the chimney pot but seem to still regard it as their home. They spend a lot of time just perched on the edge of the pots and occasionally fly away to the top of a telephone pole nearby. After a while there they come back to the chimney pots. The birds at this time do a lot of preening and if you keep a sharp eye out you will see a lot of little bits of fluffy down-like feathers floating around on the breeze. They're getting rid of the original fluffy stuff that grew on them when they were chicks. I noticed too for the first time that the Hazeler itself is host to two jackdaws. They're using the disused chimney in the centre of the roof. It belongs to the fireplace that they blocked up in the bar. I don't know how I missed that. I suppose it's because I spend more time inside looking out than outside looking up.

We went to Tudenham again this weekend but only because I lost my way when I missed a turn. It was just as noisy as the last time but we parked in a better spot this time. I went to have a good look at the water and I must say it was as clean as a whistle there. They have a mooring area there for rowing boats used by fishermen and I had a look at them. There was about 150 of them there and out of that there was only 4 clinkerbuilt timber boats. All the rest were fibreglass.

July 9

We went down to Maynooth College yesterday. They have two nice gardens there. One of them is a walled garden with very many alpine plants in one section and lots of perenniels in the rest of it laid out as long beds or borders. The other garden is a much more formal affair based on rocks, water, green shrubs and water plants such as lillies and reeds. Lots of the rocks are used as stepping stones but many others are upright features rising out of the water and coming to a point at the top. They all have two smoothe vertical sides at right angles to each other and look like the remaining corner of a ruined house. I don't know if they are supposed to mean something, but I wonder if the ruins of the FitzGerald castle outside the College played any part in the inspiration there-of. With regard to the castle, you know it was built by Maurice FitzGerald around 1240 and was in good repair up to the 1640s when it was pretty well destroyed by Owen Roe O'Neill. But it is now being restored once again and ironically the builders involved are FitzGeralds. The castle is situated at the junction of two rivers which are in fact no more than streams. But they probably were at a higher level in those early times and ensured that the castle always had a supply of water. The rivers are the Lyreene and the Joan Slade. I went to the bridge near the mill and had a look over at the Lyreen. You can see where the Joan Slade comes in on the left hand side. The river is very shallow and a lot of large stones are half above water with plenty of moss growing on them.

And Lo and Behold what did I see, but a wagtail with a flash of yellow on him. I thought to myself " a yellow wagtail". A bit unusual. Later the Hazeler called. This was my chance to check out with Newcastle Ray who definitely knows his birds. He told me that what I had seen was more likely to be a Grey Wagtail. The wagtail that most of us would call a grey wagtail is in fact a Pied Wagtail and the grey wagtail has a good flash of yellow on him, and he would be likely to go to places such as where I had seen him looking for food on wet mossy stones in a river. The yellow wagtail on the other hand has lots and lots of yellow on him and would be unusual in Ireland though not unknown.

July 11

There's a happy looking fellow on the left. Well you might say what has he got to do with birds. Well he is more to do with the unfeathered variety than with those with feathers. And if they want to see him then they have to see him. And that's that.

July 12

Well it's the 12th. It doesn't seem to bother Ronan or Dylon. There's a coincidence for you. To have a grandson born on the 12th of July and a couple of years later to have a great-grandson born on the 12th of July again. Happy birthday Ronan, Happy birthday Dylon. While I'm here it doesn't seem to bother the swans either. Here's a picture showing a black swan down at Lough Ennel, minus a few green bits, by kind permission of Clondalkin Ray. I wouldn't say there's too many black swans to be seen in Ireland somehow. I wonder if this one is related to The Swan of Tuonela

The Swan Of Tuonela is based on Finnish legends about a black swan that takes souls into the afterlife
Lemminkainen, a hero and poet, wanted to master the secret of death by shooting the swan of Tuonela. Tuonela is the Finnish Hades on which the black swan glides, singing as it goes back and forth over the river of death.
Now he lies defeated beside the blood-red stones of the Tuonela river. The swan, the symbol of death's eternal secret, swims away majestically on the dark river

September 9

Well, time moves on. This paragraph is dated Sept 9 but in fact is being written up later than that but it relates to Sept 9. Attending at the Hazeler on that day I watched for a long time scanning the sky for a swallow. Not one to be seen. Now I definitely saw some the week before, so I conclude that they packed their bags and went about their business during the week starting Sept 2, and were all gone by Sept 9. That makes their visit from April 27 to say September 5. I would love to have seen them preparing and going. I wonder how it happens. Do they depart in little groups or do they all gather together and at a particular sign all take off at the same time. I guess that something like the length of the day triggers them off and away they go.

October 13

Shame of shames!!! They are doing up the house accross the road from the Hazeler. There is scaffolding all the way up to the roof, right up to where the two jackdaws are living in the chimney pot. Well, are those jackdaws going to get a surprise when they come home? Hey Jack, I don't seem to be able to get into our chimney pot. Someone has put a lid on it!!! Well thats's life. Just when you think you have it all sorted out someone comes along and goes, naa ni naa ni naa naa.

October 16

With the days getting so much shorter now a few changes can be noticed in the garden. One is that the most noticable songster in the garden these days is the robin. The Great Tit and Blue Tit are also noticable but quieter. The blackbirds are completely quiet as are the thrushes. The Blackbirds are there all right, the males actively shaping up as they feed but no singing. The Thrushes may be there but I haven't seen them for some time now. The Magpies are very active visitors and will probably continue to be. There is a Cole Tit around the garden all the time now as well. There is no sign of the Chaffinches or of the Greenfinches either. I must keep a closer watch. Hello to Songster Jim if you are still there.

Soon now we will be going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark. Last winter I noticed that even at 11.00 or 12.00 at night the Robin was singing. I look forward to hearing him again this winter as I return from my evening adventures...

December 1

Well, Just because I wrote nothing in November doesn't mean that nothing was happening. It is a bit quiet at this time of the year one has to admit, but about three weeks ago there was a great flurry in the back garden. A flaming red bullfinch came in accompanied by about five others. I presume they were young bullfinches. At first I thought they might be five females but I sought oppinion from Newcastle Ray and he thinks not. The big male was having a real go at one of these younger ones which might indicate that it was a young male that Daddy thought should be on his way. Any way they didn't stay for long and I haven't seen them since.

Three blackbirds were seen feeding in the garden today and a thrush has been visiting quite often over the last few weeks. The magpies are as regular as ever coming and going all day every day.
There is a lot of starling activity these days too. I noticed one today having a good look at a chimney pot. However I think he would be well advised to think again. I wonder if the good weather is adding a little confusion to things.
I notice also that the blackbirds are doing a lot of shaping up as though we are nearing the start of a new season.

December 4

There is unbelievable activity in the back garden for the last hour or so. Birds are flying all over the place; back and forth, up and down, in and out, chasing each other by the new time. But they are all confining their chasings to their own species. So far in the last hour I've seen of course the blackbirds, a thrush, a whole family of chaffinches, a robin and a juvenile robin, cole tits, blue tits and great tits, the usual sparrows and magpies and a stranger who went through so fast that I didn't get a chance to see what he was though I might have got enough of a glimpse to find him in my bird book. I must have a look.

December 16

Do you ever wonder where all the birds go at night when all is quiet or even not so quiet, depending on where you live. Where we live is nestled in a corner bounded on the one hand by the Naas dual carriageway and on the other by the M50. It is a noisy spot at times. Well I have made a discovery. Outside our front door is a berberi bush, about 7 feet tall. During the day it accommodates sparrows pretty well all day. They come and go and are not roused to flight when I pass by them to enter my 87 D chariot in which to do battle on the highways. In fact they totally ignore me as do so many others. But as night falls they leave the bush and go elsewhere for warmth and peace during the dark hours. I suspect that their hiding place is within the eaves of the house as I have seen them come and go there even during the day. There are very few leaves on the berberi now and as I return from my night wanderings I can see clearly that one of the blackbirds has taken to sleeping in the same place in the bush every night. While passing by the bush he is no further than about one foot from my head. His feathers are well puffed up to keep him warm so he looks a little bigger than usual. He must feel quite secure there in his thorny cage for he shows no sign of waryness or fear at having a passer-by so close. It's a peaceful serene thing.

January 30

Today is the first day that I have heard any real effort at a dawn chorus. Up to now one would hear a few Tits and perhaps a Robin making occasional twitters at between 06:30 and 07:00 in the morning and that would be it. They would go silent again quite soon after. But this morning at about 06:30 I heard very distinctly one or maybe two Blackbirds. That for me marks the beginning of the Dawn Chorus. Now they didn't go on for two long but who can blame them on the first day. It was probably just a voice test to make sure everything was working OK.

January 31

Well this morning the Blackbirds were at it again. So yesterday wasn't a "one off" thing. They were singing at 06:30 and were still singing at 07:30 when I left for work.

February 1

Today I noticed that the Thrushes have joined in the early morning song. They are not as tuneful as the Blackbirds. The blackbirds tune is quite varied though it may contain a phrase that will keep recurring within the tune. The Thrush on the other hand has a short one-phrase tune which he repeats 3 or 4 times in the one song. The next time he sings, the song is likely to be the same as the last time. Some people can't tell the difference between the blackbird and the thrush because their voices are so similar, but it's their songs you should be listening for. Repetition with the Thrush, variety with the blackbird.

As I type I can hear a thrush being very very vocal somewhere out the back and it is now 13:50 in the day. So I expect this singing to increase in frequency throughout the next many weeks until the blackbird finishes off the day singing his heart out at the top of one of our trees at dusk.

The blackbird I spoke of earlier in his thorny cage is still sleeping there at night. The slamming of car doors and people passing by within one foot of him doesn't seem to bother him. As yet of course there are no leaves on the bush so he is quite visible. He must know that he is quite safe within all those thorny branches for he goes in and sleeps on exactly the same branch every night sometimes even before it is fully dark. Just below his perch the bluebells and daffodills are coming up and will soon give a lovely showing of flowers. Roll on Spring!!

March 31

Easter Sunday. Well, the daffodills are in full bloom and the bluebells are still working at it. One or two of them have put out a flower but it's still too early for most of them. In the meantime the blackbird has left home and gone to sleep elsewhere. Its definitely that time of year. He has been singing and showing off with little flicks of his wings and upward flicks of his tail for quite some time now and must have met with some degree of success. As I type I can hear him outside singing on top of one of the trees. I suspect that he is not the same blackbird as we had last year and the year before as his song is quite different.
He is not alone in the garden however. Twice or three times now in the last few weeks we have had a pair of goldfinches in the back garden. They come and take nuts from the hanging feeder. We don't see goldfinches that often, but Newcastle Ray tells me that he has more goldfinches than sparrows! Recently we have also had some greenfinches. Sparrows are in abundance though I feel that their numbers are down. The robin is very active and so is the wren. There is also a good number of thrushes. Chaffinches are still coming and going, usually in groups of four or five at a time. The magpies are also alive and well. Yesterday I heard a sweet-singing bird high in one of the trees and had a look at him with the binoculars. I think he was a Spotted Flycatcher.

 April 1

April Fool's Day. I hope I don't fall for something silly today. The TV cable passes by the front bedroom window and while it is clipped up to the eve a portion of it hangs down to form a bit of a loop like a skipping rope. It has been raining all morning and I've noticed that a magpie uses this loop as a perch to stay in out of the rain. On and off this morning he has been there for about three hours and he spends a lot of the time talking to himself. He's muttering away there all morning looking in the window. There's really no privacy left any more!!!!

There's a little story here for you The Magpie and the Bell

April 14

The other day I was thinking that I should be keeping an eye out for the Swallows though it might be a bit early yet. But if you're not watching then you'll miss the moment of arrival and when you see one you'll wonder "how long have they been there". Last year they arrived around April 27. Today I met Newcastle Ray in the Hazeler and I mentioned this. And Lo and Behold, he tells me that he saw two swallows this morning around Newcastle. Well you won't believe this but while he was telling me there one was flying right accross in front of the window. I said it to him and like a shot the two of us were up off our stools and rushed out the door. Only seconds passed and two swallows came into view again, up and down the canal as usual. Ten days earlier than last year. What do you think of that. It was very exciting while it lasted.

May 1

On March 31 I speculated that the blackbird in his thorny cage was not the same one as we had last year and the year before. But now I have to make a very definite correction. He is the same bird. It has taken him some time to remember his little tune but now he has got it back and it is unmistakable. He has been missing from his night perch on a lot of occasions recently but nevertheless he does return every now and again. He was there last night for instance, perched on exactly the same branch as he always uses. So he is as much a creature of habit as are the rest of us.

May 20

We went down the road to Kinnegad this weekend mainly to get some Bird Produce i.e. Free range eggs. On the radio as we went was some Sibelius music, namely The Swan of Tuonela. It prompted me to make an addition to my July 12 entry. Have a look.

On the way back we detoured at Clonard in toward the Hill of Down. Returning we arrived at the entrance to the old site of St Finnians Monastery. I wanted to have a look around the place. There is a more recent church there now, derelict, but which served as the local Church of Ireland up until 1991. As I pulled up Lo and behold there is a Grey Wagtail flitting about in a puddle of dirty rainwater. The Grey Wagtail has some yellow in his plumage so we often think that we are seeing a Yellow Wagtail but that is not so. The Yellow Wagtail has a lot more yellow to him. Anyway I was quite delighted with that and decided to go in over the gate and walk down towards the church. There were many Bluebells still to be seen though they were on the wain. As I walked I disturbed two baby rabbits. They didn't stay around for long I tell you. I got to the main gate into the church grounds but didn't go in as the place is really over-run with wild growth. I noticed a little plaque near a young copper beech tree and read that the tree was planted by Colleen Gasteen in memory of the Gasteen Family. It's an unusual name to me.

May 28

This weekend we met Newcastle Ray. Like ourselves he occasionaly takes a drive out the road but he usually goes in a different direction to us. This time he went down to Robertstown. We have been there many times. But he got a bonus while he was there. He heard a Coo Coo. I haven't heard a Coo-Coo for about 5 years and I would say that most people haven't heard one for much longer than that. We seem to get fewer and fewer of them now. At one time, a year wouldn't pass without hearing one. The last time I heard one, was on the Grand Canal near the Lyons Estate. I must take a wander out that way again and see if anything is going on.

June 18

I haven't given an update now for quite some time. The reasons are various; lack of time, lack of words and not least a lack of the frantic activity we had last year when a robin and a blackbird both decided to nest in the garage. This year they remained conventional and nested outside in the bushes where they cannot be seen. The new blackbirds are already out and flying around as though they owned the place. There seems to be at least two, maybe three and some times the parent birds and the young appear all together on the ground in the back garden. But it has to be said that the male parent is the dominant bird. He regularly runs the younger birds out of the garden and puts on a great display of dropped wings and raised tail, making many short runs here and there aroun the grass. I hope the cat from next door doesn't get one of them. A sparrow fell victim to the cat last week amid a terrible flurry of feathers. On the road to Mullingar last week we saw a Hawk. Newcastle Ray said it was probably a kestrel. He's probably right but I call them all Hawks. The one we saw was hovering over a spot where he probably saw something like a mouse or something else perhaps. All of a sudden he dropped to the ground like a stone. He must have got something because he didn't come up again. She stoops to conquer.

July 6

This lovely picture of a Yellow Wagtail is from the Birds of Britain Magazine.

Well June was the wettest since records began in some places and July is shaping up to equal that as far as we can see. Rain is almost non-stop and when it does stop people almost remember the date and the time of day that such a stoppage took place and where they were at the time of the momentus event. However birdlife goes on regardless. We have a very sad looking Magpie in the garden at the moment. I think he has a broken leg. When he lands he is all to one side like Ballinalack and finds it very difficult to hop in a straight line. Imagine yourself with one foot nailed to the floor while you walk with the other foot and you will have some idea of how the magpie is getting around. There is nothing much that I can do for him because he can fly and therefore cannot be caught. I wouldn't think the outlook is too good for him.

We have a good showing of greenfinches in the garden now coming in groups of 5 or six at a time. The peanuts are going down quite fast. There is a very persistant Coletit there as well trying to compete with the greenfinches for his share of the nuts. However the greenfinches are more than a mathch for a small fellow like a coletit and he usually has to concede.

At times now we can see up to six blackbirds in the garden. They sunbathe in the trees with their wings spread out to make the most of what heat there is. (Sometimes not very much). I don't know whether it is surprising or not but two of the blackbirds are definitely senior males. And they just do not get on. There are lots of attacking runs and lots of showing off but rarely any contact.

The Goldfinches are showing up on a fairly regular basis. Usually two or four. But not more. These birds are nicely coloured with yellow brown black white and a distinctive red around the head. They are also nice singers but I cannot name that tune.

My observation of the week has to be that of a willy wagtail. What's so strange about that. Well, what's so strange about that is that he is to be seen and heard flying around Superquinns Supermarket in Lucan. No, Not Outside, but Inside. I guess he found his way in but now can't find his way out. They're going to need a bird catcher....

August 13

The Picture is that of a Hawk. On Sunday August 4 we went down to Lough Ennel near Mullingar. I say near Mullingar but it's also near Tyrellspass at the south end and this is the end we went to. It's called Lilliput. This is where the inspiration for that famous adventure book, Gullivers Travells, came from believe it or not. There is a nice swimming area there for children and adults alike if you felt so inclined and there were many children swimming at the time we were there. There was much screaming and shouting and hollering and splashing and jumping and fighting going on and one would think there was a million children there enjoying themselves. Many of them were in traditional togs but many others were in wet siuts or maybe they were dry siuts, but in any case they looked like the sort of siuts a diver wears. That seems like a great idea as the siut gives them boyancy on the one hand and keeps them warm on the other.

We went to the jetty where you can hire a rowing boat or one with an outboard motor on it if you wish. I prefer to row. I can experience the smell of fumes anywhere any time so why do it on Lough Ennel. We took our boat and had a very lazy row around the south end of the lake. And Boy! If you want to see swallows in numbers this is the place to do it. We knew they were about because we could see them swooping over the water all the time. But I rowed towards a huge bed of reeds at the south-east corner and suddenly became aware that the whole bed was covered with swallows. Now this is a lot of reeds, maybe a couple of acres. Suddenly the whole flock of birds rose from the reeds and we were totally surrounded by them swooping and diving and skimming past our heads with no more than a foot or two to spare. It seemed like a long time but it was only minutes and just as suddenly the whole flock settled on the reeds again. It was quite an experience. It was a great day there all together.

This Sunday August 11 wasn't so great. No boating. But a sojourn in the Hazeler paid off. While I sat there amidst the gaggle of the inebriated, contemplating the grey sky outside, once again a hawk appeared just accross the road very near where the two jackdaws used to hang out. He hovered there rock steady for about three minutes and then plunged to the ground. I dare say his efforts paid off. What can I say. More power to him. He has to live too. It's a strange world though, where for one to live, another has to die.

August 24

The Picture is that of a Violet Green Swallow.

It's 7 AM. There is no movement of air whatsoever. The leaves and new growth on the trees are limp. Not a rustle, not a move, no shake, no bend before the breeze, motionless. The sky is grey, just as it was yesterday evening when as I rummaged in the garden I became aware of a particular bird sound. A Swallow! Now Clondalkin is not renowned for it's swallows so I was a bit surprised. So I looked up to see from where had the chirping come. To my increased surprise I saw that whichever swallow it had come from he was only one of many. The sky was full of them. They were not feeding, but were mostly flying very high and gliding to and fro almost aimlessly. However one could detect a directional drift. You know that feeling you get when you look at apparently motionless clouds, yet you detect almost subconsciously that they are moving in a particular direction. It was the same with the swallows. You got the sense that there was movement of the entire flock in an easterly direction. I do believe that I was witness to the start of that great migration back to Africa. I was at the Hazeler later in the evening and there wasn't a swallow to be seen. My guess is that over the next week or so many more will be seen drifting eastward. I wonder if they keep sight of land at all times. From Killakee you can see the Welsh coast. I'm sure that from the south-east coast of England you can see the French coast (Normandy) from whence came the ancesters of so many of those of us who became more Irish than the irish themselves. Once over the French coast, it's over land all the way down through France and Spain and on into North Africa. So, resting places are available all the way. This could mean that the journey of the swallows is a much more leisurely affair than we might be inclined to think. Perhaps it's not a mad dash in endless flight from the south coast of Ireland accross endless water to their landfall in Africa, but a relaxed casual leisurely drift from one coast to the next until they finally reach their destination. OK. You can go back to sleep now!!

September 02

The Picture is that of a Tree Swallow.

These Swallows are certainly giving me the run-around. One minute I see them, next minute I don't. My last report about the swallows massing over Clondalkin still stands. I do believe that what I saw was the beginning of their exodus from this country. However, the process obviously goes on for much longer than I thought. There are still quite a number of swallows at the Hazeler but they are acting very strangely indeed. Yesterday evening large numbers of them were flying around in a very agitated fashion and then they all landed on the roof of the house across the road. After a few minutes they all took off again and flew around for another few minutes and then all landed again. This was repeated over and over again until I lost count. Eventually of course it got dark and all activity ceased. Down at Lough Ennel we took a rowing boat again and paid a visit to the reed bed which on our last visit was black with swallows. We saw but a handful but later we saw quite a number, again all flying as a flock and high up. I suspect however that a lot have left the reed beds and those that are still there are straglers preparing to go. Yesterday was a nice day and I must say that on a nice day Lough Ennel is really lovely. The surrounding landscape is made up of low rolling hills all the way round no matter in which direction you look. From Lilliput you can see the towers of the Cathedral in Mullingar. Lots of people were out fishing or simply enjoying being on the water, though I must say that jet skiers should be given somewhere else to practice their art. I think they pose a danger to others engaged in less noisy and less powerful activities. There are plenty of lakes in the midlands and one of them could be designated as THE jet skie lake where people wouldn't go to swim, fish and row, but to jet skie. Right. That's that bit said. Westmeath Co Coucil, please take note.

September 09

The Picture is that of a Pied Wagtail.

Well now I think that my last update was a bit misleading. In it I implied that the swallows were still at the Hazler and that they were behaving in a strange way. Now I think that I was wrong and I think that in fact they were gone. I'm beginning to think that what I saw was a flock of pied wagtails. I saw them again this weekend still acting in the same way. But when they take off and go high in the sky they can easily be mistaken for swallows. But pied wagtails is what they are.

November 16

On Dec 16 last year I wrote that one of the blackbirds had taken to sleeping in the berberi bush outside the front door. Well do you know what it is I'm going to tell you. He has taken to it again this year, but it is only Nov 16 now. Perhaps last year he was there for a lot longer than I realised. Perhaps he was there in November but I didn't know it at the time. I can hear one outside now as it is getting dark 17:12, making that sharp shrill chuck chuck sound that they make as they fly low across the garden from one tree or bush to another.

We were in Athlone last week and went out to Coosan Point on Lough Ree. There is a lot of ducks always there but the feeding place is shared also with jackdaws, water hens, wagtails, chaffinches and swans. At weekends there is plenty of boating activity as there is a marina just across the water at Killinure Point but we were there on a weekday and it was really quiet. Very close by is where Col. Harry Rice used to live. He wrote the book Thanks for the Memory. It's all about the navigation of Lough Ree from Athlone to Lanesborough and contains charts for every part of the lake. But it also contains many stories and tales that he picked up on his travels up and down the lake. I went out wiith him once or twice to do some soundings in the lake years ago. I remember also he had a most wonderful alpine garden facing down to the lake shore. That would be in the 1950s. His book now is almost impossible to get except through a library

December 22

Well the days are getting longer once again. We put the shortest day behind us yesterday. It's a time of the year I really look forward to. I notice in the front garden that the daffodills and the bluebells are already on their way. Bird noises in the mornings at this time of the year are dominated by the thrush and he can be heard from about 7 am onwards. But you will also notice the robin , the wren and various tits. It's not quite a Dawn Chorus but they're there nevertheless. I don't think you can call it a dawn chorus until the blackbirds decide that it's time for them to join in. And when they do they make a real difference to both the volume of sound and the quality thereof. In fact I think that their singing spurs the other birds on to greater heights in their efforts.

I cross Newland Cross every morning at about 08:10 and I have made a discovery. Newland Cross is on a major crow highway. No, I don't mean that we are all crows going to work up the Belgard Road. The Naas Road is running East-West and the belgard road is running North-South at Newlands. However running in a south-easterly direction is a great crow road that crosses the Naas road at Newlands. Every morning hundreds of crows can be seen flying in their ragged way heading Southeast. I suspect that they may be coming from rookeries in Peamount and Celbridge. I have yet to check that out. Again at 4:30 in the evening they can all be seen flying in the opposite direction presumably after a hard day at the office. Lots of them stop off at the Newlands golf club trees and at the Newlands shopping centre and Bewleys Hotel for a bit of a rest both in the morning and in the evening. No, they don't go into the hotel. They're dressed much too formally for Bewleys and in any case they probably wouldn't serve them. Well, a Happy Christmas and a happy New Year to all my readers. Don't forget to switch the lights off.

26th January

I notice every morning that the thrush is still the main voice to be heard in those early hours of dawn. But I must say that my heart was lifted on Thursday last the 23rd when I heard for the first time this year a Blackbird singing from the top of a tree. He sang until it was actually dark. Then all fell silent. I expect now that he will also be heard in the early morning and we can look forward to a dawn chorus second to none. The male and female blackbirds are seen more often together in the back garden now so I think something will be stirring pretty soon. The Chaffinch is very vocal at the moment also. I can actually hear one as I type. I counted thirteen sparrows in the berberi bush this morning which is fewer than usual, but I'm sure there are more around somewhere. Spring is definitely on the way.

I saw two daisies in the garden today. However they say that your foot should cover 7 daisies befor the cattle are put back out on grass. The Daffodills are still slowly on their way as are the bluebells. They really do take their time. Many of the trees and shrubs are showing buds now too. The 1st of February marks the beginning of Spring for some people as it is Saint Brigid's day.

By the way Gentleman Jim crosed the garden the other day but he must have encountered a cat on the way because he never made it to the other side. He has a new resting place now about a foot down. I don't know if I mentioned it before but I saw a Heron doing his rounds about two weeks ago. He was fairly close to the canal but he may have been checking the local fishponds for a nice goldfish as he would be very partial to such a meal. So easily got as well.

April 28

This is the time of the year when one has to be on the look out for the arrival of the swallows. I have been watching now for the last 3 or 4 weeks. I've been hearing reports on radio programs that they have arrived all over the country, but not a sign at the Hazeler. I really do think that a lot of people think they are seeing swallows when in fact they may be seeing wagtails. They are certainly all over the place. However my watching paid off eventually on Easter Sunday when I saw about 4 pairs out at the hazeler, swooping and diving as usual up and down the canal. There are a lot more boats there now but it doesn't seem to bother them at all. On the same day I saw a swan coming in to land and take his place amongst the boats and the odd canoeist. On Monastery Walk the dawn choras can now be heard from 4 a.m. onwards and it beats anything that the radio programs can put on. The blossoms are just about to wain now as we are almost into May and they will be helped along by the winds that we usually get in May. They say that A WET AND WINDY MAY FILLS THE BARN WITH CORN AND HAY so we should expect it to be wet and windy. These old sayings are around for a long time now and are based on the experience of centuries.

September 05

Well it's not been a good year as far as updating is concerned. Pretty awful in fact. But I couldnt miss this one. Swallows have appeared over Clondalkin again today September 5th. They are on their way back to Africa once more having enjoyed one of the hottest and most humid of Augusts that I can remember. No more than half an hour ago I heard the twittering in the sky above me and sure enough the swallows were there. They were moving in a southeasterly direction. Now they weren't there in thousands but they will probably be passing over in dribs and drabs for the next few days.

I saw a heron perched on top of a light post on the New Nangor Road yesterday. I suppose he had some business on the canal only a few yards away. In the back garden the blackbirds and the sparrows are having a great time with the Elder Berries. However, the washing on the line doesn't benefit all that much from all the activity. Welcome to Colleen. Are you the Colleen that planted the tree in Clonard. And how on earth did you find this site. You can reply in a further entry in the Guestbook.

PS:Well, a visit to the Hazeler this evening has confirmed my feelings about the swallows leaving. There wasn't a swallow to be seen anywhere out there. So, there it is. When you see swallows over Clondalkin in September they are on their way home.

Clondalkin by the way is a compound of two Irish words. Cluan and Dolcan. Cluan means meadow and Dolcan is a persons name. The compounded word means Dolcans Meadow. CluanDolcain. The i before the n implies the word "of" so that you get "The Meadow of Dolcan". OK, back to bed.

September 08

Well, it's September 8 and swallows are still to be seen. But I'm seeing them where I wouldnt normally see them. I saw some in Maynooth today and they were definitely drifting Eastwards. I saw some in Kinnegad yesterday and the story was the same. So I think they fly over until they see the Welsh coast and then, when they are good and ready, they just pop accross the water and perhaps rest a while in Wales before moving on down to the Southeast of England from where high above the coast they will be able to see the French Coast. A good rest and a full English breakfast and then a little hop over to France (Normandy) It's over land all the way from there down through France and Spain to Gibralter and accross to North Africa. See how easy it is. Wouldn't you like to be a Swallow!!!

I saw two swans flying over the house this morning with outstreched necks. They were heading for a parking place on the canal between the 9th lock and the 12th lock I suppose.

September 15

You know I must have been going around with my eyes closed last year. This is September 15 and this year I can still see swallows. I saw some down in the Callows south of Athlone on Wednesday last and I saw as many more down at lough Owel yesterday. We went to the South-West side of the lake yesterday. You get a much nicer view from that side as you are not looking into the sun. Its amazing how little the lake is used. I counted ten small sailing boats on the water and three rowing boats fishing. If such an amenity was anywhere on the continent it would be packed. But then I suppose that is one of its attractions. That it doesn't attract.

January 18

Well it's January again and a new season of activity is under way. The daffodils have poked their heads above ground to see if everything is ok and if they like what they see they will emerge slowly to their full stately height and then bend their heads to produce their beautiful yellow flowers. It's a pity their flowering season is so short. But we can get daffodils now that flower at different times and this is one way of prolonging the lovely show of yellow that they give us.

Bluebells are another flower now just appearing above ground with the promise of a great show of blue after the daffodils have gone. I have a small bed of bulbs at the front of the house that has been covered with leaves since the Autumn. I always leave the leaves as a protection and a mulch, and of course the worms come up at night and pull some of them down into the soil thus improving the quality of the soil.

I'm cutting the tops from some conifers in the back garden taking care that there is no nesting going on in them. It will let a lot more light into the garden. It's amazing how fast and vigorously those trees grow. They were topped a few years ago and young branches at the cut turned upwards and have grown fifteen feet. So that is the extent of top that I'm now removing. Of course it's creating a tremendous amount of rubbish on the ground and the blackbirds are loving it. They are rummaging around in it all day every day.

This morning I saw quite a number of birds in the garden. Four Blackbirds at the one time, a Thrush, a Robin, a Blackcap, a Chaffinch, several Great Tits and some Blue Tits, a Wren and some Sparrows and of course a couple of Magpies. Not bad for a small garden in suburbia. If I were to be in a field in the countryside I would be lucky to see a robin or maybe a chaffinch in the hedgerow. I am always amazed at the lack of birds in the countryside, apart from crows and jackdaws that is.

The Newlands Cross crow highway is still alive and well and as the mornings get brighter the crows can be seen heading south for the day, returning again around 4.30 in the evening.

I saw a Heron patrolling the canal at Clonburris the other day, looking for some fish I suppose.

Getting back to the blackbirds again for a minute. I haven't heard one singing yet this year either in the morning or the evening. The most active singer at the moment and for some time now is the robin. In fact one in the garden has had the audacity to perch atop the tree normally used by the blackbird when he is in singing mode. Well I suppose there is room there for both of them since I doubt that they will ever need the space at the same time.

January 22

The Picture is a Blackbird. Thanks to the ESB Bird Survey. It's january 22nd and the Blackbirds are singing at last. Not for very long though. Probably for about half an hour. They have stopped now. It's 17.38 so we are about 11 minutes into nautical twilight. Civil Twilight ended at 17.27 today. The Thrushes have been singing for the last few days so they got a head start on the blackbirds. The robin on the other hand seems to sing right through the winter.

February 7

The Blackbirds are singing in the morning and in the evening now and have been for about a week.  Their singing really adds something to the dawn and dusk periods of the day.  We may muse as to why they are so ardent in their song.  Some say that they are proclaiming their territory.  But if that is so it seems to be inconsistant with the fact that in my back garden several of them can be seen at the one time at almost any time of the day.  I looked out this morning and counted five male birds and one female.  And do you know what.  Those fellows with the orange beaks were at the same old game as all the rest of maledom.  Trying to be the one to get his arm around the female and run off with her.  But she wasn't having any of it.  Too early in the morning I suppose!

February 8

You know when I decided and particularly when I started to cut down the tops of my trees my heart was in my boots because I knew that I was setting about the destruction of the birds playground.  All that flying about, in and out, perching on the very top to do some singing, hiding in out of the rain, all this would come to an end.

Well, thats not how it has worked out at all.  I have only topped a few trees so far and as I mentioned before there is a lot of rubbish on the ground, bits of branches, leaves and twigs and as far as I can see there is even more activity in the garden now than there ever was. Most of the action is coming from the Blackbirds.  This morning I saw two females and five or was it six males with their orange beaks.  You know blackbirds don't walk very much normally.  They hop.  Sometimes they hop slowly and when they want to run they hop quickly.   But when there is a number of them in the garden at the same time they definitely walk and run.  Mostly after each other.  They even fight these days.  It's a confrontation in flight.  They run at each other on the ground and when they meet they rise from the ground and spirel upwards with wings beating each other into submission and then fall back to the ground.  This may be done several times presumably until one of them decides he has had enough.  

We have some frogs in the garden.  They don't walk either.  They hop as well.  Toads walk apparently, but I dont think we have any toads in Ireland.  The weather is too bad I suppose.  Could you blame them for staying away.

Apart from the blackbirds, also active today are greenfinches, chaffinches, sparrows, cole tits, great tits and blue tits.

March 26

I know that many blackbirds have already built their nests and hatched out baby blackbirds as early as Christmas time. But I've noticed a blackbird in the back garden collecting lots of stuff for building a nest right now. Maybe they build a new nest every time they intend to have a new family. Well they're in lots of luck at the moment because the garden is still strewn with leaves and bits of twig, all very good for making nests. There is also lots of moss in the "lawn" as a result of the trees keeping so much light from the grass. The trouble is now that I don't know where they are building so I'm just going to have to leave the trees as they are for a while. Some things can't be rushed.

December 23

To let so long go before this update is appalling. Is this a sign of some terrible laziness? Yes it is!!!

Well, we are at that time of the year again when the days are getting longer. But even before that I have seen that the daffodils are above the ground. The sequence in my little patch is Daffodils first Bluebells next and then Foxglove, which seems to go on forever. I have a wild sycamore that I cut back to the ground almost every now and then but when I let it have its way it grows profusely and gives the most wonderful autumn colour, a mixture of yellow ochre and burnt umber I suppose. It lasts almost up to now. The leaves have only finally succumbed to the wind in the last two or three weeks.

I walked into the garage a few weeks ago in the dark, switched on the light and quite by accident looked down only to see a hedgehog standing by my foot. I must have only just missed walking on him. Anyway he nosed around for a while and then decided to take his leave and scurried out under the garage door again into the night. No more news about him until the other day when I nearly walked on him again. This time he was asleep all wrapped up in a clump of leaves, and there he is still. I suppose he will stay like that for a few months. I'll let you know when he comes out again.

Clondalkin has a couple of Herons which I think I mentioned before. But now I have seen them so often that I now know some of their haunts and could almost guarantee to see them any time I wanted. They park regularly on top of a 38KV pylon along the New Nangor Road and also frequent the Camac River quite a lot. I'm trying to get a good photo of them but not having much success. I can't get close enough.

I'm getting some news about a pheasant but that will have to wait for another day.

I notice that the big singer these days is not the blackbird but the thrush and the robin. There are some tit noises as well but they are only muttering amongst themselves.. That's it for now. O! I nearly forgot. Someone wants to know which Val Byrne am I. Let me answer the question with another question. Which Val Byrne would you like me to be?? How many Val Byrnes do you know.

Well Happy Christmas everybody and a happy and prosperous New Year.

February 8

You remember last march I quit cutting the tops from my trees because the blackbirds and others were working hard at nest building. Well in spite of the cold and wet weather I'm at it again but somewhat earlier and even at that I think the birds are too. However I don't have as much to do this time and hopefully I won't interfere with them too much.

Well it's February and the hedgehog hasn't made any move yet. I hope he is still alive. I havn't looked as I do not want to interfere with whatever nature would deem he should do or when he should do it. I'm sure his own clock will wake him up when the time is right. The herons I mentioned earlier have grown in number to four now so there must have been some around that I was not aware of. I have seen all four of them together on the 38KV pylon just a couple of weeks ago. I still can't get a good photo of them.

A good forest friend of mine has been telling me about an unusual pheasent which he and his colleagues have met with up in the forest. Normally a pheasent will avoid men as the latter are wont to carry guns with the sole purpose of blasting the said bird from the sky. But this bird has the shoe on the other foot and, far from running or taking flight he not only stands his ground, but attacks with great gusto every man that he can get close enough to. The grammer is terrible isn't it. Take a look at this. Here the pheasent is trying to tear off the mans foot in spite of the mans protestations. Only the mans tenacity and sheer strength enable him to withstand the attack.



How about this one. The man is doing his best to invoke Queensbury Rules but the pheasent is having none of it. The attack goes on unabated. There is no doubt about it but this pheasent is an unusual bird.



My own guess is that this bird is in fact an echo warrior in disguise whose aim in life is to prevent the cutting down of Christmas trees. I suspect that he will be there for some time to come. Thanks to my forest friend Terryfor the photographs.

April 24

Well, between one thing and another I've not been able to update as often as I should and now it's April and still a bit on the cold side. But things are going on in spite of the cold. For about three weeks now I've seen a ladybird on a lavender bush in the front garden. There must be sufficient food there to keep him/her going for ever.

In the back garden where I've been continuing with the tree trimming the hedgehog has woken up and moved out to god knows where. I haven't seen him since.

At the Hazeler I saw the first swallow yesterday, one and only one. They have appeared about the following times in the last few years.

2001 April 27

2002 April 14

2003 April 28

2005 April 24

November 26

Well, I hope you didn't hold your breath between my last entry and this one. If you did you are either in serious trouble or you have a great pair of lungs. Without trying to put dates on events let me just recall some of the things that have been going on recently. For a small garden in your average housing estate quite a lot can happen.

I looked out the window one day and there cool as you like is a hawk plucking the feathers from a magpie. All I can say is the hawk must have been fast because the magpie is one of the most nervous birds I know. He never waits around for trouble but senses immediately when he should pack his bags and go. He will usually be gone before trouble gets anywhere near him. But this fellow was beaten by the speed of the hawk and was now in the process of becoming a meal. This is or was another sad example of how life is organised. One form of life always seems to depend on the eating of another form of life in order to survive. That includes ourselves. But we cannot say that we eat in order to survive. But we do survive as a result of eating. To eat is part of our nature. Birds don't have wings in order to fly. But they do fly as a result of having wings. Nature is very complex. One of our problems in understanding it is that none of us lives long enough to even start to come to grips with it, and those of us who live longest are well past our best-before-date as far as intelectual ability goes. So the chances are that humanity will never understand nature simply because it is not part of our nature to understand nature. What a bleak picture.

I hung up a bird feeder stocking recently with peanuts and balls of fat alternately placed on it. It drew a a lot of starlings, greenfinches, goldfinches, great-tits, sparrows etc. It worked fine for a while and then a grey squirrel came along and dimantled it. I have had to revert to the old peanut feeder again. This squirrel has taken to vistiting our garden on a regular basis now and

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