The squirrel occupation

My trip to Phoenix Park and Dublin zoo last week didn’t turn up too many wild creatures in the 4 hours or so I spend wandering around and avoiding random and extreme rain showers. None the less it was great fun because it’s almost impossible to avoid one of Ireland’s most prosperous invasive species; the grey squirrel. These small grey and quite unwary creatures are simply everywhere going about their daily routines and can be quite easy to photograph.

As is well known the grey squirrel originates from America as its Latin name suggests (Sciurus carolinienis) and was (allegedly) accidently introduced when a rather ill thought out wedding present of little squirrels ran amuck back in 1911. Since then the grey squirrel has pushed out the smaller, less adaptable red squirrels from most of its range and gained a permanent foothold in the food chain.  (top, red s from little island, bottom, grey s from Phoenix park)

.

Luckily the problem doesn’t seem so bad down here in Cork where sighting a squirrel of any sort is a fairly rare occurrence for me. Oddly little island seems to have both species but not in any great abundance.  

Still, despite its influence and bad reputation the grey squirrel is admittedly a great looking little creature and very photogenic!

.

The zoo has some rather tame wild birds as well, magpies, jackdaws, rooks, collared doves, herring gulls, starlings, house sparrows, robins, dunnocks, grey herons, mallards and even a little grebe where quite approachable, more so even then the ones in Cork city. (from top to bottom, little grebe, house sparrow, juvenile starling, jackdaw, collared dove, magpie)

.

As for the zoo creatures themselves, they too got their pictures taken; I even made them a special page which can be found on the right under sub pages or by clicking on the tiger below!

Valentia island part 2, Buttercrabs

Having done the bird side of things I thought today I would share some of the landscapes of Valentia island as well as the smaller non bird creatures such as the various butterflies around the place.

I found several species of butterfly here but couldn’t get good shots of them all, the bog was covered in common blues, the rocky coast had an abundance of small browns and the mountain had a lot of Small heaths. Its amazing how these butterflies seem to exist in and around the plants in which their caterpillars specialize. (Wall brown Top, Common blue Middle and Small Heath Bottom)

.

I also spend some hours in Caherciveen in the hopes of finding some coastal rockpool fish like shannies and blennies but since the tide was in all I found where a couple of juvenile shore crabs. Enjoyable day none the less and the shingle/seaweed even revealed some ringed plovers. (Guess which one is the crab).
 

.

I only spotted one mammal, not too sure if it’s an Irish hare or a common hare although I am pretty sure it was a common hare. I almost got a perfect portrait shot of it but I couldn’t get off my bike fast enough. Unfortunatly I ended up with this.

.

I found Ireland’s most remote pub on the lowland bogs, not doing so well judging by the dilapidation. Apparently they shot a Guiness add here.

.

Some landscape shots. The island has a narrow calm canal on one side but is exposed to the full force of the Atlantic ocean on the other. Consequently the calm side is all shingle beaches whilst the opposite has impressive cliffs. Slightly puzzled at the lack of cliff birds here, the gulls, ravens and choughs seemed to be the only species in attendance. I suppose maybe they are happier on the offshore islands. The terrain itself is mostly limestone and bog terrain, definitely worth a visit!

Ravenous wheatears (The Valentia island trip)

Apparently it has been 18 days since I posted, oh well...I have been on holidays to the remote Western side of County Kerry on Valentia island where I stayed for a week to explore the local bird life and wildlife in general. I had intended a trip to the Skellig islands but alas weather conditions and timing got in the way. Still, my findings more than made up for that. 

First off one of the local attractions here is the so called Tetrapod walkway, a well preserved trail of footprints made by one of the first amphibian creatures to walk on land. It’s estimated to be a whopping four hundred million years old and is one of the oldest footprint sites on the planet. Pretty nifty! 

 .
Valentia is a haven for gulls, this time only great black backed, herring, lesser black backed and kittiwakes where present but I’d imagine that in Winter it gets pretty easy to spot some of their rarer cousins. (Herring top in white, great black backed bottom)

 .
In the higher areas I had hoped to find and photograph a wheatear. This personal favourite of mine is an undeniably stunning little bird with its black, grey and creamy contrasts. 

 .
Indeed the rocky areas had an abundance of them. The pair pictured here strayed into my area when a fledgling crash-landed nearby prompting frenzied attempts to lure me away by both parents. A very entertaining experience. The wheatear is a member of the trush family and is comparable in size to a large robin.

.

It’s smaller but more colourful cousin the Stonechat could also be found here in the hedgerows and particularly near the lowland bogs.

.

In keeping with the theme of small songbirds I managed to find an unusually social sedge warbler which unlike most warblers posed (albeit at a distance) for the camera (below).  Grasshopper warblers too where unusually abundant but entirely unwilling to be photographed. At least I saw one for once!

.

On the mountain and the bogs Skylarks (top) where everywhere singing as is their trademark far up in the sky. Meadow pipits (bottom) too where easy to find especially in the bog areas. 

.

Last but most definitely not least I discovered 2 pairs of ravens on the island which after noticing my presence started mocking me and flying overhead in what was both a dazzling and slightly nerve wrecking display of crow like power. The raven is the largest European songbird with a wingspan of up to 1.5 meters and a body length of about 65cm. Truly an impressive bird!

.

If you like this blog and are on facebook why not give the little thumb up to my new fb page


HERE


More Valentia stuff tomorrow!