Dermot Breen's Blog: raven

Showing posts with label raven. Show all posts

Friday, 19 January 2018

Aillenaveagh - Cliff of the Ravens

I took a walk into a particularly spectacular Raven nest that I've been keeping an eye on from a distance for a several years now near Cregg Hill. I wanted to get an accurate grid reference reading for the nest as it's not on the most obvious of cliffs on either OS maps or even aerial imagery. The nest is located in a townland called Aillenaveagh which is the Anglicised version of the Aill na bhFiach,. Translated from Irish to English it means Cliff of the Ravens. I've always been interested in old Irish place-names. Wildlife regular feature in these names. Lough Nahillion (Elbow (-shaped) lake) is located within the same townland and contains a few islands one of which is called Illaunanilra which means Island of the eagle. Iolar is the common Irish name for eagle, oileán/illaun being island This is surely a reference to White-tailed Eagle given the location. This would strongly suggest that this small island was a traditional eagle nest site once upon a time. Looking at the island now it would appear that trees were possibly felled or died as there doesn't seem to be any mature oak or yew present. I'm also aware of an Eagle Island on Derryclare Lough, Eagle Islands on Lough Inagh, Eagles Lough in Roundstone Bog, Eagles Nest Primary School in Renvyle, Eagle Rock off Lettermullan and Cnocán an Iorla (Hill of the eagle) near Oughterard. The old 6 inch maps are fascinating to look at as the often have each little island named going way back to 1838 when Connemara was mapped. Most of these named islands are probably long forgotten by the current local generation. Lough Nahillion was once also a roost site for Greenland White-fronted Geese but these have also disappeared as a lot of the surrounding land has now been converted to hideous Skita Spruce plantations and the areas not planted have been damaged due to overgrazing by sheep and mechanical peat extraction. Like most of rural Ireland this area is a shadow of what it once would have been formerly. In the two hours that I was on site I just saw two Great Black-backed Gulls, three Mallard and two Cormorants on the lough, the pair of Ravens and heard one Wren - grim stuff!

Getting back to the Raven nest for which the entire townland is named. I've been watching this nest now for about nine years and they have used the very same nest every year. Given that there isn't any other suitable ledges on this small cliff face it probably isn't beyond the realms to believe that Ravens have used this very nest ledge for countless generations. The nest is probably about two metres in depth and is without doubt the largest Raven nest I've ever seen. Raven nests can fall during the winter season and occasionally when in use during bad weather and/or especially if they don't have a good foundation. One can see from the photos here that the sticks at the very base of the nest are so old that they have decayed. All this reminds me of story of nesting Gyr Falcons in Greenland a few years back where the carbon testing of remains from one nest were dated back to 2,500 years ago. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8103000/8103872.stm
On closer inspection of the nest it was seen that the inner cup was already lined with fresh wool, hair and moss. The two adults were present in the area and definitely took notice of my presence.

It was a little discouraging to also note the presence of a few Rhododendron ponticum bushes growing on the cliff here in what is such an isolated spot several kilometres from the nearest Rhodo hotspot which is probably Kylemore. This plant is going to be a monumental issue for everyone (farming, forestry, tourism, etc.) in the very near future but to date most parties seem to sticking their heads in the sand with regard to the whole issue. It's only going to get worse with each passing year and the price of addressing the issue jumps a few million euro with each passing year.

Illaunanilra/Island of the eagle.

Unnamed island on Lough Nahillion.

Cliff face.

Lined inner cup of the Raven nest.

Lough Nahillion

Old sheep pen/Booley shelter and/or something much older?

Severely damaged blanket bog (formerly great condition) caused by just three donkey. I could say more about some farmers and payments but I better not...

Saturday, 20 May 2017

Spring 2017

Just a round up of a collection of the few photos that I've taken over the last two and a half months or so with an obvious winter taste. Some shots of Waxwings from a flock that hung around the National School at Rosscahill on 5th March.

Waxwing

Forster's Tern, Kinvarra,12th March.

Forster's Tern, Kinvarra, 12th March.

I had this colour ringed Mediterranean Gull AJAT yet again in Mannin Bay on 3rd March. I've previously had it here on 22nd October 2012 and 26th February 2013. I also had it at Omey Island on 16th October 2013. It was ringed as a chick at Pionierinsel Lühe, Steinkirchen, Stade, Niedersachsen, Germany on 17th June 2006. It's also been seen at Presall Sands, Pilling Lane, Lancashire, England and Wissant, plage, Pas-de-Calais, France. It's been recorded breeding on the flat roof of a factory near it's birth place in the intervening years.

Mediterranean Gull

I've also been busy with the national Peregrine Falcon Survey this year. I've been checking about nine 5km squares with active sites in Connemara along with four more out on Inishmore. Mixed results so far with some previously successful sites already failed even before egg laying was attempted. We also finished up Raven pulli ringing in April and most are now well fledged at this stage. We ringed a total of 36 chicks from 9 broods giving a average brood size of four chicks.

A pair of breeding Raven was shot out on Inishbofin last year with the chicks lefted in the nest (we managed to rescue the chicks from a long slow death through dehyration/starvation). This was following a lot of anti-Raven sentiment on the island lead by one person in recent years who has emotively labelled the species as a "menace", "beast" and "marauders". Unfortunately one unknown person on the island decided to take the law into his own hands last year. The cove where the pair were shot is named locally as Uaimh na bhFiach i.e. Cove of the Raven. It's been a long time since Irish has been a spoken language on the island so there is obviously a long history of the species on the island. Not surprisingly Uaimh na bhFiach was sadly empty of Ravens this season. Ravens like all bird species in Ireland are protected under the Wildlife Act including all "seagull" species. There is however a derogation made for hooded crows, magpies, rooks, jackdaws, woodpigeon and feral pigeons under certain circumstances.

There was no sign the resident pair of Peregrines on Inishbofin this year.

Second calendar female Peregrine on an old Raven nest, photographed under license.

Raven nest photographed under license

Twite, North Mayo cliffs.

Sunday, 10 May 2015

Inishark 7th & 8th May 2015

I camped out on Inishark on Thursday night last. I had been out with a school trip on Inishbofin during the day and after finishing up with them I headed on over to Inishark/Inishshark. I wanted to get a better handle on some of the birdlife of this island which is a both a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area. My few previous trips to island were always rushed affairs with no time to properly examine breeding birds, so it was great to have the island to myself for 24 hours.
My main focus were the cliff breeding species. I find this survey work to be both hard work but very rewarding. The three Bonxie pairs were again on the island although none had yet laid any eggs. It was nice to see one pair in the middle of displaying which involved the female bowing to and moving around the male with a lot of calling from each bird. A pair of Peregrines breed somewhere on the island and finding this pair was one of my main objectives for the trip. I had the adult male on three occasions including one where it was joined a second calendar male. The latter bird was giving begging calls and there was no aggression from the adult bird. This was probably a juvenile bird from last season. Apparently it's not unknown for adult birds to feed their young a year after hatching even with new young in the nest! Given the extent and height of the cliffs it wasn't possible to confirm breeding on this occasion unfortunately but I have no doubt that the female was sat tight incubating eggs.
Despite wild and unfounded accusations by one regular visiting birder to Inishbofin, Ravens were not present in "unnaturally high" numbers on the island. There is only one pair on the entire island although I would have expected two pairs given the size of the island. Try as I might I just could not see the nest as it was at a spot that wasn't visible although the aggressive reception I got from the adults proved that they had chicks. This is a late enough clutch as most Raven chicks have now left the nest. I managed to find a new pair of Chough on the island also. The female was busy incubating. There was also a second pair breeding on the island but again I just couldn't pin them down.
On the seabird side of things I counted approximately 430 apparent pairs of Fulmars, 93 Guillemots, 41 Kittiwakes, 13 Shag nests and 18 Black Guillemots (latter incomplete count). Great Black-backed Gulls were thinly spread out across the island with single figures of Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls breeding on one spot on the west cliffs. I heard a calling Manx Shearwater in the middle of the night and I'm sure that a few pairs breed on the island along with Storm Petrels. Ringed Plovers were the commonest breeding wader by far with probably a few dozen pairs on the island followed by Oystercatchers and a handful of Snipe in the wet spots.
I heard no Corncrakes during my time on the island. There were 2 - 3 pairs here last summer. The nettle bed in which they hide are still very low which may explain their absence so far. We might be able to put some temporary fencing around some of the nettle beds give the Corncrake a better chance next season with the agreement of the landowners.
I flushed a Tree Pipit just below the highest point on the island. It called once or twice but I never saw or heard it again. This is only the third one I've seen in the county (two others on Inishmore). The only other modern county record comes from Inishbofin. Other than a single Willow Warbler and a few Sand Martins and Whimbrels, those were all the migrants I had on the island. The only other breeding land birds seen were Rock Dove, Swallow, Wheatear, Meadow Pipit, Rock Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Stonechat, Skylark, Blackbird, Wren, Hooded Crow and Starling.
While walking around the island I was again amazed at the numbers of fallen livestock on the island. Between ewes and lambs I must have come across 40 dead sheep on the island. It was obvious that some had died while lambing, some had fallen off cliffs (I saw half a dozen live sheep trapped on cliffs and isolated coves) but I would imagine that most succumbed to the harsh winter conditions and lack of care. Sheep are left on the island over the winter in the full knowledge that it will not be possible to land on the island over the winter months due to very dicey landing conditions. You would have to wonder if its ethical to leave stock out in those conditions..

Bonxie with the mainland in the background.

Bonxie

Bonxie and Skylark

Bonxie

Hooded Crow sitting on the old church.

Distant male Peregrine

Common Guillemots and Kittiwakes.

Male Blackbird collecting food, only one pair on the entire island.

Male Wheatear

Migrant Willow Warbler

Dead Barnacle Goose

Dead first-winter Iceland Gull, Inishbofin.

Dead Raven inside one of the abandoned houses.

Turf rack

West end of Inishark looking back East.

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Arizona 9th February 2015

We had another go at the Sinaloa Wren in the morning. Thankfully we managed to see the bird as it tends to be much more active and vocal. The bird was always distant and keep low in the understorey vegetation much as one would expect a wren to behave I suppose! It made several visits to a nest bringing in feathers that it presumably constructed in recent weeks.

Having scored on the Sinaloa we made our way to Florida Canyon where we spent several hours. This is another well known spot with a good list of speciality species. Unfortunately we didn't see too many on this occasion however the highlight here was definitely a pair of Black-capped Gnatcatchers. These are very restricted in the US being found only in a small area in SE Arizona. The hike up the canyon was a little tough for some of the group but everyone made it all the way up to where the very rough track seemed to peter out. Along the way up we had a few good birds like Hammond's Flycatcher, Hutton's Vireo and Black-chinned Sparrow.
Afterwards we had Black-throated Sparrow and Mexican Jays nearby.

I forgot to mention that the previous evening we were extremely lucky to get excellent views of Whiskered Screech Owl, another species restricted to SE Arizona. Can be a tough one to see at the best of times. No photos unfortunately.