PRETENDER

Just Playing

2007-06-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

Just playing. I thought the two shapes might work together.

Sunsets on a Saturday Night

2007-06-10T10:57:00.000-07:00

I've been relaxing a little more. The team sat out on Saturday evening, and enjoyed the sun going down.

We also saved a swallow chick, I must get the photo from Jamie
I had a little play with my camera, and was trying to find interesting shapes in the fore-ground to frame the clouds with.
These are all taken from the garden and farm track that run behind our house. There were some nice shapes to play with.

Happy Birthday Alex!

2007-06-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit late posting this, but thought that I probably should. It was the bosses birthday last weekend. We had decided to help Alex celebrate it in our own unique fashion. Now, the plan was that all the lads would wear kilts, blankets or towels... Alex has been known to turn up for birthdays and christmas celebrations wearing full dress tartan...

Well, Jamie didn't turn up, John and Alex decided to work until late, Brian chickened out, so only one fella made the effort.....

I'm not sure how much Alex enjoyed the effort made on his behalf, but he was on the floor laughing himself to death when I drew my "Spoon Dubh" from my sock... apparently you have to keep an item of cutlery in your sock if you're Scottish. So, here you go, the kilt is my family tartan, Buchanan, the "sporran" is my Olympus camera bag, and the guy kneeing me in the groin is my boss, lol!

Huba Bidiwala is a Thief

2007-06-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

Please click on this, I want it to become a major link for a guy.. Thanks.

Huba Bidiwala

Staples and things....

2007-05-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody, I haven’t written in my blog for a while, so it’s time for an update I guess. It’s been very busy recently, but I’ve been given the day off today, due to injuries. So, the good news is I have time to attend to my blog. I’m sitting here with three staples in my scalp having walked into a road-sign. It makes a bit of a change, normally I bang my head on “Mind Your Head” signs, which is remarkably stupid of me. So, I guess that you’re intrigued now? I was out with the boss (Alex Copland) checking the Laois County bridges for use by nesting “Dippers” and wagtails, etc. Having finished at one bridge, I believe it was due to be the last one of the day, although we might have pulled one more in, we were scaling the bank, returning to the road. Alex reminded me to to be careful where I was putting my feet as there was an open drain hidden in the grass, and I was being so careful that I missed the 8 foot road-sign and smashed my head into the very corner of it. Luckily I was wearing my Donegal Tweed Flat-hat, otherwise I’d have needed a few more staples, and yes they are real staples just like the ones used in offices, only bigger and stronger!

Whilst waiting for the staples, Alex and I were able to watch most of the Seville V Espanol match on the TV in the hospital waiting room. This was a bit of a coincidence as I had left Seville Airport the previous day, with the plane full of Seville FC fans who were unable to fly to Glasgow due to the thousands that were attending the match. It was an exciting match, with two cracking goals and a lot of cracking strikes and saves.

Hopefully this will bring this weeks round of bad luck to an end. I spent the morning at the opticians replacing my specs which had broken whilst in Spain and in the afternoon my Leitz binoculars broke, (the focus wheel has decided to free-wheel). I’m told the bad luck comes in threes, so hopefully that’s that. My two latest eBay purchases (an MP3 player and radio transmitter) both work, so that’s a good sign, although the two of them don’t yet function as a pair because the jack-plugs are different sizes, but what the hell, that’s a lot better than the 80GB hard-drive which arrived broken and I’ve never been compensated for by eBay, the seller, (digits_n_numbers),the carrier or PAYPAL who have really let me and another colleague, Jamie, down. The carrier have promised to try and sort it out for me, whereas PAYPAL, the seller, (digits_n_numbers), and eBay no-longer respond to my mail. I did mention to those three in my last mail that I would enter a web-page naming and shaming them in blogspots and MySpace, if they didn’t sort it out. I might even add one to Bebo as well. So, if anyone else has been dissatisfied with any of these service providers…. Please add your comments and let’s go public.

Jim's Retirement Bash!

2007-05-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

Kite!
As I mentioned, I had just returned from Spain. I had been out to a retirement party. My former Senior Lecturer, Dissertation Supervisor, Bird-Ringing Trainer and Friend, the eminent Dr. Jim Fowler (AKA His Majesty, The Royal Maalie King) was celebrating his retirement with some 25 or so of his good friends, family, colleagues and loyal subjects. It was excellent to see some of my favourite folk there, including Kate “House Sparrow” Vincent, Will Kirby and Simon “The Minstrel to the Royal Maalie Court” Cotter, along with some of my blogging friends, including Lorenzo the Llama. Another of my favourite lecturers attended, “Drinking Ken” Stewart, who drank a bottle and half of Irish whiskey, “Crested Ten” and “Black Bush”, with me, complaining continuously that Irish make weak whiskey compared with the dirty disgusting peat-bog and wood-smoke whiskey that the Scottish prefer. Having said that, he admitted that he doesn’t but whiskey any-more preferring to have it given him. He is Scottish, after-all. It was also very rewarding to meet Judy and Dave Bullock, who I had met in the Banagher Office of Birdwatch Ireland, last year, and mistaken him for a Shetland Bullock, which I proceeded to do again on re-acquaintance this year. I was about to purchase a Batbox-3 on my return but he was able to give me some good advise on Bat-recording and waiting for the new Batbox “Duet”, which I shall do, being fed-up with buying things that don’t do the right job. Dave keeps the main data-base of UK bats. If you’re reading this Dave, in the newspaper on the plane home was an article calling for a embargo on all Irish beef products because of a proposed cull of the Irish Badger population. De Je Vous? I should also probably add here, that it was Dave the introduced the “Beaver’s Paw” tradition to Jim, which he readily adopted and uses to indicate that he is actually tell the truth for once. Graeme Mochrie was also with us, being the fellow who actually instigated the Maalie Court by effectively crowning the King.

We were very fortunate to have a number of “birders” who were much better than myself, so I never had to open my Collins Field Guide, although some of Jill’s reports were a little dodgy, including the Rough-legged Buzzard, Arctic Tern (which would have been remarkable) and the Spotless Sparrow and Muted Eagle would also surely have been picked up by “Birding Ken” Hindmarch, who I know as a fine birder from Cumbria and a pretty good ringer. Ken did remind me that our parting words last time we met, was a request from me to “Look after Jim for me”, which he has been doing a fine job of, ever-since, and I hope that he will continue in this role. Pam Moorhouse another birding friend that I have met in Cumbria and Leicester (who also has the honour of being the first woman I ever met who owned her own telescope) upset me with daily sightings of the Purple Galinule, which I managed to “Dip on”. I had only two birds on my wants list, a “two foot purple chicken” (as reported on Askam-in-Furness’s Sandscale Hawes NNR), which I managed to miss by a few weeks, and the Black Kite (which turned out to be more common than pigeons…..).

We were camping (in air-conditioned chalets) at Al Aldea campsite, which I would strongly recommend to anyone planning to visit Spain, having the virtue of been on the edge of the Donana National Park. It is rather pleasant to lie by the pool listening to Nightingales and Corn Buntings, whilst Red-rumped Swallow drink from the pool and Kites soar overhead. It also has the benefit of a very excellent bird tour guide, John Butler, who knew where to take us for almost every bird that I got on my hypothetical list, including visible Nightingales, Hoopoe, Black-shouldered Kite, Booted Eagle, Bee-eaters, Squaco, Purple, Night and even a Western Reef Heron. I refused to keep a list, on the principal that I was on holiday, but our tour-group got 69 species and I got a couple of extras after that including my first Nightjars (Red-knecked). The Eagle was my first too. Black Kite and Bee-eaters I saw on my first day ever in Shetland, with Kate and Worzel (AKA Alun AKA Snortzel), Jim’s son, the “Other Dr. Fowler”.
Glossy Ibis chicks
Spoons!
More spoons!
Bee-eater, worth a click to zoom!
Storkery
Nightingale... Click, go on!

It wasn’t a purely birding holiday for me, I spent one day at the beach with Kate and Kelly watching the locals relaxing on the beach. Strangely enough, the two girls closest to us were Irish, having a Belfast accent. I spent the following day lying around the pool getting an excellent suntan. My only regret is that I didn’t get good photos of Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Eagle, Kite or Azure-winged Magpie, or that I couldn’t get a decent mixed grill for breakfast. The Spanish know nothing about proper breakfasts.

The highlight of the weekend was undoubtedly Jim’s Big Dinner Night. We had a smashing meal followed by a few speeches from Worzel, Graeme, Dave and Jim himself, in which he said a few words about most of us, where we had entered his life, or what we’d done to it. It was worth the effort to get there just for this part of the evening. Worzel was a magnificent Master of Ceremonies, and Jim was on his best behaviour for once, only slightly runcible.
"Birding Ken", Will, Kate and Struddles.
A happy Maalie King
Story time!
More stories

Weekend Off!

2007-03-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

I’ve spent the weekend off, I decided to try Irish Tourism. Mostly I’ve been out with some friends of mine from Wales, Ian ("Eazy-Man-Giro, AKA "Squelshy")and Kathryn, and the dogs. We spent Saturday enjoying the blizzard at Clonmacnoise, after visiting the Clonfanlough Stone (see under Ian's foot…). We spent most of Sunday around Meelick Weir, where we witnessed the first Sandmartins of the year.

Today a colleague, Jamie, and I went to one of the local callows where Jamie had spotted the first geese that we’d had on the callows all winter. We confirmed 95 White-fronted Geese, but were not able to get an accurate count on the 10,000 Godwits which were being harassed by a big female Peregrine Falcon and a Female (ring-tail) Hen Harrier. The blurred shot is the Peregrine sitting on a fence directly behind the geese.

So, I’m a just doing a chatty blog today, and hope you enjoy my weekend off….

Slainté

Davy

Barn Owl Project, Ireland

2007-03-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody. I’m very pleased to announce the Irish Barn Owl Conservation Project is under new management as of 1st April. I have been informed today, that my application for the position has been successful. The former project officer is beginning a Ph.D. study of the factors which are contributing to the decline of this species in Ireland. I shall be seeking volunteers throughout Ireland to contribute to a full national census, as well as welcoming individual sitings. First indications appear to show a decline of 75% or thereabouts over the last ten years. I will give more precise figures as they become available.

Should anyone require any advice on Barn Owls, please feel free to contact me on my personal email address at emailwatson@yahoo.co.uk. Or at BirdWatch Ireland. In the meantime here’s a picture of one, borrowed from Flikr photo’s. I’d also like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a “Happy Saint Patricks Day”!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2007-03-03T12:29:00.000-08:00

I've treated myself to new pair of bins, Leica, 8x32s. I'll need them for a little holiday I'll be taking in May, and of course for the fieldwork.

White-tailed Eagles in Irish Skies.

2007-02-18T05:19:00.000-08:00

I was at a conference, yesterday, 17 February 2007, in Dublin, with delegates from Norway, America, Scotland and the UK, of The Annual Irish Raptor Study Group

Before you read any further, there are attempts being made to block this project, and there is a petition for folk to sign at this link. White-tailed Eagle Petition. The Red Kite has been successfully reintroduced to England, with 1000+ pairs now, which is 5% of the worlds declining 20000 pairs. The White-tailed Eagle is being re-established in Scotland, RSPB and The Golden Eagle to Ireland (now 40 pairs), Irish Raptor Study Group. So, why should this project be blocked? Let’s fill the skies with Eagles again…

White-tailed Eagle Reintroduction Project!

Photo by Leirdal, click on picture to visit his Flickr site

This year sees the launch of the most exciting wildlife reintroduction programme ever undertaken in Ireland!

During the summer of 2007, the White-Tailed Sea Eagle, one of the largest birds of prey in the world, is to be reintroduced into Killarney National Park as part of a five-year project.

As part of a carefully researched programme, the Golden Eagle Trust Limited in association with the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Irish White-tailed Eagle Reintroduction Group will release 15 chicks a year being brought from Norway to specific zones of the Killarney National Park.

It is hoped that after five to six years the birds will begin to breed across the wider coastal and upland regions of Kerry and West Cork. For almost a century people have been deprived of the glory of experiencing these great birds soaring again over our sea and landscapes.

The Facts

Natives

White-tailed Eagles lived in Ireland for thousands of years, before they were driven to extinction in the early 1900’s, due to poisoning, shooting and egg collecting.
Photo by ketch, click on picture to visit his Flickr site

Diet
Sea eagles are scavengers and principally feed on carrion (mainly dead whales, seals, birds, sheep, deer). They will also hunt seabirds, fish that swim near the surface of the water, rabbits, hares and fox cubs.

Breeding
Sea Eagles construct large nests of branches and twigs in trees or on cliff faces. The female lays an average of two eggs, which she incubates for about six weeks before the young fledge the nest after 7-9 weeks. The first breeding of the sea eagles would be expected in 2012.

A Common Myth

Eagles present a serious threat to livestock!

Evidence from abroad in Scandinavia and Scotland along with experience in Donegal where the Golden Eagle has been successfully re-introduced points to very limited interference with sheep and other farm animals. Norway’s 3000 eagles have never been recorded attacking or killing sheep or lambs.

In Ireland, any lambs that would potentially fall prey to the eagles would be negligible compared to those lost due to through poor husbandry, cliff-falls (over a hundred per annum on the Reeks alone) to preying by the estimated 10000 foxes dwelling in County Kerry, dog-attacks, etc.

Ambassadors of the Skies

These Majestic birds are great Ambassadors. Who cannot feel awed and inspired when seeing an Eagle soar. These creatures reconnect us to nature, inspire art and poetry and greater efforts in our daily conservation efforts. Please visit the White-tailed Eagle Petition and register your support for this pjoject.

Copyright honours to the above website at www.aniolair and the (photo contributers at flickr) for the material which I have copied and pasted here for the sake of accuracy. Please visit the site and add your name. Much Respect.

My Irish Roots Discovered!

2007-02-07T13:59:00.003-08:00

Here's a turn up for the books... I've always known that the Watson Family, were linked to the Buchanan Clan of Loch Lomond, and recently discovered that our family badge was very appropriate, given my relationship (of "Pretender To The Maalie Throne"). Whilst trying to find myself a more appropriate "Blog Header", I found this wonderful one, complete with Falcons.

With it was a history of the Buchanan Clan and their route into Scotland from Ulster (then still a part of Ireland). It also explains the Watson Family as a "Sept". According to the Buchanan Society...

It is said that, after seven centuries of raiding, the Danes under Swein the Fork Beard took control of most of England and Ireland in 1013 - 1014. His son, Canute, (944 - 1035) was to become King of England. Swein ordered celebrations to be held in Limerick, Western Ireland (now Eire) and instructions were given for one thousand beautiful daughters of the Irish nobility to be present. In their stead the same number of Irish youths were dispatched, disguised in women’s habits with long Irish skeans (daggers) below their cloaks. A massacre of the Danes followed. One of these youths was Anselan Buey OKyan or Ocahan (pronounced Okane), son of the King of Ulster, the Fourth part of Ireland (roughly modern Northern Ireland). In 1016, as a result of this exploit, he fled Ireland and emigrated to Argyll in Western Scotland.

Eventually he acquired lands in the Lennox (to the North of the present day city of Glasgow), either by marriage, or as a reward for services rendered to King Malcolm II of Scotland, 1005 - 1034. Lennox was broadly Strathendrick, but at one time it was known to extend from Glenfuin in the West to Fintry in the East. In addition, Anselan was granted Arms, practically identical to those used by the Buchanan Society today. All records of Irish insignia have long since disappeared.

The Name BUCHANAN is possibly derived from three sources: from the Gaelic Boghchanon, meaning “low ground belonging to the Canon”, Mac-a-Chanonaich, meaning “Son of the Canon”, whilst the place name BUCHANAN, Bothchanian, means “The Canon’s seat”. A simpler derivation is the development of Buey OKyan into BUCHANAN. However, all point to some connection to the Canon. On Inchcailleach, an island in Loch Lomond opposite the village of Balmaha, (the Pass to the Highlands) and near the mouth of the River Endrick, a church had been founded between 650 and 700 AD by St Kentigerna, wife of an Irish Prince Feradach.

It is more than possible that the lands accepted by Anselan had belonged originally to the Canon of this Church, of which the remains are still to be seen. In 1621 the Parish Church of Buchanan absorbed the Parish of Inchcailleach. This United Parish extended from the River Endrick in the South to Inversnaid in the North and the entire area covered today by the Queen Elizabeth National Forest Park. This includes the mountain of Ben Lomond. In 1314 the Clan supported King Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn in Scotland’s War of Independence against England.

Thus, I come from a line of Loyal Irishmen, (and a Son of The King, no less...), Loyal Scots.... and an adversary of the Viking Kings.... Sorry, Your Highness...

Back To Work....

2007-01-22T03:36:00.000-08:00

Great news! Business is resumed. I have had the all-clear to resume work with the Corncrake Conservation Project! It has been nice to have this 4 week break from duties, but it will be even nicer to return to the business in hand. It also means that I can afford a nice little holiday this year, mmm, Pyrenees sounds good to me..

You may notice that I've also gone commercial with my blogsite. I want to see how much revenue this generates. I will let you know if it pays me. If it doesn't you'll know soon, because I'll be removing the links. The idea is that the links will be all automatically linked to my page content, and therefore should be Irish Tourism or Wildlife related. Now I've entered this bulletin, there might be a change in the adds towards making money on the internet. I don't know, we shall see. Feel free to explore any of the links and see where they take you.

I hope to have some more pictures next week, since I'll have the car back. Have a great week everyone.

Slainté

Davy

Happy Solstice, All..

2006-12-21T09:45:00.000-08:00

Well Happy Solstice Everyone. I'm sorry that I haven't managed to capture the beauty of the evening sky. I was over in Galway City this afternoon, with a colleague who was dropping his hire-car back to the Airport. It appeared to be sunset around 2.45, with golden skies setting behind the hills. We got to Galway and returned some hour and half later with the skies getting better and better. The reflections of the sky against the mad sillouettes of the drowned landscape were amazing, so I dashed back to the house to capture this wonder. Unfortunately due to heavy traffic in town I was unable to get back in time to capture the wonderful colours. So here's a picture of the sun setting and another of one of the maddest reflections.

We've just come through a week of heavy fog. I know it's still present in the UK with all Heathrow Flights cancelled for tomorrow. For the previous 3 weeks we've had heavy rain and gales. I'd like to show you a couple of our roads. Both of these roads I use regularly, one which connects the villages of the west side of River Shannon to Athlone, the major town. The other is 5 minutes from my house and is the main route to all of the villages and callows that I have been working with this year, lying between Banagher and Shannon Harbour. I'd like you to bear in mind that under all of this water are fields which are grazed or cut as meadow in the summer. It is the winter flooding of these fields that keeps them special, and the last stronghold of Corncrakes in Mainland Ireland.

Anyway, all the best to you all. Have a great Festive Season, whatever you're doing.

Thorfin's Day

2006-12-05T15:13:00.000-08:00

Swansong

2006-11-24T11:31:00.000-08:00

Hi folks,

What a day today! Today my car was due in for a service and new tyres. It's done a lot of hard mileage since April 1st (yeah, I know what day I arrived here.) Actually, I've not had it quite that long, I had to change my car when I got my window smashed by a 4x4 that was driving down the middle of the white line one Sunday Morning.

So, having exhausted my opportunities in the local community today, I went to a couple of beautiful old castle towers to help erect some Barn Owl boxes. I wish I had taken my camera. They were fantastic. I might even go back and get a photo for you. I'm sorry but my camera was in the car, the car was in for service....

We didn't so much "erect" these boxes, as climb up a pair of ladders and pop them on a ledge. Some of the ivy was like a tree-trunk, one had a 15 foot tree growing from one ledge, big enough for me to use in hauling this great bird box onto the ledge.

My colleague, John, is managing the Barn Owl Project and beginning a PhD study of the Barn Owl in Ireland, trying to determine the limits and requirements of each territory. Where a territory is found, John attempts to provide a range a nesting boxes, within and without the territory, so that nesting opportunities are available for both the adults, should they wish to relocate, and the successful brood, who may have to look in another county for an appropriate site. Actually, that probably doesn’t read quite right, recent studies suggest that here in Ireland suitable nesting habitat isn’t significant factor, that we may have a lot of suitable castles and similar old buildings which aren’t being used. There is a secondary reason for us to provide nest-boxes, they are easy to monitor, if we can put them up, then it is even easier to check them. Two years ago, I returned to England for training with my supervisor Dr Jim Fowler , who was supervising the bird-ringing aspects of the research at Muncaster Castle.
http://www.visitcumbria.com/wc/muncowl.htm

Birds that were nesting in Cumbria, which we visited, included pipes in walls more than 8 feet deep, water cisterns and tanks with open tops, holes into cavity walls and boxes, not easy nests to monitor, some of them. A bird-box is ideal, if they weren’t, then birds wouldn’t move into them.

So, if you know the whereabouts of a nesting (or roosting) Barn Owl in England or Ireland, please let me know, and I’ll let the folk know that need to know…. But we do need to know. You may think that you’re looking after them by keeping them private, but we can arrange first-rate nesting accommodation for their young in adjacent territories if we know where they are. First year breeders and inexperienced birds will always be more successful if they are assisted. The route to successful breeding in most birds is possibly littered with many failures. Early breeding success is key in any project of this nature, we need to turn things around quickly. When a species is in sharp decline, then it is probably obvious that we need to have a lot of chicks fledge, we need birds soon, now. In these British and Irish projects, we can assist the young birds whilst not disturbing the adults. If we are going to turn this decline around then we have got to help the experienced breeding pairs as well as the new generation. So, please inform the local agencies of myself directly if you know the whereabouts of a breeding or roosting Barn Owl.

I'm sorry if you're still looking for the swan, but I took it out, it was kinda sad.

Slainté,

Davy

www.flickr.com/photos/jamspangle

2006-11-10T12:31:00.000-08:00

Well, tonight I have mostly been under bridges….. Well, not quite true…. It was last night, and a lot of the time we were driving between bridges. One of my colleagues (Alex, find him at Birdwatch Ireland) is monitoring the Dipper (Cinclus cinclus), population, (a small bird which hunts underwater for invertebrates such as stonefly and mayfly larvae) which means that he finds the nests and watches to see how successful each nest is. I have helped him a little with this during the past year.

If we are absolutely honest here, Alex allows me to help him. He gets an extra hand, particularly in the way of Health and Safety, no-one likes to be climbing down riverbanks and struggling through fast running rivers under a narrow bridge, at night, without someone else with a mobile phone handy, or a big stick handy. Sometimes it is very helpful if someone has a big stick that you can grab. Behave, I’ve been in that situation several times in bog-land in Shetland and if I had to spend an evening wondering what would have happened and how deep the bog was (and I’m 5 foot 10 to my mouth and nose), I probably wouldn’t sleep as I do. To be even more honest, ringing the emergency services to save a guy in this kind of situation may be completely pointless, because if I can remember which bridge out of 15 or 20 we are at, and we are at the right bridge (sometimes we get down the road and realise that we were at the wrong one), then there is still the problem of getting the emergency services to the right bridge as well. Hmm, will have to think about that one… could be me in the river….

At this time of the year he goes to all the bridges that they roost under at night, and checks to see how they are doing. Using individually numbered metal rings fitted to the bird’s legs, we can find out several important things. How many are surviving, how many chicks survive, where they are from, where they roost? This information can then be used to determine factors which are affecting them. The greater understanding of a species increases our ability to help to conserve them.

Tonight we visited approximately 15 bridges, some of which were unsuitable, some of which were suitable and not in use. 3 of the bridges were in use and 2 birds were captured and ringed. These birds had not previously been ringed. We able to age both of them, using clues from the feathers and the eye colour. One was an adult, and one bird which had been born this year. The younger bird was a nice surprise as most of the chicks in this area will have been ringed at the nest, so this bird represents a nest which had been missed which we can still continue to monitor. Hopefully we shall meet this bird again in coming years.

Both of the birds captured last night were of particular interest to me, having only previously ringed chicks of this species in the nest. The bird is approximately the size of a blackbird, incredibly short-winged and powerful, with an amazingly strong grip. These attributes allow the bird to both swim underwater and grip the rocky substrate of the fast flowing streams which it prefers. This is the favoured habitat for the invertebrates on which it feeds; oxygen rich clear water. Fast flowing streams that narrow when they are contained by the limits of a bridge are not always the favoured habitat of the guy in none-gripping wellies or waders, trying to monitor them, it can be dodgy, and shouldn’t be attempted by children at home, or adults without a big stick for balance and depth measuring, but mostly, and I’ll repeat it... balance. I nearly went down 4 or 5 times last night, and the current wasn’t strong, that was just sediment change from firm to soft, shallow to suddenly quite deep, or one big stone.

The bridges that we visit include featureless concrete structures, modern designs and also ancient and rough featured works of wonder. Some of the latter span gullies and cracks in deep ancient rock formations, (and I hope to provide photographs of these at another date), whilst others may be bland and have little headroom and be a few feet deep.

The adjacent counties to Offaly are separated by river and stream boundaries. Ireland is wet, it has many streams, and the countryside is dotted with bridges. I read somewhere that Ireland has the greatest length of road per head of population in Europe. This is because the countryside still contains a large proportion of the population, and they all have a road leading to their house. A lot of roads, plus a lot of rivers… equals a lot of bridges. I’m hoping to be very busy this winter and see a lot of Dippers.

I may see fewer Dippers than I wish this winter, because the number of people that can attend an operation like this needs to be kept to the bare minimum for disturbance purposes. All of these things are factored into this kind of monitoring. There are number of fieldworkers who need this kind of experience and I will take my place alongside other novices to work with experts in this field. If anyone is reading this and intends enjoying this experience, which I have shared with you, please do not attempt this alone. I am sharing this with you, so that you can enjoy it by proxy. Do not, I beg you, disturb birds for any reason at their breeding grounds or roosts without expert supervision, it cannot help them at all. We at Birdwatch Ireland and also the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the British Trust for Ornithology and others worldwide only interfere with birds at these important sites and times with the fullest and most recent advice from current research. Disturbance of sites is always well considered and not conducted unless the benefit of the species is paramount.

My Gosh! I never thought that I’d ever do one of those “terms and conditions apply” things in a blog. I just recently found that my blog is accessible in the first page of “Google” and “Yahoo”, so I’m being especially careful, I guess. But seriously folks, feed them in your garden, put up boxes, don’t go under the bridges at night without an expert, you know it all makes sense.

Slainté,

Davy

A Stonechat Day, at last...

2006-11-03T11:20:00.000-08:00

My favourite sort of day is the kind of day that includes a Stonechat. Whether I'm at the beach, at a stone-circle, on the river, the day is always better if it includes a Stonechat.

I'm out again, visiting farmers and getting out and about around the river. Today was a Stonechat Day! The day started crisp and frosty, was followed by tea, cake, sandwiches, more tea, a rest from tea down at the river where the reflections in the still waters were beautiful.

The day ended with a beautiful sunset over the drowned callows of Bullock Island. That's the kind of day I love.
Tomorrow I'll be out doing my first winter-bird count. Hopefully, I'll be up and about at 9.00am whilst the frost is still out and the birds are reluctant to move. I'd go out earlier, but I don't want the sun on the horizon when I'm using a telescope. I hope to have more photos for you soon. Thanks for waiting fans.... lol.

Skype-Me!

2006-11-03T10:53:00.000-08:00

Hello! I'm sorry that I've been letting my viewers down, but I've not been doing anything that would excite you for most of the month. We've been completing the annual report. I'd love to post a few facts and figures here, but won't without permission from the boss... And.... then, in the evenings I've been tied up with my new hobby... I've discovered Skype. Skype is a free program, that allows free computer to computer chat, both by webcam and by microphone. I can tune into my mate's house in England, laugh, joke and watch the footy on their TV, and make the dog wag his tail on demand....

Little doggy!

Is it illegal to watch the football on someones TV, if they are paying for it, if their TV is in their house, but you're in a different one? We watched two matches, England and Ireland, how good is that?

Erin go Braw!

Download it for free, buy yourself a microphone for a pound, a webcam for a pound, then Skype-Me at Davy-Watson... Go on, do it! Do it now!

UP THE SCOTS!

2006-10-08T09:07:00.000-07:00

Up the Scots!

I had a couple of days up in Scotland at the beginning of the week. I had an interview up north at Inverness. Since there were no flights on the Tuesday, I flew up on the Monday and returned on the Wednesday. It gave me the opportunity to have a little exploration. There were only two places on my agenda on this visit, one was the Culloden Moor Battlefield, where the Highland Army of Bonnie Prince Charlie met it’s sad end on April 16th 1746. I wanted to find one particular stone, which doesn’t come from my own personal history, but from a series of books that both my mum and I have read, written by Diana Gaboldon. Jamie Fraser, is the main male character, and without giving the game away, Claire visits the Battlefield looking for the Clan Fraser marker stone… I found it, and took the lads a wee dram of Irish, to show my respect. It might seem bad manners to take a bottle of Irish Whiskey to Scotland, but the Irish lads died alongside the Scots that day. I also went to find the Irish lads who have a less personal marker…,The “Mixed Clans”, and dripped a dram at their stone. It was very atmospheric with crows calling from the trees above the stones. It was dour dark day, but was still well attended by tourists and folk bringing flowers to the fallen. There was even a rose left at the British Marker! Fair Play! Despite the fact that they were the invading force, and depriving the locals of the choice of their own Catholic Sovereign King.

My family ancestors remain unmentioned (lowlanders from the Banks of the Loch Lomond…). We all know a song about that, don’t we boys and girls… and it was sung by all in the pub on Wednesday Night!. This is the "Frazer Stone", marking the dead of this fine clan.

However, I did discover amongst the souvenirs… something quite amazing!

Please examine the Buchanan Badge! Click on it for a better view! Those who know me well, will know that my Buchanan Tartan Blanket is not only a part of my survival equipment… but where-ever I lay my blanket, well, that’s my home. The badge depicts a hand gripping a crown, robbing it, saving it? I don’t know, but as the “Official Pretender to the Maalie Throne”, what can I say? It’s in the genes, I guess?

Wednesday morning was interview morning, followed by an afternoon on the Loch Ness. I had a little cruise on the “Nessy Hunter”, followed by a presentation in the Exhibition Centre, before returning home for an evening of song and Ceilidh at the famous Hootananny, which just happens to be on the corner of Fraser Street/Church Street, Inverness.

So I’ll show you some pics. The Castle is on the Loch, and was last occupied by William of Orange, who blew it up when he left. Something that you can’t blame the English for, for a change! The Rainbow just kind of followed us around. A good day was had by all. Ah, no picture of a rainbow uploaded, never mind... use your imagination, you've alls seen one... the fact that I took twenty plus photos is beside the point...

Then of course there's Irish Technology.....

2006-09-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

This is environmental Ireland at it's best. This is Co Offaly Power Station. Despite standing against the River Shannon this is not hydroelectric, this is peat-fueled... This eats the local boglands, which were once important habitats for Brent Geese. The cutting operation is also blamed for filling the Shannon causing flooding of the river margins... the callows... an important area for breeding birds...

This isn't an Irish invention, but I saw my first one today and thought that I'd share it. This is a 30 foot wide lawnmower, it's cutting capacity is brutal. Most of our callows have been cut by 5 foot 6 rotary cutters. This is equivalent to 6 tractors driving side by side...

The plot that this one is cutting had one calling male corncrake. It was the first corncrake in Ireland to be heard calling in 2006.. by me! We believe that the female actually used the opposite side of the river, where chicks were seen early in the summer by the farmer cutting there. We had not protected that side of the river.... It happens.

The great news is.... You can always find yourself a LUCKY RABBIT'S FOOT! (As long as you're willing to use to use Hare!)

Technology Gone Mad!

2006-09-22T15:21:00.000-07:00

Hiya all Technology has gone mad... Or I have, this is a photo of my 4 pairs of binoculars, (including one with a camera). It was taken with my new camera! But instead of photographing the binoculars, I decided to photograph them, (with my mobile phone.. which doesn't have USB or bluetooth), email them to my yahoo account, download the photo, open it for display, then photograph my computer.... that's not sane is it?

This is a photo of my new camera, taken with my camera on my "Irish" phone, transferred to my computer by "Bluetooth"..... No cable involved.... clever stuff eh? We have technology.......

This a just a photograph of lots of things that now seem to have to carry around with me, because they're mine and I might need to use them..... The scope will be in the boot, with two tripods...... One big and one small, the laptop will probably be in there too....

My other phone doesn't have bluetooth, or a USB cable, so....

I was going to stand outside with my binocular camera and photograph the whole lot of this on my blogpage in cyberspace.. but I can't get the pictures to upload, so I'll send it back....

Thank God for some sanity in the world eh?

11th in the World!

2006-09-12T11:20:00.000-07:00

Well 11th out of 350,000 or there-abouts....

Check this out, look closely at my team stats.... Season position 321562nd place.... It was a late entry team... 78 points.... Monthly position 11th!

It's great being me!

2006-09-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

Just purchased......
Digital Camera Type: Compact
Optical Zoom: 10x
Brand: Olympus
Digital Zoom: 3x
Model: C-700 Ultra Zoom
Memory Card Format: SmartMedia
Resolution: 2.1
Condition: Used
Battery Type: Rechargeable LR-6 AA
Features:
--
Bundled Kits:
Camera Bag, Extra Memory
Display Size:
1.5 inches

Read the review, spot the price......

Olympus C-700 UZ

Body: Front magnesium alloy, back plastic
Street price US$ 650
Lens: 10 x optical zoom, 5.9 mm - 59 mm35 mm equiv: 38 - 380 mmF2.8 - F3.5
Lens type: Extending
Lens thread: 55 mm with optional adapter
Image stabilizer: No
Sensitivity: Auto, ISO 100, 200, 400, 800
Sensor: 1/2.7" 2.1 megapixel (1.92 effective)
Resolutions: 1600 x 12001280 x 9601024 x 768640 x 480
Image formats: TIFF, JPEG
Digital Zoom: 1.1x - 2.7x
AF assist lamp: No
Manual focus: Yes
WB manual preset: Yes
Exposure modes: Auto, S-Prg (3 modes), Aperture priority, Shutter priority, Manual
AE bracketing: Yes
Movie clips: Yes, 320 x 240 / 160 x 120
Shutter speed: 16 sec - 1/1000 sec
Flash: Pop-up (flip-up)
Flash range (max): W: 5.5 m, T: 4.4 m
Ext. Flash: Yes, synch terminal
Remote control: No
Power: 4 x AA batteries (rechargables supplied by the seller)
Storage: SmartMedia (up to 128 MB)
Storage included: 8 MB SmartMedia card (But supplied with an additional 64 MB memory card by the seller)
Viewfinder: Electronic viewfinder (mini LCD)
LCD: 1.5" (114,000 pixel)
Weight: 410 g (14.5 oz)
Dimensions: 108 x 76 x 78 mm (4.3 x 3 x 3.1 in)

I beat a guy on ebay, with 2 seconds on the timer..... £59 (that's around the price that you'd pay for a couple of bottles of 12 year old Irish whiskey.....)

Thrown or Mown? “Does frog-lobbing serve any function other than self-gratification?”

2006-09-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

Ok..

Thrown or Mown? “Does frog-lobbing serve any function other than self-gratification?”

I’ve a question for you to POND-er.. Forgive the pun-type-t’ing.

I’ve been coming across a lot of frogs during my mowing activities, and when they are in the most recently cut sward, fully endowed with allocated appendages still attached, and their insides in and their outsides out… so to speak… I have to make a decision, “thrown or mown?”

Now, it should be obvious that you can throw a big frog further than a small frog… so I throw small ones into the zone that has already been cut, on the basis that the turning process might not harm them. Big frogs might get damaged by the turning process, so I lob them…. You wouldn’t believe how far they’ll go…. I was shocked! So there's the first t'ing.....

Q? Are frogs aerodynamically designed for flight? They go further than you’d imagine.

Q? Given a weight/strength/leap-capability, are small frogs better equipped to penetrate grass and escape? Or is a bigger frog better equipped?

Q? Which size is likely to be minced larger or smaller?

Q? Which size is more likely to be spotted by me and therefore saved?

Q? Which size is more likely to be spotted by a predator?

Q? What is the optimal size for survival in a meadow-cutting operation? With me present and without me present. Do I make any difference?

Q? Is frog-lobbing justifiable under any circumstances? Or is this personal self-gratification?

Please post comments. If anyone would like to determine some formula to help me in my decision making, I would appreciate it…. Please base all calculations on fully intact frogs, as I have my own formula already for dealing with less intact specimens….

Slainté

Davy

Cutting season...

2006-09-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

Leverets (young hares) they rely on camoflage too.... This one had more than 5 minutes to move less than 10 feet. It decided to stay and hide....Do you want to see the inside of a frog?

Davy