Kilcoole: Ireland’s bird watching HQ
REPORTER DAVID MEDCALF CALLED TO A BUSINESS PARK IN KILCOOLE WHERE HE GOT A CRASH COURSE IN WICKLOW WILD LIFE ON THE WING BY BIRDWATCH IRELAND’S NIALL HATCH
DEEP in the recesses of the Bullford Business Campus, something rather wonderful stirs on the outskirts of Kilcoole.
The headquarters of BirdWatch Ireland is located in among the engineers and jam makers who are the more likely residents of this place. A few hardy starlings and rooks are perched on the overhead power lines, but otherwise this is an environment more associated with commerce than ornithology.
‘People expect our offices to be in a more natural setting,’ admits Niall Hatch, the appropriately named spokesman for the organisation.
He should know a bit about popping up in unexpected quarters as his own training is not as a naturalist – but as a solicitor.
An office is an office, of course, with desks and computers and files, fulfilling its dry purpose without any requirement to reflect the nature of the organisation it serves.
Anyway, as Niall points out, the HQ in Bullford is not so very far away from the East Coast nature reserve, which is one of BirdWatch’s flagship projects.
Whenever the workers here find they are in need of fresh air with terns and gulls for company, then The Murrough is just a short drive away.
The spokesman takes visitors arriving at the offices upstairs to the library which offers a window on a world far removed from the landscaped sterility of a business campus.
The titles of the books – ‘Gannets and Boobies’, ‘Birds of Venezuela’, ‘Shuas and Jaegers’, ‘Wetlands in New Zealand’ et cetera – are hard core ornithology.
The lesser spotted Hatch blends in well with this setting, his passion for the subject honed by academic study and practical experience.
He lets it be known that his idea of holiday is not night clubbing in Spain but rather exploring the rain forests of Panama dripping with birdlife.
Niall is at a loss to explain exactly where the obsession – and it really is an obsession – with our feathered friends came from.
His proud boast is that he has been a member of the organisation for which he now works as development officer since he was a small boy.
He was the one who insisted that the family must join what was then called the Irish Wild Bird Conservancy, and the initiative did not come from his parents.
BirdWatch – its motto is ‘protecting birds and biodiversity’ – relies on enlisting members who make up the 30 branches scattered across Ireland.
With 15,000 paid-up enthusiasts on the roll, that makes it the largest conservation organisation in the country.
For some it is primarily an educational organisation which presents its message in an informal way, for others a social outlet offering a range of outings.
They are all served by a beautifully illustrated quarterly magazine called ‘Wings, edited by Cóilín MacLochlainn and Oran O’Sullivan along with one Niall Hatch.
He reports that Wicklow is lucky to have one of the most active branches of BirdWatch Ireland – in a county which is blessed with a wonderful range of birdlife.
Inspiring people to appreciate and understand nature and the environment is a large part of what BirdWatch doesdoes.
Niall muses that this is partly a catch-up exercise as Irish children do not receive the same high standard of eco-education as is the norm in Scandinavia or Germany.
The result is that when he comes to lobby politicians or the wider public on various issues, they often have to be coached first on fundamentals.
Everyone, he reasons, would be better for understanding that the quality of our air and our soil and our food is reflected in the wellbeing of our feathered friends and ultimately on humans.
‘Birds are like a gateway drug,’ he muses, creatures to be found in everyone’s back garden or in their public park.
Once hooked by the birds, they may be led on to an interest in butterflies or mammals – or in the wider environment.
The East Coast reserve at Newcastle is one
example of how the organisation pursues the twin aims of conservation and enlightenment.
The 220 acres are described by the eloquent development officer as an ‘outdoor classroom’ with artful access through a network of boardwalks.
The territory includes rare native fen and woodland as well as seaside habitats, offering the opportunity to spy on snipe and widgeon, with kestrels and sparrowhawks.
The management programme setting up the reserve included taking out a stand of commercial forestry, removing lodge pole pine trees.
It was also necessary to reverse the drainage system which had allowed the area to be used as farmland, creating ponds and pools attractive to many wild birds.
BirdWatch also takes an active interest in protecting the nearby little tern colony which nests on the beach around Kilcoole.
Wardens take up residence to keep foxes and humans away from the nest sites with their eggs camouflaged to resemble the stones of the strand.
The reports from the summer of 2016 have yet to be fully written up but it is feared that breeding rate may have been down this time.
Niall Hatch reckons that more than 100 species of bird have been recorded in the area over the years, though some may be just passing through.
For instance, a ruff which alights in Wicklow is merely taking a brief pause on its way between Africa and the Arctic. Similarly, any whimbrel seen in these parts is likely on its way to breed in the north of Scotland or Norway.
It is fun to record such strays but Niall is happy that the obsession with ‘twitching’ – ticking off species spotted like so many badges on the arm of a boy scout – is not generally shared in Ireland.
NOR is the egg collecting mania, which has damaged the prospects of many endangered species, fashionable in this part of the world. While sightings of oddities may generate a quick thrill most bird fanciers like their old reliables.
The co-editor of ‘Wings’ reports that familiar robins and puffins still have the ‘ahh’ factor and always go down well on the cover of the magazine. The Greystones resident believes he is living in one of the most interesting and diverse ornithological counties.
‘Wicklow is very important for a number of reasons,’ he states happily.
He cites the return of woodland with broad- leafed trees around the likes of Glendalough and Powerscourt. They are so attractive to wildlife compared with the plantations of regimented pines, paving the way for the return of redstarts, pied flycatchers and wood warblers to Ireland.
Above the tree line, the Garden County boasts uplands where plover and grouse may be found.
Meanwhile, the coastal areas have salt marshes, fens and some of the finest sand dunes in Europe, with plenty of good farmland between sea and mountain tops.
‘It is Ireland in miniature,’ reckons Niall who welcomes the return to Wicklow of once common species such as the red kite, with its glorious wide wing span.
‘Avoca is not the best place in Ireland to see red kites,’ he reports on a programme which has proven hugely successful over the past decade.
Other species now colonising Wicklow for the first time in centuries have required no encouragement from man – the greater spotted woodpecker being a prime example.
The woodpecker came in of its own accord from Wales and it is believed that there are at least 50 pairs, though they are so shy that it is hard to be accurate.
There have been casualties along the way, with the grey partridge and corncrake now lost to the county, but Niall is generally optimistic.
Much of his work is with farmers, encouraging them to take an active interest in birds such as the under threat yellowhammer and not to trim ditches during the nesting season.
Less poison set to kill rodents, he tells them, would foster the barn owls capable of killing many more mice and rats than the artificial baits. He urges everyone to lend a hand by keeping food and water on bird tables during the winter months.
Gardeners can assist by featuring native plants and he asks everyone to follow his example by planting what he calls his sacrificial cabbage.
Without netting to keep off the butterflies, the cabbage crawls with caterpillars – which are the perfect food for the blue tits which live in his next box.
BirdWatch Ireland encourages everyone and not just the specialists to take note of what they see perched in trees or flitting about overhead.
Go to their website for details of the various surveys and see how Niall Hatch is waiting to hear from you.