500 homes planned for Dublin site
Snapper takes amazing pic of nature in action
Cllr Ed O’brien
A TOTAL of 500 new homes, a creche and a sports centre are being planned for Dublin.
The site in Kilinarden in the south of the capital is set to have around 60% affordable homes, 20% social houses and 20% private properties.
The project is expected to be completed within four years from the granting of planning permission.
Mayor of South Dublin County Ed O’brien said: “I very much welcome that we have advanced to the tender stage.
“Most importantly, it brings a step closer to the opportunity to house up to 500 families in our county and in an area that is in great need of these homes, this must be welcomed.”
IT’S the battle of bitten as a hungry crow snaps up a defenceless cygnet – only to be rescued by the photographer who took the stunning image.
Finbarr Buckley, who has seen his snaps featured on the likes of BBC’S Springwatch, captured one of his bestever photos at the Atlantic Pond close by the River Lee in Cork.
The keen photographer, who has thousands of followers on Facebook, had been in the area when he saw the swan family being harassed by six or seven of the noisy birds.
He said: “They waited until the parents had taken the cygnets out of the water.
“They have to come out to get their body temperature up and when they are that young, they are really targeted by the crows, jackdaws and magpies down there.
“I saw one of the crows snatch a cygnet and take off, I managed to get a sequence of pictures showing what happened.”
But Finbarr took a split-second decision to intervene to try and help the cygnet.
He said: “I clapped my hands and the crow dropped the cygnet, it fell to the water and managed to get back to its parents.
“I have gotten a bit of stick for this from people who say you shouldn’t do it, that you should let nature take its course.
“And if I was down in the wilds of West Cork, I wouldn’t have done it.
“I don’t have a problem with wild animals killing other animals because
TALENTED
that is nature’s way. But this is a bird sanctuary in the city and it is overrun with crows, magpies and jackdaws.
“When the cygnets and ducklings are very young, they target them and you’d see the chicks just disappearing. They don’t have a chance.
“You’d see parents with six or seven chicks and they are just taken one by one, so I decided to do something to try and help this cygnet.”
Finbarr has managed to get some amazing wildlife photos with his Canon LHDC90 camera, using a bridge lens that can capture
sharp pictures in a split second. He will typically spend three to four hours in one spot waiting for the right moment – but he also has some feathered friends, robins, that live close to his home in Douglas and who are his regular models.
Finbar said: “I have a few very tame robins. I’ve named them Robin Downey Jnr, Robin Deniro.
“They are used to the camera, they like being fed and they will actually pose for me.”
I’ve gotten a bit of stick but this is a bird sanctuary & it is overrun with crows FINBARR BUCKLEY
CO CORK YESTERDAY