Things you see walking a river bank.

280special · 01-09-2011 9:47pm #1

Walking along the Castletown river near Dundalk I spotted a fairly large mink. About a hundred yards further on saw another two.

Havent seen these before, are they now commonplace and are/will they be a problem with regarding fish stocks?

Watched a Kingfisher at work, wish i had a decent camera with me !!

Auldloon · 01-09-2011 10:40pm

I'm no expert on mink but I'd say 3 in 100 yards is exceptional unless it was a family. They are extremely territorial.
They will eat fish, a lot of them.
The river I fish here in Scotland recently got Mink and still has a very healthy stock of fish so maybe its possible to have both but I doubt it would be for long. There is action being taken to trap them so we will see.
If you are concerned have a look online at mink traps and take action.

damagegt · 01-09-2011 11:42pm

I was fishing the bride last year just out side Castle lyons.I was walking for maybe 40mins when I noticed a mink on the far bank and thought nothing of it.I came to a slow deep bend with a large on tree on my side and I stopped to fish it.The mink was after arriving on the oppoisite side so I stop to watch him.He swam across and after maybe half way when he noticed me and turned so I couldnt see him and I thought nothing more of it untill a few minutes later I could hear like a high pitched chirping.

What I was sitting next to was the minks nest.It was made of tigs and rushes built around a stump of the tree.I stayed for maybe 10-15 mins listening to them absolutly pulling the heads off each other in the nest before I moved on only to notice I had been sitting in there **** all the time.

DoneDL · 02-09-2011 9:15am

shotgun anyone.

bitemybanger · 02-09-2011 9:31am

I love seeing Kingfishers flying up and down the river.
Mink are fairly prolific on alot of our waterways but they are very shy and avoid humans at all costs because they were and still are heavily hunted. it's great to see them as they indicate that the water is clean and un polluted.
They are not native to Ireland and were bred here in farms for thier pelts (fur). It dosnt take alot of escapees from theese farms to cause an explosion in population.

02-09-2011 9:39am

There are a few im my local river, there is huge overgrown island in the middle of the river which is full of wild life. I know there are minks and otters living on it. They dont bother me at all. i seen a weasel the last time i was fishing, i walked off a foot bridge, and he ran off the bridge behind me a few seconds later! first time i seen one

I have a soft spot for herons, love watching them at the river

smash · 02-09-2011 9:48am

You're obliged to kill them if you have the means aren't you?

SeaFields · 02-09-2011 10:08am

mink are cheeky. even tho you're 1000 times bigger than them they will stand their ground if you get to close.

otters on the river are a sight to behold. they usually see you along time before you see them and are well gone.

yep, kingfishers are a sight to behold and the grey wagtails are gorgeous too. and if you stumble across a heron at dusk you'll sh!t yourself with the screeches they give.

Oh and not to forget seeing a duck and a dozen ducklings when the time of the year is right.

natdog · 02-09-2011 10:10am

bitemybanger wrote: »

it's great to see them as they indicate that the water is clean and un polluted.

its not great to see them as the damage these animals cause is unreal not just to fish stocks but to any ground nesting birds and you wont be seeing any of your beautiful kingfishers anymore.

ironbluedun · 02-09-2011 10:22am

natdog wrote: »

its not great to see them as the damage these animals cause is unreal not just to fish stocks but to any ground nesting birds and you wont be seeing any of your beautiful kingfishers anymore.

i agree. minks are non native invasive species that do a lot of damage, not only to fish but native birds too. they are quite brave as well, i have seen more of them in recent years only last week saw two younger ones playing along a remote lake shore.

madred006 · 02-09-2011 4:34pm

Agree about the mink times i was on the river i wish i had a gun very cheeky and dont scare lightly at all .We got lots of them on our river due to escape fro local mink farm years ago ,agree that they are sign of clean water but very little else,many people see any large eels recently ?dont know when iv seen one.Bring the kids down late at night the odd time to see a family of otters they love it and good for them to see things like this ,who knows what the future will bring.

cathaloc · 02-09-2011 10:54pm

natdog wrote: »

its not great to see them as the damage these animals cause is unreal not just to fish stocks but to any ground nesting birds and you wont be seeing any of your beautiful kingfishers anymore.

Agreed on the mink. I hate seeing them, they are just starting to come into my local waters, having moved upstream from where they escaped a few years back.

Take note of where you see them and come back with a shotgun is my MO. Some of the fur works great for flies too!

ring 20 · 02-09-2011 11:18pm

great to see mink:eek::eek::eek: only great way too see mink is dead. like every wild bird nest they come across.

bitemybanger · 03-09-2011 12:33am

I ment that from the "shows a clean system" point of view:o
I've done my share of hunting them with the oul wavin pipe.
Used to see alot more of them.

bayliner · 03-09-2011 1:02pm

the only good mink is a dead mink!:D
i've seen their worst up close! shoot on sight, we trap loads every yr in the local gun club and there seems to be no end to them,
it has to be said though man is at fault here bringing these vermin into the country in the 1st place!! greed is a curse!! just like the fools that decided to put chub into the inny :mad:

bayliner · 03-09-2011 1:08pm

i remember way back wnen i was about 16yrs old sitting on the local river bank when an otter strolled down the far bank(the river was only 4 ft wide at this part), i couldnt get over the size of it!! i thought it was huge:D, needless to say was sh** scared so legged it when it passed. odd that it never seen me, or at least it didnt look in my direction, maybe it just didnt care:D..
will never forget it, fabulous sight and to be so close to it while scary at the time was also fascinating!

aidanf · 03-09-2011 4:02pm

bayliner wrote: »

...
it has to be said though man is at fault here bringing these vermin into the country in the 1st place!! greed is a curse!! just like the fools that decided to put chub into the inny :mad:

And those misguided activists that release them. There was an incident in Donegal last year when some animal rights activates broke into a mink farm and released hundreds of them. One of the dumbest things I've ever heard of - if you actually care about animal welfare, the last thing you want is hundreds of mink roaming the countryside destroying native fish and birdlife.

bayliner · 03-09-2011 6:02pm

aidanf wrote: »

And those misguided activists that release them. There was an incident in Donegal last year when some animal rights activates broke into a mink farm and released hundreds of them. One of the dumbest things I've ever heard of - if you actually care about animal welfare, the last thing you want is hundreds of mink roaming the countryside destroying native fish and birdlife.

yeah heard about that too, twats!!!!!

280special · 03-09-2011 11:52pm

Thanks for the interesting replies folks !

Not around there all that often, and dont have a shotgun so cant do much about the mink myself !! I wonder if the local fishing club would be prepared to take some action?

On the kingfishers ,saw another one today up near Warrenpoint, Now that I
know for sure what to look for I will probably see plenty !

Bizzum · 04-09-2011 12:10am

280special wrote: »

Not around there all that often, and dont have a shotgun so cant do much about the mink myself !!?

There are better ways than a shotgun!

On the kingfishers ,saw another one today up near Warrenpoint, Now that Iknow for sure what to look for I will probably see plenty!!

You will often hear a Kingfisher and not catch sight of them at all! Indeed many times it's the call that makes you pay attention.

delsalmon · 08-09-2011 10:52pm

mink=vermin
mink attacking swan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbc8V0HAo2A
mink killing kingfisher http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdTr8kjdNuI&feature=related
vile little f-ers

Kess73 · 09-09-2011 6:16pm

Matias Tangy Sweeper wrote: »

There are a few im my local river, there is huge overgrown island in the middle of the river which is full of wild life. I know there are minks and otters living on it. They dont bother me at all. i seen a weasel the last time i was fishing, i walked off a foot bridge, and he ran off the bridge behind me a few seconds later! first time i seen one

I have a soft spot for herons, love watching them at the river

With luck the same trend that has been noted in the UK over the last decade will happen over here. In areas where Otter numbers have recovered/increased the mink numbers have fallen sharply.

There have even been witnessed attacks by otters on mink which led to the killing of the mink.

13-09-2011 11:26am

Kess73 wrote: »

With luck the same trend that has been noted in the UK over the last decade will happen over here. In areas where Otter numbers have recovered/increased the mink numbers have fallen sharply.

There have even been witnessed attacks by otters on mink which led to the killing of the mink.

well thats good news. the day I seen the Otter was the only day I had a decent digital camera on me, got some pics of it. you have to zoom in to see it, so the pic isnt fantastic. Lovely animal, only time ive ever seen one

cycletheroad · 15-09-2011 7:36pm

Chuileog wrote: »

I'm no expert on mink but I'd say 3 in 100 yards is exceptional unless it was a family. They are extremely territorial.
They will eat fish, a lot of them.
The river I fish here in Scotland recently got Mink and still has a very healthy stock of fish so maybe its possible to have both but I doubt it would be for long. There is action being taken to trap them so we will see.
If you are concerned have a look online at mink traps and take action.

The river running through my village has a big population of them, and one thing about them is if you corner them they,ll attack you, happened to a mate of mine one time, he was wearing a rain jacket and the mink tore it asunder.

SeaFields · 16-09-2011 1:46pm

my father was at a gun club meeting the other night. At the vermin count one lad claimed to have in excess of 50 mink trapped off the one river in west cork.

tin79 · 16-09-2011 2:51pm

cycletheroad wrote: »

The river running through my village has a big population of them, and one thing about them is if you corner them they,ll attack you, happened to a mate of mine one time, he was wearing a rain jacket and the mink tore it asunder.

Sure he didnt get drunk and fall in a thorn bush and make that up to keep the wife happy no?

dodderangler · 17-09-2011 3:24pm

according to a program that was on tg4 there is 3 different species of turtle in the river dodder beside my house never seen one tho
popped out of a load of bushes after fishing a spot and seen the arse of a badger pokin out of a rabbit hole scared the bejesus out of me
seen an otter down under rathfarnam bridge a few weeks ago while fishing for minnow

Things you see walking a river bank.

Comments