Dublin Wildlife

roweeeeena

After looking in the trail cameras thread I am very jealous of the range of wonderful wildlife on people's door steps!

Living in Dublin 8, the local wildlife which I encounter is predominantly seagulls, pigeons and rats! :-P

Obviously there is a bit more to be seen out there in Dublin, any tips on good places to go to have a chance at spotting some more species?

For example I know that there are otters on the dodder, owls on Bull Island, not sure how high the chances would be of spotting them though? Any tips on where/when to go to perhaps spot some wildlife in and around Dublin? I see the deer in Phoenix Park a good bit, thats about as good as I can get!

Woodville56

roweeeeena wrote: »

After looking in the trail cameras thread I am very jealous of the range of wonderful wildlife on people's door steps!

Living in Dublin 8, the local wildlife which I encounter is predominantly seagulls, pigeons and rats! :-P

Obviously there is a bit more to be seen out there in Dublin, any tips on good places to go to have a chance at spotting some more species?

For example I know that there are otters on the dodder, owls on Bull Island, not sure how high the chances would be of spotting them though? Any tips on where/when to go to perhaps spot some wildlife in and around Dublin? I see the deer in Phoenix Park a good bit, thats about as good as I can get!

Might be worth checking out the Birdwatch Ireland website and going to the events tab - there are 3 branches of Birdwatch covering Dublin city & county and they run regular birdwatching outings around the county and farther afield.
Also, the Irish Wildlife Trust has a website and a branch in a Dublin with regular meetings I think - you can google the IWT.ie website for more info .

SimonQuinlank

Plenty of foxes around D8 along the SCR and near the canal,often see more of them than people when I'm cycling home at 2/3am!

Seen a good few seals out in Bullock Harbour in Dalkey over the summer,no idea if they'd still be about at this time of year though.

Mod Edit: There are Buzzards in south Dublin too - look for places with trees and plenty of fields; some hang out near the motorway too looking for scraps and roadkill.

(we don't give specific locations like that for raptors!)

OpenYourEyes

I agree with getting in touch with local branches of Birdwatch Ireland and the Irish Wildlife Trust - the people attached to them will really open your eyes* to the wildlife in your area or the rest of Dublin.

Bull Island and Dun Laoghaire Pier are good spots for a walk - there's always lots to see! Rogerstown Estuary and Booterstown marsh are good spots too.

What I will say is the more you go out and explore, or even just walk through the same parks and along the same rivers, the more you'll start to see and notice! Phoenix Park has a huge range of mammal and bird species, the Dodder too is another great spot for birds and otters, as well as badgers and foxes in the surrounding areas. Some of my best wildlife experiences have been in Dublin! And you're likely to bump into locals who know the place well who'll be able to let you know good spots to see various things



*unintentional pun

stevensi

Live in Dublin 8 myself and have encountered plenty of wildlife in the area. I'm mainly into birds but also take a keen interest in other wildlife species. I see plenty of foxes in the area particularly early in the mornings. I've seen otters down in the war memorial park as well as kingfishers, dippers, buzzards and sparrowhawks. I think anywhere you have suitable habitat be that the city area or the countryside you will find wildlife utilising it. It's just a matter of looking...

olly_mac

Dublin 8 was my patch for a long time! I was amazed at the diversity of wildlife to be spotted. Foxes, otters, rabbits, once even a stoat (possible )

There are sparrowhawks, peregrines, buzzards, woodpeckers... any amount of birdlife.

I used to pick an area every week and spend some hours walking and observing. I understand that time can be limited for people, but you will be pleasantly surprised by what can turn up. Keep notes of where you see something, and keep an eye out for patterns based on these.

Good watching

Hownowcow

I too regularly see foxes in Dublin 8 and right beside it in Dublin 12. Grey squirrels knocking about too.

The diversity of bird life never ceases to amaze me. Plenty of birds of prey, unfortunately I'm not good enough to distinguish them very well. Last year one of them, which I decided was a female sparrowhawk (I'm open to contradiction on this), landed with and ate a pigeon in my back yard. I have seen an owl a couple of times and kingfishers on the canal. Besides these there are various kind of thrushes, finches and tits. Bluetits regularly nest close to where I live and the day the young leave the nest is an absolute joy to watch. Robins regularly sing when it's dark, I presume the streetlights confuse them.

Sparrows though have become rare. They are one of my favourites. When I was growing up there was always lots of them. They nested under the roof of my parents' house, you could see the eggs / young if you went up in the attic. I miss them.

Hownowcow

olly_mac wrote: »

Dublin 8 was my patch for a long time! I was amazed at the diversity of wildlife to be spotted. Foxes, otters, rabbits, once even a stoat (possible )

There are sparrowhawks, peregrines, buzzards, woodpeckers... any amount of birdlife.

I used to pick an area every week and spend some hours walking and observing. I understand that time can be limited for people, but you will be pleasantly surprised by what can turn up. Keep notes of where you see something, and keep an eye out for patterns based on these.

Good watching

olly_mac,

Where did you see the woodpeckers? I'd love to see one.

roweeeeena

Thanks so much for the replies everyone, very inspired by the Dublin 8 dwellers! War memorial park is a good tip!

It's amusing as well though, as my friends and family have a long standing joke that 'all nature hates me', :rolleyes:

They often spot birds of prey, foxes, seals, porpoises etc etc without having any interest in them, whereas if I saw something like that it would make my day, and I am always keeping my eyes peeled but never spot anything!

2014 will be my year!

roweeeeena

Hownowcow wrote: »

Bluetits regularly nest close to where I live and the day the young leave the nest is an absolute joy to watch. Robins regularly sing when it's dark, I presume the streetlights confuse them.

Sparrows though have become rare. They are one of my favourites. When I was growing up there was always lots of them. They nested under the roof of my parents' house, you could see the eggs / young if you went up in the attic. I miss them.

I do actually have blue tits at my feeder this year, can't wait for the babies to arrive. And you might be pleased to hear that there are loads of sparrows, I can't keep them in seeds, they go through the feeder in a day sometimes!!

magicbastarder

loads of sparrows in our back garden (near DCU).
we had a sparrowhawk last summer too, and have fox(es?) and squirrels.

Paco Rodriguez

I got locked out in my garden a couple of weeks ago. As I sat outside I was watching the starlings, seagulls and tits.

Then all of a sudden they took off. The seagulls were shrieking and a magpie flew past flapping like mad.....next thing a pair of predatorary birds flew past. I dont know what they were kestrels???....they seemed orange/red in colour. This is in D6W

Woodville56

Paco Rodriguez wrote: »

I got locked out in my garden a couple of weeks ago. As I sat outside I was watching the starlings, seagulls and tits.

Then all of a sudden they took off. The seagulls were shrieking and a magpie flew past flapping like mad.....next thing a pair of predatorary birds flew past. I dont know what they were kestrels???....they seemed orange/red in colour. This is in D6W[/quote

Possibly Sparrowhawk ? What size were they ?

Paco Rodriguez

Woodville56 wrote: »

Paco Rodriguez wrote: »

I got locked out in my garden a couple of weeks ago. As I sat outside I was watching the starlings, seagulls and tits.

Then all of a sudden they took off. The seagulls were shrieking and a magpie flew past flapping like mad.....next thing a pair of predatorary birds flew past. I dont know what they were kestrels???....they seemed orange/red in colour. This is in D6W[/quote

Possibly Sparrowhawk ? What size were they ?

They were about the same size, maybe a tiny bit smaller than a jackdaw I would say.

ThunderCat

Paco Rodriguez wrote: »

Woodville56 wrote: »

They were about the same size, maybe a tiny bit smaller than a jackdaw I would say.

Judging by the size and the reddish colour id guess Male Sparrowhawk

dodderangler

ThunderCat wrote: »

Paco Rodriguez wrote: »

Judging by the size and the reddish colour id guess Male Sparrowhawk

But two males together? Never heard of even male and female hunting together

ThunderCat

dodderangler wrote: »

ThunderCat wrote: »

But two males together? Never heard of even male and female hunting together

I've heard of a male and female working together but never seen it and I've never seen two males together so you might be right. Besides, the more likely scenario would be for the magpies and the gulls in particular to drive the male sparks away rather than fleeing from them.

olly_mac

Hownowcow wrote: »

olly_mac,

Where did you see the woodpeckers? I'd love to see one.

It has been widely reported in the media that they are present in a number of places in Dublin. I saw great spotted woodpeckers in the Phoenix Park, behind the Ordnance Survey Office. I spotted another one in the grounds of the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham too, and a possible report of one was made around St Stephen's Green. Good luck

Hownowcow

olly_mac wrote: »

It has been widely reported in the media that they are present in a number of places in Dublin. I saw great spotted woodpeckers in the Phoenix Park, behind the Ordnance Survey Office. I spotted another one in the grounds of the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham too, and a possible report of one was made around St Stephen's Green. Good luck

I saw the reports but I never managed to see the woodpeckers. It's why I was so interested in your post about Dublin 8. I'm regularly in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, I'll have to be more vigilant. The Phoenix Park too although not the Ordnance Survey area, a route change is in order.

Thanks for the advice.

Capercaille

Hownowcow wrote: »

I saw the reports but I never managed to see the woodpeckers. It's why I was so interested in your post about Dublin 8. I'm regularly in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, I'll have to be more vigilant. The Phoenix Park too although not the Ordnance Survey area, a route change is in order.

Thanks for the advice.

Great spotted woodpeckers are quite shy. They will generally see you before you see them. They do however have a very distinctive alarm call "Kick....Kick.....Kick".
http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Dendrocopos-major?view=3 If you can track the alarm call then you have a good chance at seeing the bird.

Hownowcow

Capercaille wrote: »

Great spotted woodpeckers are quite shy. They will generally see you before you see them. They do however have a very distinctive alarm call "Kick....Kick.....Kick".
http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Dendrocopos-major?view=3 If you can track the alarm call then you have a good chance at seeing the bird.

Thanks for that Capercaille.

I now have something to go on.

I have to admit that the call does sound vaguely familiar but that is probably my imagination or I'm confusing it with another bird.