Nature in the News

kildare lad · 18-02-2021 10:44am

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210211-rewilding-can-ireland-regrow-its-wilderness

Interesting article but I think it is a big mistake to focus so much on wolf reintroduction which is just not going to happen. Instead they should push sturgeon, osprey, goshawk or wild boar and the many many extinct insects.

Whoever thinks wolves could be reintroduced needs their heads examined. We don't have any wilderness for them to live successful as a wild animal . If you look at the size of national parks in America they're massive we just don't have anything that size in Ireland without farms or small towns . Wolves wouldn't long be getting shot by farmers or hunters . For a country like Ireland to have only 1% of native forestry is a disgrace. 72% of land is farmland does that not seem a lot for a country the size of Ireland ? Most fields out my way have no livestock on them most of the time

Yellow_Fern · 18-02-2021 1:08pm

kildare lad wrote: »

Whoever thinks wolves could be reintroduced needs their heads examined. We don't have any wilderness for them to live successful as a wild animal . If you look at the size of national parks in America they're massive we just don't have anything that size in Ireland without farms or small towns . Wolves wouldn't long be getting shot by farmers or hunters . For a country like Ireland to have only 1% of native forestry is a disgrace. 72% of land is farmland does that not seem a lot for a country the size of Ireland ? Most fields out my way have no livestock on them most of the time

Such wolf plans is just building walls between farmers and nature lovers. Germany has plenty of wolves however Germany is a land of tillage and in the east much forestry. Germans nearly never raise sheep so wolf populations there are gradually expanding and living off deer without much conflict. Same in Poland and elsewhere in Central Europe. What is better here is to plant more natural Irish woodland and do it in a connected way with existing fragments. There is a lot of support for rewilding in Ireland and a charismatic leader could fund raise a ton from the public and multi-national companies and get a lot planted. The only way to have wolves here is in a large fenced national park.

cameramonkey · 18-02-2021 2:04pm

kildare lad wrote: »

Whoever thinks wolves could be reintroduced needs their heads examined. We don't have any wilderness for them to live successful as a wild animal . If you look at the size of national parks in America they're massive we just don't have anything that size in Ireland without farms or small towns . Wolves wouldn't long be getting shot by farmers or hunters . For a country like Ireland to have only 1% of native forestry is a disgrace. 72% of land is farmland does that not seem a lot for a country the size of Ireland ? Most fields out my way have no livestock on them most of the time

I would have had the same thoughts as you until recently. The idea of Wolves in Ireland seemed absolutely outlandish. However when I see that wolves are not present in Holland, Belgium and Denmark the idea does not seem so outrageous. Ireland has huge areas of wilderness compared to those countries and European wolves need much smaller ranges that those in North America according to reports that I have read. In the shorter term something needs to be done about the deer populations in Wicklow.

Yellow_Fern · 18-02-2021 2:55pm

cameramonkey wrote: »

I would have had the same thoughts as you until recently. The idea of Wolves in Ireland seemed absolutely outlandish. However when I see that wolves are not present in Holland, Belgium and Denmark the idea does not seem so outrageous. Ireland has huge areas of wilderness compared to those countries and European wolves need much smaller ranges that those in North America according to reports that I have read. In the shorter term something needs to be done about the deer populations in Wicklow.

I dont know much about Holland, Belgium and Denmark but youd have to check if these countries have many sheep herds. They possibly may not. There is some attention to lynx. It seems a bit more viable but the evidence of lynx is a single early postglacial bone from a Waterford cave. It was directly radiocarbon dated so it seems to be secure but it would be good to find a few more bones to make absolutely sure that lynx were once here. Perhaps some intrepid PhD could do sediment DNA in caves and find some lynx DNA.

kildare lad · 18-02-2021 9:20pm

cameramonkey wrote: »

I would have had the same thoughts as you until recently. The idea of Wolves in Ireland seemed absolutely outlandish. However when I see that wolves are not present in Holland, Belgium and Denmark the idea does not seem so outrageous. Ireland has huge areas of wilderness compared to those countries and European wolves need much smaller ranges that those in North America according to reports that I have read. In the shorter term something needs to be done about the deer populations in Wicklow.

I still don't think it's a good idea. Them ones in europe travelled there themselves naturally and from reading online there's only a handful in each country. Sure foxes get lamped and blasted all the time by farmers and outside of putting wolves in wicklow were else could they go . You could hardly put them in killarney national park as it's the only remaining red deer herd in Ireland . Although letting wolves keep the sika deer numbers low is not a bad idea , I just don't think if fair on the wolves to reintroduce them here , we're only a small island at least in europe they can roam and breed with other wolves. If you put a wolf pack here are they just going to breed with each other which would be terrible or are you gonna keep bringing more wolves over so they don't interbreed , there's just too many cons involved imo. We can barely look after the little bit of wildlife we've here atm

magicbastarder · 18-02-2021 10:29pm

we could just clear everyone out of louth and release the wolves there?

Birdnuts · 19-02-2021 1:33am

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210211-rewilding-can-ireland-regrow-its-wilderness

Interesting article but I think it is a big mistake to focus so much on wolf reintroduction which is just not going to happen. Instead they should push sturgeon, osprey, goshawk or wild boar and the many many extinct insects.

The other species you mention are viable, but the problem with Wild Boar is that their numbers quickly get out of control without their main predator(Wolf) present. So since wolves are not coming back in our lifetimes I don't think Wild Boar should be part of the current re-introduction conversation

Del.Monte · 19-02-2021 10:29am

magicbastarder wrote: »

we could just clear everyone out of louth and release the wolves there?

Leitrim but then the locals would be released amongst us.

deadlybuzzman · 19-02-2021 1:01pm

Birdnuts wrote: »

The other species you mention are viable, but the problem with Wild Boar is that their numbers quickly get out of control without their main predator(Wolf) present. So since wolves are not coming back in our lifetimes I don't think Wild Boar should be part of the current re-introduction conversation

Theres recent trailcam footage from the north of the country showing a Boar and pregnant wandering around in the woods.
Wolves absolutely can control their numbers but humans have been an apex predator alongside wolves for millennia so wolves definitely arent required to control their numbers. Ireland being as small as it is, it would be much easier to keep their population under control than it would be with deer for example. This is from a study in england.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275986948_The_establishment_and_distribution_of_feral_wild_boar_Sus_Scrofa_L_in_England

Birdnuts · 19-02-2021 11:38pm

deadlybuzzman wrote: »

Theres recent trailcam footage from the north of the country showing a Boar and pregnant wandering around in the woods.
Wolves absolutely can control their numbers but humans have been an apex predator alongside wolves for millennia so wolves definitely arent required to control their numbers. Ireland being as small as it is, it would be much easier to keep their population under control than it would be with deer for example. This is from a study in england.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275986948_The_establishment_and_distribution_of_feral_wild_boar_Sus_Scrofa_L_in_England

Not sure - currently we don't seem to be doing a very good job controlling deer numbers and Wild Boar can multiply even faster!!

deadlybuzzman · 21-02-2021 9:28pm

Birdnuts wrote: »

Not sure - currently we don't seem to be doing a very good job controlling deer numbers and Wild Boar can multiply even faster!!

Is there even any state level policy on what deer numbers must be kept under?
Deer can only be shot for 4 months of the year and oddly this applies to sitka which is an invasive species. No wonder there are parts of the country with loads of deer (my part included)

Birdnuts · 22-02-2021 2:27am

deadlybuzzman wrote: »

Is there even any state level policy on what deer numbers must be kept under?
Deer can only be shot for 4 months of the year and oddly this applies to sitka which is an invasive species. No wonder there are parts of the country with loads of deer (my part included)

I doubt this "state" knows even how many deer are out there let alone designing a sensible management plan for the various species

deise08 · 22-02-2021 7:46pm

The thylacine awareness group have just uploaded a video. They're claiming they've sent trailcam footage yo the Hobart museum looking for verification. Please God I hope this turns out to be true.

https://mobile.twitter.com/collieennis/status/1363863655150927888

https://youtu.be/nUwM16FaEZU

New Home · 22-02-2021 7:55pm

Awh, I was hoping to see the actual footage...

Kamili · 22-02-2021 8:33pm

New Home wrote: »

Awh, I was hoping to seethe actual footage...

Me too!

HoteiMarkii · 23-02-2021 9:28pm

From an article in the Guardian:

In a statement, TMAG said Mooney had “concluded that based on the physical characteristics shown in the photos provided, the animals are very unlikely to be thylacines, and most likely Tasmanian pademelons”.

A Pademelon (which I must confess I hadn't seen before) is most unlike a Thylacine, and looks more like a Wallaby. Not sure how they could mistake one for the other?!

Mr Crispy · 23-02-2021 9:39pm

Wallabies. What an anti-climax!

New Home · 23-02-2021 10:49pm

HoteiMarkii wrote: »

From an article in the Guardian:

In a statement, TMAG said Mooney had “concluded that based on the physical characteristics shown in the photos provided, the animals are very unlikely to be thylacines, and most likely Tasmanian pademelons”.

A Pademelon (which I must confess I hadn't seen before) is most unlike a Thylacine, and looks more like a Wallaby. Not sure how they could mistake one for the other?!

That's exactly what I thought, too - a pademelon looks like a cross between a quokka and a capybara and a wallaby (or something), it's not even remotely similar to a thylacine. I'm hoping it might be diversion tactics, because what they found IS the real thing but they want to keep people from swarming to the area.

odyssey06 · 04-03-2021 3:19pm

Saw this on RTE... a "mesmerising murmuration" of starlings captured over Lough Ennell in Westmeath

https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0304/1200943-mesmerising-murmuration-of-starlings-at-lough-ennell/

New Home · 04-03-2021 7:49pm

Woohoo!! Finally!! A wildlife hospital!

https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0217/1197772-wildlife-hospital-opens/

fryup · 05-03-2021 10:31am

odyssey06 wrote: »

Saw this on RTE... a "mesmerising murmuration" of starlings captured over Lough Ennell in Westmeath

https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0304/1200943-mesmerising-murmuration-of-starlings-at-lough-ennell/

has to be the wildlife photo of the decade - a murmuration in the shape of a bird, incredible!

pottokblue · 06-03-2021 8:23pm

New Home there was a nice piece on Friday Nationwide about a Limerick woman who set up a bat rescue centre inspirational story.

Meanwhile Wisdom the worlds oldest known wild bird has a new chick

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/05/wisdom-the-albatross-the-worlds-oldest-known-wild-bird-has-another-chick-at-age-70

New Home · 06-03-2021 9:10pm

Did you see the photo?

https://miro.medium.com/max/2356/1*c9qJTDFuSOO33JLkc2ZNfA.jpeg

Hold My Hand · 14-03-2021 6:38pm

RTE have picked their 12 finalists for the Eye on Nature competition

https://www.google.ie/amp/s/amp.rte.ie/amp/1203228/

14-03-2021 10:45pm

Poor fella. A bit lost.

https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2021/0314/1203982-arctic-walrus-valentia/?fbclid=IwAR07HIJ4C7xZJ0e91rt6DGpl-G8ge-slPxMX5JC_nmh9BkEpvYhzsKe4PrY

Birdnuts · 14-03-2021 11:12pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Poor fella. A bit lost.

https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2021/0314/1203982-arctic-walrus-valentia/?fbclid=IwAR07HIJ4C7xZJ0e91rt6DGpl-G8ge-slPxMX5JC_nmh9BkEpvYhzsKe4PrY

Astonishing stuff(though apparently Walrus bred as far south as Scotland in Roman times)

magicbastarder · 14-03-2021 11:46pm

when they say 'exhausted', is that synonymous with malnourished?

fryup · 15-03-2021 11:12pm

what should we call him.......Paul?

magicbastarder · 15-03-2021 11:25pm

The girl who spotted it said she wants it to be named isabelle if it's female and cian if it's a male.

Tiercel Dave · 16-03-2021 8:03am

fryup wrote: »

what should we call him.......Paul?

Or " John".....

fryup · 16-03-2021 9:22am

no! the walrus is Paul

Tiercel Dave · 16-03-2021 6:19pm

Ah, same Fab Four, different song.....

fryup · 16-03-2021 6:43pm

anyone know if "Paul" is still down there?

deise08 · 18-03-2021 5:11pm

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/17/sperm-whales-in-19th-century-shared-ship-attack-information

Whales shared information during whaling times and adapted their defences accordingly.

Mr Crispy · 20-03-2021 10:35pm

fryup wrote: »

anyone know if "Paul" is still down there?

Walrus which washed ashore in Kerry reappears in Wales

Thankfully, not "in Whales" I guess.

pottokblue · 21-03-2021 11:26am

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/20/tardigrades-natures-great-survivors

1st time I've heard or tardigrades- the microscopic caterpillar: “They can survive being dried out. They can survive being frozen down to about a degree above absolute zero, which is the temperature at which all molecular motion stops. In their dry state they can be heated up well past the boiling point of water. They can survive thousands of times as much radiation as we can. And they’re the only animal we know of that can survive prolonged exposure to the vacuum of outer space.” Their resilience looks like they'll still be here long after human extinction...

Wilbury Twist · 21-03-2021 5:13pm

Has the Walrus been given a fine yet for traveling outside the designated Covid 19 5k limit?

IrishHomer · 21-03-2021 9:17pm

It's amusing the way the Irish media stated the walrus in Kerry was exhausted and then a few days later he turns up in Wales

johnsparkexile · 22-03-2021 3:12pm

An ornithologist was left elated when he discovered that a Finch he ringed in Wicklow last June became only the second-ever such bird to travel 1,119km from the Republic of Ireland to Germany.

Brian Burke was contacted after a ringer in Germany retrapped the Siskin, which rarely travels to mainland Europe from Ireland.

The expert with Birdwatch Ireland said he caught and recorded about 30 Siskins last year at his new home in Kilpedder in Wicklow and many of them still remain in his garden.

He said: “I got word last week that a male Siskin that I caught and ringed under licence in my Wicklow garden last June was found by a ringer in Germany – 1,119km away between Frankfurt and Stuttgart.

“While there are many records of Siskin moving between Ireland and Britain, fewer than 50 Siskin from Ireland have ever been recorded in mainland Europe.

“As far as we can tell, in the last seventy years since recording of birds started here, it’s only the second Siskin from the Republic of Ireland found in Germany.

“The Siskin is a common species in Ireland and they are usually found in most gardens around February. This year in particular has been a good year for them, with increased sightings being reported in gardens from as early as December.

“I’ve been talking to some of my colleagues, and we can only guess that nomadic instinct set in on overdrive and above and beyond what they normally experience to disperse from their habitat but how or why he got so far to Germany we are not sure.

“Some of the Siskins I caught are still in my garden, some are in the four corners of Ireland and a few made it to the UK.”

He said it was nice to be contacted and told the Siskin was alive and well. He added “I got two calls from the UK last year after Goldfinches had flown into windows and died.

“I would normally catch and record up to 1000 birds in the garden with a small metal ring around their legs, so we can learn more about the birds and their behaviours and status but this time, this Siskin has left us all a bit bewildered but delighted.”

New Home · 23-03-2021 1:49am

Chile rejects $2.5 billion iron mine to protect penguins

and

India saves its tigers instead of mining for $330m in diamonds

New Home · 23-03-2021 1:51am

Orange is the new green: How orange peels revived a Costa Rican forest

deise08 · 25-03-2021 9:10pm

https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/6287a-minister-welcomes-court-of-appeal-decision-to-temporarily-reinstate-the-exclusion-of-large-fishing-vessels-trawling-in-inshore-waters-within-6-miles-of-the-coast/

Fishing ban reinstated for now thank god.

kildare lad · 26-03-2021 11:36am

deise08 wrote: »

https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/6287a-minister-welcomes-court-of-appeal-decision-to-temporarily-reinstate-the-exclusion-of-large-fishing-vessels-trawling-in-inshore-waters-within-6-miles-of-the-coast/

Fishing ban reinstated for now thank god.

It's very rarely enforced though . They're needs to be a ban on supertrawlers anyway . A lot of inshore trawling is for spratt that's turned into pellets for salmon farms, depriving all the birds and wildfish of their dinner , so we can eat salmon that's pumped full of antibiotics and colourings .

Yellow_Fern · 26-03-2021 12:14pm

kildare lad wrote: »

It's very rarely enforced though . They're needs to be a ban on supertrawlers anyway . A lot of inshore trawling is for spratt that's turned into pellets for salmon farms, depriving all the birds and wildfish of their dinner , so we can eat salmon that's pumped full of antibiotics and colourings .

Can that be done in Irish law or is it a EU matter?

kildare lad · 26-03-2021 1:08pm

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

Can that be done in Irish law or is it a EU matter?

The banning of supertrawlers ?? I'm sure it could but it depends what politicians are getting paid by who. Europe has done extremely well overfishing our waters . We've a government that ****e on about climate change and environmental diversity but it's all lip service. What's being done in our oceans is nothing but pure greed . My uncle said when he was growing up in the 50s , the sea would be black with huge shoals of mackerel a mile or 2 long. Now fxck all getting past all the trawlers . I caught 2 mackerel in about 4 days fishing last year in Clare. Australia banned supertrawlers on its waters

THE SECOND LARGEST trawler in the world, previously banned from Australian waters, is back off the coast of Ireland – and it has some in the industry concerned.

The 143 metre long Margiris is currently sailing along the north coast of Mayo, having entered the Irish European Economic Zone on 7 January. It can process as much as 250 tonnes of fish per day.

The ship has sailed under a range of names, including the Abel Tasman, and various nationalities.

The vessel is currently being kept under the watchful eye of the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, assisted by the Naval Service and Air Corps.

“A basic principle of the EU Common Fisheries Policy is shared access for all EU vessels to all EU waters,” a spokesperson for the authority explained.

“As a European registered fishing vessel, the Lithuanian registered vessel the Margiris is permitted to operate in any European waters and can fish in any area and retain on board any fish for which it has a nationally assigned European quota.

It was the target of an Australian ban on so-called supertrawlers in 2012.

The ban was extended just before Christmas to smaller ships, The Australian reports.

Local fishing groups have previously expressed grave concern over ships like Margiris, which has far created capacity than many smaller boats combined, when it arrived off the west coast in March last year, soon after the ship was reportedly again refused entry to Australia

fryup · 26-03-2021 11:45pm

New Home wrote: »

Orange is the new green: How orange peels revived a Costa Rican forest

there you go now, and all you people slagging off orangemen :cool:

marlin vs · 07-04-2021 11:17pm

https://www.rte.ie/news/newslens/2021/0407/1208500-spain-birds/

Birdnuts · 08-04-2021 1:20am

marlin vs wrote: »

https://www.rte.ie/news/newslens/2021/0407/1208500-spain-birds/

Need to see similar for the operators of certain windfarms.

lolie · 10-04-2021 12:12am

Rare black swan spotted on lakes in Cavan.
https://www.anglocelt.ie/2021/04/09/black-swan-brightens-up-town-lough/

Yellow_Fern · 11-04-2021 6:33pm

Watching Brendan Gleeson burren documentary. Nice show. But is it really true that the Burren is one of the most diverse habitats in the world as they say?

Nature in the News

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