We now have a new strand to the tourist bow in Mayo
COUNTRY FILE
IT looks as thought the last few swallows have left, but if anybody becomes aware of any stragglers please do make a note of them.
The Irish Birding website has the last of them leaving the south coast on October 8 (at the time of writing, that is – there could be more about the place).
Why all this focus on swallows you may ask. Migratory birds are good indicators of climate change.
If they begin to arrive earlier in the year and leave later than they traditionally have done, we can see changes taking place around us, rather than having to look at a graph or chart filled with symbols and stats.
The annual migration of our swallows is affected not only by climate change, but also by changes in farming practice, desertification and, unfortunately, hunting.
Yes, along their annual journey of nearly 10,000 km, these pretty little birds that we watch for so eagerly in spring will meet with a variety of challenges.
According to some estimates, only 30% survive that intrepid journey. It really is a wonder they come here at all.
There is other news from the world of birds. A pair of little egrets appear to have taken up residency on Lough Carra.
These brilliant-white smaller cousins of the heron can be seen around the shoreline first thing in the mornings, hunting for their breakfast.
While these beautiful birds are more at home around the Mediteranean, they have been colonising parts of Ireland for the last 30 years or so, with their first attempt at breeding in Ireland taking place in 1997.
The northerly march of bird species such as this is a strong indicator that our world is indeed changing.
Egrets are shy and rather elusive. Their bright plumage is easily spotted from a distance, and they often appear very much at leisure as they wade thigh deep in their search for food. You just try and get close though, and they'll be gone in the blink of an eye.
I do wonder if there is so much surplus food available that they won't impact on other resident species.
It may be they are much more efficient hunters, so that our resident, native birds might be partially displaced.
After all, there is only so much pie available, and if it is cut into too many pieces there won't be enough to sustain anything. (They don't eat pie, but you get my meaning.)
For the ardent birdwatchers among us, it seems that Achill and Belmullet are the places to go. These remote areas offer temporary lodging to a good number of rarities each year, and autumn of 2021 already has some unusual records.
The Irish Birding website is a valuable resource in this regard. Yet a network of contacts can be equally important, or even more so. Looking for an ounce of red-eyed vireo (a small, North American songbird) over the whole of Achill Island might sound akin to searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack.
But if you happen to know somebody that knows somebody else that also likes to watch out for rare birds, then you're halfway there.
And with our vireos, and another bird called a solitary sandpiper (which unsurprisingly arrived alone), together with the buff-bellied pipit and the common rosefinch also spotted recently, we have new a strand to the tourist bow.