The dawn chorus at Mayo's Moore Hall is quite extraordinary

COUNTRYFILE

A WALK through the woods at Moore Hall makes a pleasant way to spend a few hours.

It wasn’t long ago that foxes, red squirrels and even an occasional pine marten could regularly be seen, especially by those who ventured out in the early mornings.

It was, of course, the perfect place for a proper nature reserve. And that is what it became.

Mayo County Council got to work repairing the perimeter wall of the walled garden, upgrading footpaths and installing the finest of benches and other furniture, to facilitate an increase in visitor numbers.

As is often the way with nature-based tourism, too heavy a footfall disturbed the wildlife, most of which upped sticks, abandoned their Moore Hall home and went to live in the surrounding countryside.

This temporary retreat was normal and expected, and is slowly being reversed as new generations of the same creatures emerge into a world where the appearance of many people is a normal part of day-to-day life.

Take the jay family as an example of this.

A decade ago these birds nested locally, year after year. We would see them engaged in their rather noisy courtship at the start of the year, and when they fell silent in February we knew they would be nesting in the dense shade of a holly bush within Moore Hall wood.

Then, about the beginning of April, the young ones would be seen chasing their parents through the tops of trees while begging to be fed.

These same fledglings would become a part of the increasingly widespread family of jays that have been spreading north and west into parts of the country they have not been traditionally seen.

The incursion of humans into their Moore Hall territory sent these naturally reclusive birds into the surrounding countryside, while they and their offspring observed people secretly and from afar.

Now they are back. Even this week we will see the entire jay family, some five or six birds (it is hard to count them when they refuse to sit for more than a moment) travelling in a loose group and communicating with a wide variety of growls, grumbles and the occasional shriek.

In similar fashion, a pair of sparrowhawk nested in part of the same woodland for many years.

In fact, I never knew them to be absent until visitor numbers increased to the point they felt pressured beyond their limit. There was a short period of four or five years where their nest was impossible to find.

This year I hear the distinctive calls of juvenile hawks within the woods once more.

Now we wait for the red squirrels to take up residence once more. We do see the occasional one, though I have a feeling these are passing through rather than resident.

The time will come when these animals also become far more accepting of seeing people about the place.

The best time to go and look for them is early morning, before the day begins in earnest.

Not only is there a chance of meeting some of our rarely seen wildlife, but the Moore Hall dawn chorus is quite extraordinary.

We now have our full quota of songbirds installed, and first light finds every one of the males singing as if each day might be their last.

They are building and establishing their breeding territories, of course.

The jay family will be on the watch for nestlings, and the sparrowhawk for fledglings. Even the red squirrel is partial to a bird’s egg breakfast.

The pine marten would eat them all. Proper order will yet be restored.