The ingredients are there if we wish to extend the Mayo tourism season

COUNTRYFILE

I DON'T know about you, but I’m most certainly not ready for autumn, let alone for winter. Yet all around us leaves are changing colour and beginning to fall.

There is nothing that can be done, other than to embrace the season and make of it what we can.

The next month will pass quickly. There is one more trout to catch, either from Lough Conn or from one of those secret mountain lakes that dot the north Mayo landscape. And then we will be focused on the deer, enjoying what we can of the rut.

Since all-out war was declared on the post-Covid deer population, it seems a new awareness has fallen on the animals. It used to be the case that red deer stags would bellow and roar by day and by night, and that fallow bucks would call at all hours to advertise their presence to any who cared to listen, and that they’d then be easy to find.

Now they call only in the dead of night. More, they seem to spend more time listening than they do calling. They know they are being hunted and are adapting their behaviour.

For the last two years I have gone as far as Achill to find red deer, and did the same over the weekend. There were one or two places where some fine stags had settled after having fled for their lives from further north. A few hinds had also moved with them, so there was the distinct possibility of an island herd becoming established.

Now, anyone that knows Achill at all will know how much of a wilderness much of it still is. Yes, decades of overgrazing by sheep have ruined much of the heather, and rhododendron is taking over vast swathes of bog, but there remains enough authentic wild land for Achill to provide a proper wild-Ireland experience.

In 2024, over two million visitors were welcomed to Killarney National Park, and we can safely say the vast majority were interested in engaging with the natural world. In particular, the wild red deer herd of Killarney always draws a lot of interest.

While the tourism season draws to a close over much of the country, the prospect of seeing the deer during the rut - the period during which they are not only highly visible, but also most exciting – keeps visitors pouring into Kerry.

With red deer attempting to colonise the Achill hills, could we expect a much-needed boost to local tourism? Not if the present bias against the deer continues. The current line of thought is to eradicate them.

We have to concede that the animals in question are not of native Irish stock, as are those of Killarney.

It would have been fine if someone had enough foresight to bring a few of those animals up the country and set them free. As it was, deer were brought back to the area through a more clandestine movement of non-native, farm bred stock.

The initial release took place a few miles further north, and the introduced herd has done reasonably well in its new home of non-native coniferous woodland, and has spread to include parts of Achill.

Great, we say. Except that not everyone feels the same. Attempts are being made to curtail the spread of these animals, although why that should be I cannot imagine.

Issues regarding road safety have been cited. Drive more slowly and enjoy the journey.

Yes, deer eat grass grown for sheep and cattle. How do the farmers around Killarney deal with that very issue?

Do we really want a longer tourist season? The ingredients are there if we do.