HABITATS AND BIODIVERSITY

Coastal Habitat by Paul Archer

Biodiversity can be defined as the variety of life in a particular location.

Biodiversity is driven by habitats and climate and Waterford, being a coastal county, boasts a number of diverse habitats. Waterford also experiences four distinct seasons.

Being located on the sea gives Waterford a rich marine coastal habitat. With abundant fish and mollusc populations this environment can support a large diversity of mammals such as seals, porpoises, dolphins and whales. Birds are also well represented with gannets, gulls, terns, shearwaters, divers, auks, petrels and parasitic skuas. Sea cliffs too are important breeding grounds for choughs, kittiwakes and other seabirds.

Black Tailed  Godwits Feeding on Estuarine Mud by Richard Zamora

Estuarine mudflats are considered one of the richest habitats in the world. The mixture of fresh and salt waters, with abundant nutrients and organic materials, supports an extremely abundant invertebrate resource. This food concentration attracts huge numbers of waders such as golden plover, knot, godwits, dunlin and duck. In Waterford, estuarine mudflats support nationally and internationally important numbers of waders and are an essential staging post for migrating and over-wintering birds. Important estuarine mudflats are located at Dungarvan, Tramore and Waterford harbour.

Lakes and reservoirs, although not extensive in Waterford, do attract various ducks, swans, grebes, moorhen and coots. In spring, summer and autumn this habitat type attracts flying insects, which provide an important food source for swallows, martins and swifts.

Riverside Habitat by Liam Cahill 

Rivers and streams are a lineal habitat and support specialist birds such as dipper, kingfisher and grey wagtail. Also found along rivers and streams are mammals such as otter, mink and the specialist daubenton’s bat. Slower rivers, streams and pools attract dragonflies and frogs.

Marshes and bogs provide an important habitat for amphibians and birds such as sedge warbler, reed warbler and harriers. Good examples of marsh and bog are located outside Dungarvan, at Dunhill, Belle Lake and Fennor.

Traditional farmland is a very diverse habitat with hedgerows, meadows and cropland. Fallow fields in winter are a particularly important feeding ground for thrushes (fieldfare and redwing), finches, whooper swans and waders together with their attendant predators and barn owls. Mammals such as foxes, badgers, rabbits and hares are also well represented. Wildflowers are a very important food source for insects.

Ring Billed Gull by Bernie Sheridan

Forests and woodlands, in particularly deciduous, are important for songbirds, and specialist species including crossbill, long-eared owls, nightjar and woodcock. Woodland also provides essential cover for deer and the rare and elusive pine marten. Forest paths and clearances are also very good for butterflies and moths.

Gardens are an increasingly important habitat for birds given the availability of food provided by householders, and berries on various ornamental shrubs. Garden flowers are also very important to butterflies, bees and other insects.

During spring, summer and autumn the sky becomes an important habitat in its own right. Huge numbers of insects including moths become available in the warmer weather providing food by day for swallows, swifts, martins and flycatchers. By night nightjars and various bats replace these birds. In winter this food source disappears forcing the birds to migrate to sunnier climes and the bats to hibernate.

Waxwings Feeding by Richard Zamora

December has generally seen an unprecedented influx of waxwings into Waterford and Ireland. This invasion is a consequence of berry failure in their normal range. Flocks of waxwing have been encountered in Waterford City, Dungarvan, Cappoquin, Dunmore East and elsewhere. The first winter male surf scoter, spoonbill, black-necked grebe and long-tailed ducks remained into the New Year at Dungarvan. Countywide reports of brambling are still occurring albeit in small numbers. A glaucous gull and several purple sandpipers are over wintering at Dunmore East along with an adult ring-billed gull at Tramore boating lake.

Greater Spotted Woodpecker by Dick Coombes

Perhaps the most exciting recent news concerned the possibility of a great-spotted woodpecker drumming in County Waterford. Although Wicklow is still the stronghold with well over 25 known pairs, breeding has also been proven in Wexford, Kilkenny, Dublin and probably Louth. A scattering of reports increasingly come in from adjacent counties (Kildare, Monaghan, Offaly, Meath and Tipperary.) so they are definitely doing well and gradually spreading. Hopefully this may be the first indication that this beautiful bird is colonising County Waterford.

Check out www.waterfordbirds.com for local wildlife updates. If you have any questions or comments, please email them to japwatntr@gmail.com. To view previous articles check out www.understandingwaterfordnature.blogspot.com

Getting Started

Pied Flycatcher by Paul Walsh

One of the foremost attributes of nature is its effortless accessibility. Nature is all around us and easily experienced. However the experience and enjoyment can be simply enhanced and remember, nature is free to all.

OPTICS

Fin Whale by Andrew Malcolm

As most animals are wary and tend to keep their distance, a pair of binoculars is almost essential in the field to fully appreciate observations. Binoculars vary in quality, optical choice and price so some research is essential prior to acquisition. For more distant observations, such as whale watching or assessing distant seabirds or waders, a telescope is essential. Again, the choice of telescopes is wide but good quality scopes, although expensive, deliver fantastic results. Astronomical telescopes are not usually suitable for nature watching. A note of warning, given our climate, it is essential that all optical equipment is fully waterproof. The pros and cons of optics can be easily researched on the Internet.

Smooth or Common Newt by Liam Cahill

FIELD GUIDES

For the beginner, the variety of animals likely to be encountered in the field can be bewildering so a good field guide is essential. Field guides have improved dramatically in recent times and are a fantastic resource to help identify various species and to understand their habitats, ecology and distribution.

 

Yellowhammer by Daniel Weldon

Recommended field guides to birds include ‘The Complete Field Guide To Ireland’s Birds’ by Eric Dempsey and Michael O’Clery. For a more European perspective ‘Collins Bird Guide’ by Lars Svensson, Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom is superb. ‘Exploring Irish Mammals’ by Tom Hayden, Rory Harrington and Billy Clarke is an excellent introduction to Ireland’s mammals. Dealing exclusively with Ireland’s cetaceans ‘A Guide To The Identification Of The Whales And Dolphins Of Ireland’ by Jim Wilson with Simon Berrow is first-rate. ‘The Natural History Of Ireland’s Dragonflies’ by Brian Nelson and Robert Thompson is essential for anybody interested in Irish dragonflies. For those with an interest in Irish butterflies the recently published ‘Ireland’s Butterflies A Review’ by David Nash, Trevor Boyd and Deirdre Hardiman is the definitive publication. ‘A Guide To The Butterflies Of Ireland’ available from The Dublin Naturalist’s Field Club, 35 Nutley Park, Dublin 4 is an excellent field guide to Ireland’s butterflies, illustrating all regularly occurring species.

INTERNET

The ultimate nature research vehicle available at present is undoubtedly the Internet. The information therein is limitless. By merely typing the name of a species into a search engine, instant access is available to every known species, covering identification, vocalisations, habitats, ecology, range and much more. Below are some websites of local and national interest:

www.waterfordbirds.com

www.iwdg.ie (Irish whale and dolphin group)

www.butterflyireland.com

www.biodiversityireland.ie

www.mammals-in-ireland.ie

Beware however, the Internet can be addictive, do not become a virtual nature observer.

APPS

For those with suitable phones, the app store is well worth a visit. Essentially all the information available in field guides (including vocalisations) can be downloaded onto your phone for reference and use in the field – which beats carrying all those books around. Although relatively new, apps look like the way forward.

MISCELLANEOUS

Beautiful Jewelwing Demoiselle by John Joe Cahill

Photography certainly enhances the enjoyment of nature. However, this is a specialised interest, which we will visit at a later date.

Finally, if possible, link up with an experienced observer for your first few field trips. They should be of immense help to the inexperienced person given their acquired knowledge and field craft.

RECENT SIGHTINGS AND NEWS

A spotted sandpiper (American wader) was identified and photographed at Ballinclamper on 05/08 by local birder Pat Veale. Sadly it moved on the same day. Yet another American wader, a white-rumped sandpiper, was located on the Cunnigar by visiting birder Michael O’Keeffe on 04/08 where it lingered for a day or two. A large passage of over 200 Cory’s shearwaters was noted at Helvick and Ram Head by several local birders on 02/08. A leatherback turtle (a trans Atlantic vagrant) was observed swimming past Bunmahon by Daniel Weldon on 16/08. Leatherbacks are the largest turtle on Earth and can reach 2 metres (7 feet) in length and weigh up to 900 kilograms (2000 lbs). 

Pygmy Shrew by Liam Cahill

Finally, Andrew Malcolm took the attached photograph of a fin whale off the Waterford coast. This is the same species as the unfortunate whale that died off Baltimore Co. Cork last week. Fin whales can reach a length of 27 metres (89 feet) and a weight of 109 tons and are the second largest animal that has ever existed exceeded only by the blue whale. Fin whales are regularly seen off the Waterford coast.

Check out www.waterfordbirds.com for local wildlife updates. If you have any questions or comments, please email them to japwatntr@gmail.com

Great Move North

April and May witness a mass movement of birds north into Europe and North America, and Ireland fully participates in this natural phenomenon.  This migration is largely made up of two elements – the departure of winter visitors to more northerly climes and the arrival of summer visitors from more southerly regions.  Thus thrushes, such as redwing and fieldfare, which were so common throughout the winter have now all but departed.  The throngs of waders (or shorebirds in American parlance) have now mostly left for their breeding grounds to the north.  Ducks and geese will move quickly north as daylight hours increase and breeding grounds lose their snow and ice cover.

Adult Purple Heron by Colm Flynn

At the same time, vast numbers of passerines (small perching birds) move into Ireland to take advantage of longer daylight hours and hugely increased food resources in order to hatch and rear their young.  These are mainly insectivores, which feed on the swarms of flies, midges and other insects that populate Ireland in the warmer months. Whitethroats, chiffchaffs and blackcaps are representative of the warbler family while swallows, martins and swifts occupy the skies. More exotic species such as the cuckoo, flycatchers and wheatears are also seen and the rare crepuscular nightjar may be encountered.

With the warming seas small fish become abundant inshore and this attracts terns such as arctic and sandwich; auks represented by guillemots, razorbills and puffins; gannets and the small but extremely resilient storm petrel.  Ireland is also used as a transit point and feeding station for birds moving further north such as whimbrel, Greenland wheatears and maybe even an osprey or two.

Migration northwards largely stops in late May as the migrants raise their young.  From late August onwards, with the shortening days and dwindling food supplies, the whole process reverses and our summer visitors, augmented by their offspring, head south once more to Africa for the winter.  As the arctic regions become snow-bound thrushes, waders, ducks and geese move back to into Ireland to take advantage of our mainly ice-free conditions and available food supplies.

Migration is not confined to birds as insects and sea mammals also migrate and we will revisit this at a later time.

Over the next few weeks look out for swallows, terns, auks and warblers as well as butterflies such as orange tips, holly blues and green hairstreaks.

At the time of writing a purple heron, an extremely rare visitor to Ireland, has taken up residence at Seafield, Bunmahon. Congratulations to local birder Daniel Wheldon on this excellent find.

Check out www.waterfordbirds.com for local wildlife updates. If you have any questions or comments, please email them to japwatntr@gmail.com