Visiting Wildlife

The other day I noticed Fergus staring out of the patio door windows. Not absent mindedly staring into the distance, hoping for great weather, but in a fixated manner.
I know my pets and their behaviours - most of the time, I hasten to add - so I knew there must have been something interesting to see outside. Often it is a bird coming near the window. This time it was a frog.
Excuse the filthy windows. We have a lot of salty rain which makes them greasy.

If the weather hadn't been so rank, Fergus surely would have gone outside for a closer inspection of Mr or Mrs Frog.

Not so much of a visitor, but our  pheasant in residence. We see him most days, strutting about and pecking some delicacies from the soil. He's a lovely looking chap and I hope he's here to stay.

When he is 'alarmed' he scutters in between the bushes and I believe that is where his home is, if they have a home, that is. I don't want to go and look as I could disturb his peace and then he might find another home.

It's such a great feeling to be able to live in a place like this, where you have wildlife visitors and residents so close to home. Amazing !

Patricia xxx...x

PS  A rainbow and...

...two cats napping

Visiting Seals

Last Friday we spotted a few seals near our land. There were 4 in total, but 2 came into the inlet reasonably close to the house.
Unfortunately, we (Bert) can't justify the cost of an appropriate lens for the camera in order to make a decent enough snapshot of the wildlife that visits us from time to time.
Until I can convince him, we'll have to make do with the photos I took with inadequate lens.

How amazing is this place ?
Patricia xxx...x

A Sunday in the Garden.

Ahem.  What I am about to show you is not a garden. It is a piece of land, no, a swamp, or a bog.

And this is on a good day !

There are lumps and bumps and holes with water, lots of it. 

Nevertheless, it didn't stop us from planting a few trees and soft fruit shrubs there last March.  Sink or swim ! In total, on our land which is about 3.5 ha, we planted roughly 350 native trees.

That was very hard labour as it is either rock or bog. Most of the trees have survived so far, despite the fact that the grass and weeds sometimes grew higher than the little beggars.

Yesterday we were going to take up some of the trees and all the fruit bushes that we planted haphazardly on the break-a-leg-twist-your-ankle piece of land. When the men with their yellow machines come in, somewhere next week, we will have that particular plot drained, dug a pond and added loads of composted cow dung (from our lovely neighbour, Bernie's cows).

Before digging up the plants we went for a little stroll on the land. And no one, no one  is ever doing that without Xena coming along.

 This garden bench is placed so we can sit there and watch the chickens' shenanigans.

We have two little streams (when it's not raining buckets) meandering through the land and running along the bounderies.

Poor Bert. Carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. 

 Bog Myrtle 

The amount and variety of wildflowers on the land is amazing and we wouldn't want to disturb the ecosystem too much. A biiiig part of the land will stay wild, even if we will give a snip here and there over time, especially the gorse and rhododendron.

Right ! That was just the shortest of strolls, because there was work to be done. It didn't take too long.

The plants will be okay for a while in the recycled bags of the pig feed, as long as we prevent them from drying out.  They will thank us in the long run.

We then went indoors for a drink before we would tackle some planting out of hydrangeas, etc that I still have in pots. 

Our friend, Jo phoned to ask if we were doing something that afternoon. Why ? You know, you always have to ask why, because people might suggest you do something that you don't want to do....

Jo was going to bake a cake and did we want to come over for a cuppa and yeah, cake.

Hmm..dilemma.  Work in the garden or going for a visit and eat cake. Difficult choice.

We downed tools. There is always tomorrow !

Patricia xxx...x

Sunday's Dolphin Rescue Attempt - The Aftermath

One always hopes for a good outcome.  It's in our heart, but then our brain says to stay realistic and prepare for the worst.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, take a look at the blogpost that I wrote last Sunday  dolphin rescue mission

So we all thought the dolphins were reasonably safe in the deeper water inlet. It was kind of agreed that Bert would check up on them the next day.
Waiting for the tide to come in, it was around 1 pm that he set off.
The news was not good.  They lay both side by side in the same spot, dead.
We didn't really know what to do about this, but we let everyone who helped know about the sad news. During the rescue I heard about The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group  and decided to contact them by email.
On Tuesday I got a response from Lucy Hunt, one of the IWDG officers and we made arrangements that she would come over the next day at around 11 am when it was a suitable tide to go out in the dinghy.
Lucy studied a Joint Honours Degree in marine biology/zoology and was awarded with her Masters in Marine Environmental Protection. She also runs Sea Synergy Marine Awareness and Activity Center in Waterville .
She arrived on the dot and together with Bert they went out with the dinghy.

On arrival at the spot where the dolphins were last seen, they only discovered the remains of the calf. And because of tides that had also moved a bit.

Lucy took the necessary samples to be send to the lab.

The calf died because the mother didn't survive. Finding the remains of the adult dolphin would mean she could take samples from it and really find out what had gone amiss.

Unfortunately after a search in all the coves and inlets around the area, there was no sign of her. Maybe swept out to the sea, or well out of sight in an inlet somewhere.

How powerless and terribly saddened by this event we feel is hard to explain.  But I now have Lucy's phone number and email address. She'll be my first port of call if or when this happens again and she can guide us through if she can't be present herself. But I will always call on Etienne, Michael and Vinnie too, because to Bert and to me they are absolutely unmissable in an event that needs clear head thinking and action.

Patricia xxx...x

Dolphin Rescue Mission

Never in a month of Sundays was I expecting this mission when I wobbled out of bed this morning !
We were just getting ready to take Bert's sister Imelda and her friend Sonja out for a tour of the Ring of Kerry when Bert ran up the stairs, huffin' and puffin' : " Come downstairs there are 2 dolphins near the house ! " (in the water obviously).
We expect to see seals every now and then but dolphins don't usually come this far up.  Oh the excitement  we felt !
It struck me that what they were doing was not normal. It was soon clear to us that the mother was in distress and the calf (probably from last year) just followed her into shallow water.
Bert and Wen had already taken off their shoes and where in the water in no time, trying to guide them away and into deeper water. To no avail.
Phoned a friend who knew a thing or two about what to do. He arrived not long after, wetsuit, kayaks, more helpers and family and friends.
Mama dolphin was hurt and she was bleeding.  A phone call to Vincent Hyland  from Wild Derrynane  had him here in no time. In the half hour it took for Vincent to arrive the lads tried to keep the dolphins afloat and wet at the top.
Trying to get the pair out into deeper water and out of the bay was impossible. After a stint with dinghy, kayak and a swimming Vinnie, they decided to leave them in the next little inlet where the water is somewhat deeper. There is a neap tide at the moment and that should make things easier. Tomorrow, they'll need checking up on. That is all we can do for now.
It was 9.30 this morning when we first noticed them and 13.30 when the 'rescue team' finally left.

Photo by Wen Chin Ter

 Bert trying to get them into deeper water before all the help arrived

 Unfortunately, the only thing we could do at the time was keep them afloat with belly down

Our friend, Etienne arrived, all dressed up in wetsuit. 

Again, keeping the mama upright. 

The arrival of Vincent Hyland, who is a walking wildlife encyclopedia.

Whenever the dolphins were guided into deeper water they would make it straight back to the water's edge. 

Taking 'swimming with dolphins' to a new level 

 Bert and Michael getting ready for deeper waters

 The others, the supporting team

 Sometimes the only thing one can do is observe. And pet the cat.

Wen, our present volunteer.

"So, what's happening here ? " Xena, the cat who wants to be involved in all the action.

And what have I been doing ? Running to and fro the house for drinking water, coffee, towels to keep the dolphins' backs wet, running to get flippers out of cars. Making coffees, teas and sandwiches, because after 4 hours of rescue, the A-Team could do with a bite to eat.

According to Vinnie, the bleeding on mama dolphin had stopped. Why did they come this far up the inlet will be a mistery. Maybe the mama is sick, maybe they got excluded and chased out of the pod. 

Maybe they thought this was a safe place for them, because there is talk that orcas/killer whales have been spotted in the bay. 

We keep fingers and toes crossed that they will be ok for now, in a deeper water inlet a 100 meters from where we first discovered. them. Because, like Vinnie said, if the mama dies, the calf won't survive on its own.

I will keep you up to date if and when I have more news.

Patricia xxx...x

Thanks to Michael, Etienne, Vincent, Bert - the A-team
To Steffie, Wen, Pam, Ann, Diane & friend, Imelda & Sonja - the supporting team.
Let's add to it and say, this was and international rescue team. Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, Ireland, Germany & Belgium.


Update Monday, 24th August 2015
Unfortunately, they didn't make it.  At 1.15pm Bert went out in the boat to check up on them and he found they both had passed away in the same spot where they had been harboured.  It is sad beyond believe..