Latest Stories

DÚLRA: Cruise liner stowaways need a little help

AS the giant cruise ship Anthem of the Sea sailed through the darkness towards Belfast last week, two unusual passengers hitched a lift. The pair of sooty shearwaters were more than welcome to take a breather on deck – but what the crew didn’t know was that once they arrive on dry land, these amazing birds can’t take off. They have evolved to be almost useless on land – their feet are too far back on their bodies to enable them to sit up, and their wings are so straight and thin that they can’t get the necessary uplift. And so began an incredible rescue mission which ended in them being returned safely to sea to continue their journey – a journey that is actually planet earth’s longest migration.These wee stowaways happened to land on the biggest ship to visit Belfast for almost half a century – the Anthem of the Sea can carry 4,950 passengers and 1,500 crew, although those numbers are now restricted by Covid. The crew got concerned that their hitchhikers didn't seem interested in returning to sea and so the captain contacted Belfast Harbour Police. The Harbour Police immediately knew who to call – Debbie ‘Doolittle’ Nelson. “I’ve worked with the Harbour Police many times,” Debbie told Dúlra this week. Debbie is a phenomenon who tours the country rescuing birds and animals, if necessary taking them back to her Country Antrim home to recuperate. She has saved many thousands of creatures. “They’d actually sent me a photograph of the birds and I thought they were Manx shearwaters until they opened the box and I realised they were a bit bigger and more black.” In Irish the two species are differentiated only by their colours – canóg dhubh is the Manx, while canóg dhorcha is the sooty. Debbie certainly is familiar with Manx shearwaters, a seabird not many readers would recognise if it landed on their head. Which isn’t actually impossible, because recently they've been literally falling from the sky and Debbie has been travelling the country rescuing them. “It’s been crazy over the last two weeks," she said. "They’re all young ones who are leaving the burrows and the parents have left them, and they get distracted by street lights. Just like the sooty shearwaters on the cruise boat, they navigate by the stars and the bright lights confuse them. “When they fly inland they think the dark road is the sea and they land and can’t get back into the air. Once on the ground they need a hand to get back into the sea. Yesterday I freed one in Ballywalter and I’ve another today, while one was killed on the road. “They’re so dark that drivers wouldn’t see them at night. At the minute there’s usually four or five a night.” Light pollution leads to the death of many seabirds who fly at night to avoid predators, only to find that we’re an even more dangerous predator, even if we don’t mean it.And while Manx shearwaters breed here – one of a pair on Copeland Island in County Down trapped in 2003 is still the oldest bird on record at 55 years old – the sooty shearwaters breed in the Malvinas near Argentina, heading up to the Arctic along the Pacific, passing Ireland in September on their way back to breed. And they don’t travel in flocks but in pairs, like those on the cruise boat, and can travel 45,000 miles in a year, about 400 miles every day. And although few of us knew that sooty shearwaters even existed, we’re all familiar with something that they inspired. Alfred Hitchcock produced his famous horror film The Birds after thousands of sooty shearwaters fell dead on the streets of Santa Cruz in California in 1961. Others were being sick on the shore or flying into objects. It transpired they had eaten poisoned algae from leaky septic tanks. Debbie freed the cruise boat shearwaters at Whitehead on the Antrim Coast.“It’s right on the border of Belfast Lough and it’s a straight route out to sea, far enough from the city and the bright lights,” she said. Hopefully, this time the stars will guide them safely on their epic 10,000-mile journey to their breeding ground. • If you’ve seen or heard anything interesting, or have any nature questions, you can text Dúlra on 07801 414804.

DÚLRA: Big changes are required in Irish farming

AGRICULTURE has nature by the throat in Ireland. It seems that every square inch of every field is being used to produce something for us, while the famous Irish hedgerow has all but disappeared in the last decade, getting a short back and sides from tractor-mounted hedge clippers. On holiday last month in Donegal – that wild, beautiful county hugging the rugged Atlantic coast – Dúlra didn’t see a single bird of prey. The chicks of eagles that had been reintroduced here died in the nest – of starvation. The hills of Donegal might look remote and wild to us, but, scrubbed clean by sheep, they’re as barren as a desert. Irish nature has been forced to retreat more with every passing year. Ground-nesting birds like the famous curlew or the stunning hen harrier are on the verge of extinction as breeding species. Flying insects here have dropped by 75 per cent in just 25 years. On the outskirts of Belfast in just the past two years, frog-filled fields have been drained and hedgerows hacked down to produce fields as smooth and green as snooker tables – hay for cattle. Even our water is being affected: the number of pristine rivers in Ireland has fallen from 500 in the 1980s to 20 now.

DÚLRA: Martins set up house in Hannahstown

AS the saying goes, if the mountain won’t go to Mohammad, then Mohammad must go to the mountain – literally in Dúlra’s case. Because the mountain in question is the Black Mountain, and specifically Hawthorn Glen on its lower slopes at Hannahstown. It’s here that an army of one of our most spectacular and exotic summer visitors have decided to set up camp. And for Dúlra, there can’t be many birds more attractive than a house martin. Residents of Hawthorn have been blessed with nesting house martins for as long as the estate has existed – over 20 years. As with most invasions, it started with just a trickle of families, but today hundreds of birds arrive here each spring to build their incredible mud homes under the eaves.

DÚLRA: A true act of worship in mystical Mayo as St Peter's bird storms in

BETWEEN us we’d travelled over a thousand miles to be here, on the very edge of Ireland as it slips into the Atlantic Ocean. A dozen people together on a lonely and wind-battered coastline as the sun descended under the waves. Like members of some strange cult, we sought darkness. We were here to worship not a god, but a creature created by the gods, one so special it has attained many religious associations. The tiny storm petrel lives beyond our world in the deep oceans. It seeks out storms and is only occasionally spotted by sailors as it paddles with its webbed feet on the high waves to stir up microscopic plankton thrown up by the swell. It reminded them of the miracle of St Peter walking on water, from which it gets its ‘petrel’ name (peadairín na stoirme or guairdeall in Irish). This bird is purely of the sea, even sleeping on the air currents high above the waves. It would never visit land but for the need to lay its single white egg.

DÚLRA: After 300-year absence, magnificent giant cranes return to Ireland

Nature lovers can but imagine the Ireland of old. It was packed with wild creatures as varied as any place on earth. And that isn’t just us looking back with rose-tinted glasses. What records we have tell of a land teeming with wildlife. Dúlra remembers at college studying an old Irish text where Fionn Mac Cumhaill led his band on a three-day hunt. The story recounted their haul – it was astounding, ranging from wolves to wild boar to every variety of bird, the vast numbers of each one listed individually. “This story is a legend,” said the lecturer – an authority on early Ireland – “so the events and characters aren’t real. But what was caught in the hunt – that is accurate.” One of those birds snared by Fionn Mac Cumhaill was almost certainly a crane. It’s simply a remarkable bird which stands shoulder-high to a person, while its tumpeting call echoes over the land. Its demise here came 300 years ago, at a time when not just animals and birds were scrubbed from the land, but people too. This giant bird dwarfs the heron – which, luckily, nests in trees. The crane lays its two eggs on the ground in a dry spot in a remote bog, which gives it its Irish name corr mónadh. If anyone wanted to harm it, it was literally there for the taking. And its largely vegetable diet of shoots and fruits of bog plants meant it was a favourite at the dinner tables of the rich – the flesh of grain-eating birds are most palatable to people.

DÚLRA: From a parched lagoon to a wild roundabout

WHEN the thunderstorm swept across Belfast on Tuesday, no place was more grateful than the nature reserve down at the docks. Because the beautiful Window on Wildlife lagoon that attracts a truly stunning array of birds had vanished in the heatwave.

DÚLRA: Going batty over the familiar; lowly house sparrow and greenfinch trumped by third visitor

GOOD news comes in threes, they say. Like these three birds at Dúlra’s water font – two sparrows and a greenfinch. You could say it’s nothing too unusual, but you don’t live in Dúlra’s street. Since Dúlra moved in about a decade ago it's been a sparrow-free zone. That homely tweet that many readers are so familiar with they no longer notice is absent here. While there are sparrows in all the surrounding areas, Dúlra’s street has been a sparrow desert. He knows why. It’s nothing to do with the access to food for Dúlra and his neighbours must be among the most generous bird feeders in the city. In fact, we attract so many birds that almost every day the sparrowhawk comes down from his mountain roost on a bullet-like raid, scattering terrified prey like a fighter pilot strafing the innocents. And Dúlra even put up two sets of sparrow ‘terrace’ nestboxes, which have laid empty for years. Dúlra knows the reason there are no sparrows – it's the builder’s fault for being too good at his job. Every crevice in every roof has been rigidly filled in, leaving no nooks or crannies for sparrows to nest in. A few winters back one male sparrow arrived, then last spring a pair hung about the area before disappearing to nest elsewhere. But this month, suddenly, we had not just a pair of sparrows, but an invasion. They arrived with their chicks in tow – ready-made families – about a dozen birds in total. The chicks are a sheer delight as they follow their parents’ every move, flapping their fluffy wings and begging for food.

DÚLRA: Been there, dunnock that in a very busy week

IS there anything prettier on God’s green earth than a baby bird? This one actually flew into Dúlra’s house this week, straight through the open back door and into the kitchen. It settled on a windowsill, looking longingly out into the garden while flapping its wings. Dúlra’s daughter cupped it in her hands and carried it to safety – if ‘safety’ is the right word for that big, bad world out there.

DÚLRA: Poor wee Mac stuck on the inside looking out

WEE Mac was dying to get inside to create havoc. The terrier could hear the absolute racket going on on the other side of the perimeter fence – the calls and squawks of what sounded like a million birds.

EXCLUSIVE: Exciting new vision for Belfast Hills unveiled

THERE are plans to turn the Belfast Hills into a massive ‘people’s forest’ in what will be the biggest environmental transformation for the city in centuries, Dúlra can reveal. The initiative would involve planting millions of trees that will encircle much of the city and be easily accessed by residents living below. The project has been championed by a group of business tycoons whose firms are based in the city and who “they want to give something back – something that is lasting”. The proposed forest will cover many square miles from Carnmoney Hill overlooking Rathcoole, across the famous Caveh Hll and Wolf Hill above Ligoniel, then through to Divis, Black Mountain and finally Colin Mountain. There are many obstacles to overcome before the vision is realised, including getting the backing of landowners and stakeholders on the Belfast Hills. But the first important step in any project is the vision, and this is one that will excite not just nature-lovers, but every citizen of the city. A source said: “Many of the companies want to make their mark on Belfast permanently and a city forest would be the perfect legacy for them. “The industrial leaders of yesteryear built things like the City Hall and even the Titanic, today’s leaders also want to give something back, but now it’s a green vision. “We’ll all be long gone by the time this proposed forest matures, but that’s the sort of long-term vision that’s needed to really make substantial change and tilt the balance back in favour of nature.” Central to the vision will be allowing Belfast residents access to their hills by simply walking out their doors and up to the forest. “This is transformative, and it involves a whole new way of thinking. Other cities, particularly in Eastern Europe, have transformed the lives of their citizens for the better with major environmental projects. This would be brilliant for Belfast and make it a much better city to live in and visit for future generations.” There are already several projects nationwide to reverse the historic deforestation of Ireland, which has left us with the least tree cover in Europe. Even the Irish diaspora have got involved – the Irish Heritage Tree project, backed by actor Liam Neeson, allows Americans to buy trees to be planted in their ancestral land - they aim to plant 100,000 trees by the end of this year. “The Belfast Hills forest will all be native trees including oak, which can take hundreds of years to fully mature. It would create a beautiful landscape for people to visit with their families. “It would be a wonderful thing right from the start, but this vision will come to fruition in 2200 - when none of us will be here to see it. But it’s a long-term investment for future generations.” The Belfast Hills were once home to extraordinary wildlife – Ireland’s first bird book published in 1850 reports that golden eagles were hunting on the wooded slopes of Divis and Black Mountains. One of the business chiefs involved in the project told Dúlra: “This is exactly the sort of thing I want to be involved in – something that will permanently change Belfast for the better.

DÚLRA: Starling summer visitor takes the Christmas route

IT’S not just Santa who comes down chimneys. In one Glengormley home this week, it was a baby bird. Reader Bríd nearly jumped out of her pyjamas when she went into her living room last Friday morning when she got up for work. As she drew the curtains to let in the early morning sunshine, a bird screeched and took off from the curtain rail across the room in an explosion of feathers. “I didn’t know what it was for a moment. My heart nearly burst with the shock,” she said.When her heart stopped racing, she realised that the intruder was in fact a bird that had somehow managed to get into her living room. There had been no windows left open so the only way in was down the chimney. But it had given Bríd a fright and she was too terrified to go back into the living room. And so Dúlra got the call. And it was just as well, because hero wildlife rescuer Debbie Doolittle is run off her feet at this time of year with so many urgent requests for help. This Tuesday alone she received 47 messages for help – before 10am! “As fast as I try to reply to one message another five are coming in behind it,” she wrote on Facebook. She reminded people not to lift fledglings and that young birds can’t immediately fly when they leave the nest, but are like toddlers and take a while to find their feet, or to be precise their wings. Their parents know where they are and will regularly bring them food. “The work involved for a rescuer (after a fledgling has been lifted and perhaps handed to a vet) is phenomenal – doing this with one bird is hard enough, but when you’ve over 100 patients!”

DÚLRA: Silence of summer lawnmowers courtesy of All-Ireland Pollinator Plan

INDIVIDUALS often feel powerless when it comes to global issues like climate change. Will sharing a car to work really make any difference when coal-burning factories on the other side of the world continue to pump clouds of carbon into the atmosphere?

DÚLRA: Imperilled kestrels get close during lockdown

OUR early spring lockdown lulled kestrels into Belfast to nest on a rocky slope just off one of the main artery roads. It's a place that is normally thronged with people walking and driving past, but it had been almost totally abandoned during lockdown. But just as the eggs hatched a couple of weeks ago, the city opened up once more. And now these spectacular falcons find themselves surrounded by people walking by just feet away, unaware the birds of prey are nesting above them. Dúlra spent an hour at the site one evening this week, huddled under a tree so they wouldn’t spot him. Of course, it’s disingenuous to think that a hawk can’t see us – we don’t say 'hawk eyes' for nothing. Their eyesight is the best in the animal world and they can see eight times more clearly than we can.

WATCH - DÚLRA: On the hunt for the rare grasshopper warblers of the Belfast Hills

FOR an hour on Sunday evening, Dúlra thought that some calamity had befallen the rare grasshopper warblers of the Belfast hills.

DÚLRA: Slievenacloy perseverance pays off as African visitor is spotted

Dúlra had a skip in his step when he left Slievenacloy this week. He was buzzing inside like he had just got his lotto numbers up.

Golf: Can past Open champions stop another Rahm-raid?

Soccer: Lawlor to step down as Cliftonville chair as he becomes NIFL’s first Chief Executive

Antrim Senior Hurling Leagues: Rossa remain in the hunt for Division One title

WATCH: Exuberant uni-area crowd dances on bus shelter to celebrate Italian victory

WE SAY: British can’t douse the flame of truth

MINDFUL MOMENT: Going back to grassroots with salt of the earth has brought serenity

ELLY ODHIAMBO: The African affinity with Ireland is multi-faceted

JUDE COLLINS: Understanding the English

Dúlra

Latest Stories

Most Read