THIS Halloween, you don’t have to go far to find a horror story because you’ll find them in abundance right outside your front door in your garden. And you’ll certainly find them if you’re brave enough to visit the Belfast Hills. Because nature is a constant battle between monsters who will literally rip each other apart at any second if they let down their guard.
Dúlra can’t think of many insects, birds or animals who are not susceptible to being pounced on and torn to ribbons at any moment. There’s nothing like the threat of instant, agonising death to keep you on your toes – which is why as soon as you pull back the curtains in the morning or open the back door, our garden birds scatter as if their lives depended on it. Because their lives actually do depend on it.
Evidence of that horror existence was found on Cave Hill this week. Earlier this year a men’s shed made scores of birdboxes which were nailed to trees around Belfast Castle. Those nest sites were much welcomed by blue, great and coal tits who moved in en masse, no doubt raising a record number of young due to the availability of such finely made homes.
But this week when one of the guys returned to clean out the nestboxes in readiness for a new breeding season, he found that one of them had been viciously attacked. The damage to the box reminded Dúlra of the “Here’s Johnny!” scene in the scariest film ever made – The Shining – when Jack Nicholson pops his head through a door which he has just smashed with an axe.
We can but hope that the tiny blue tits were not at home when the vicious attack took place. If they were incubating eggs or even using the box to roost in, it would have been sheer terror as a powerful bird hacked away at the wood.
Given the chisel-like cuts, a great spotted woodpecker is the most likely culprit. The good news for the blue tits is that woodpeckers aren’t raptors – they had no intention of eating the residents. That would be little consolation to the birds inside during the attack, of course.
Last year a reader in Poleglass sent in a series of pictures of a woodpecker which ripped the wing off a goldfinch which was on the same peanut feeder. That razor-sharp beak took the whole wing off in an instant, leaving the wee bird unable to fly and facing certain death. So much for not being a predator!
To the Cave Hill woodpeckers, the nestboxes are just another challenge. They see a hole in a tree trunk and are simply trying to make it bigger so they can nest in it themselves. If any other smaller bird gets in their way they’ll be sorry.
TRAGEDY: The white-tailed eagles poisoned near Larne
There’s a reason why these middle-sized birds are becoming more common – and more vicious, even. Because the birds that used to keep them in check – those raptors – have been largely wiped out by the animal at the very top of the food chain: Us.
It was revealed this week that 89 birds of prey have been illegally killed in the North in the last 15 years – and that’s only the birds whose bodies have been found. That we are still persecuting raptors, despite all the awareness of the value of vanishing Irish biodiversity, is outrageous, but not a single person has been persecuted for killing those birds.
The most tragic victims of poisoning had to be the two young white-tailed eagles who were poisoned at Glenwherry Hill near Larne last year. These birds had stopped off on Black Mountain on their way there.
One of the birds had come all the way from Norway as a chick before being released in the Shannon area in 2022. The amount of planning, money and sheer hard work that went into trying to reintroduce this species to Ireland ended tragically on a County Antrim hillside. And yet the culprits were never found.
Wildlife crime should be taken a lot more seriously. Dúlra would love to be watching eagles soar above the Belfast Hills – although he's not sure if the woodpeckers would be quite as happy!
• If you’ve seen or photographed anything interesting, or have any nature questions, you can text Dúlra on 07801 414804.
